De Blog wears prada

Every group in the MCOM presented just the other day. We dressed up all nice and fancy. Snazzy, if you will. I wanna' give a shout-out to Kelly and Ian for all of their hard work. Even when I had to make like Christian and bail, they continued working hard on the PowerPoint on that fateful Wednesday night. Also, some diligent practicers. A solid team. I feel good about it. We put in our effort.

Anyway, it was fun to watch some other presentations too. Hearing complaints about streaming on Netflix really hit home for me. Freezes up way to often when I'm trying to watch The Office. We saw some good examples of powerful speakers, waking up the audience, and showing stunning facts. Good presentations really. The GoReact thing was kinda cool, but kinda distracting. Hey, that reminds me, I'm gonna' see what people said about our presentation. Gimme a sec and I'll be right back.

A sec later....

After taking a gander at that, it seems that we had too much filler. I hadn't realized... And we still gotta get a bit better at talking to the whole audience. Me especially. Gotta' look around. People wanna' see my beautiful eyes. But all in all, pretty good. Smooth transitions, good volume, we supported one another, etc.

I'm gonna' have to be one well rehearsed chap for my presentation on the "30 second elevator pitch." Gonna' be intense. There's gonna' be so much eye contact that if it was a sport, they'd call a foul for too much contact on the play. Eye will practice. It's gonna' be you and eye.

Yep, adios amig(o/a).


Alextreme

Lord of de Blog: Return of the K

We're expecting the return of Kathryn, our international affairs specialist! AKI will get its other K back! Rad.

Briefing Article turned out pretty chill, I reckon. Did you know there's an MCOM specialist in the the library's writing center? Well, now you do. Pretty helpful.

This next project is a whopper. We're doing ours on Apple. There are some pretty funny complaints. Calling Apple the worst company in business, someone getting shocked by the charger, saying how they lost the vision Steve Jobs had, etc. I sure am glad we had time to work on it all in class.

We also learned a bit about the "5 Minute Masterpiece." For 5 minutes, I'm gonna' have to seem like I really know 30-second elevator pitches. New acronym to keep in mind, RIKSMAR. I thought it shoulda' been like SIR MARK or RISK RAM, but there was an order to it, so it's fine.

My main takeaway was to not procrastinate. We've got lots to do in not so much time. I guess...kinda like an elevator pitch. Limited time. Use it wisely. That's what I'm gonna' do. The KAKI gang is planning to get the most of our case project done by Monday.

Secondary takeaways are technology doesn't replace everything and take criticisms well so you can improve. That's what this is all about, right? Getting better. Getting better all the time. Can't get much worse. Ha, just a Beatles song I wanted to reference. So, I'll do that and assuredly be a better me than the me of today.

Will KAKI deliver on the Apple presentation? Or will they choke? Tune in for the next episode of MCOM to find out!

Lord of de Blog: The Two Hours

You know, those two hour meetings can really pay off. I think they made our presentation presentable. Otherwise, woulda' been a nervous bunch and the presentation would have felt like two hours. Anyway, I will address four main points in this post: (a) things I did right, (b) something I did wrong, (c) things KAKI did right, and (d) something KAKI choked on.

Keepers. Ron Weasley. Get it? He played keeper, ha...sorry. What I mean to say is my gestures (except for holding my hands together). I be usin' my hands a lot, without even noticing. Like, when explaining parallelism, I used lefty for the manual side and righty for the automated. Twas' lookin' smooth. Another thing, the preparation. Like when I bust out that quote, I seem pretty legit. Just as a whole, I seemed to know what I was talking about. Like I say, those two hours meeting make a difference.

Stopper. Sometimes I was lookin' pretty out of place. Like, I'm not quite sure where I should be standing. I scoot around uncomfortably a little. I should probably take a step back when I'm done talking. Get outta the way.

Team Keepers. Lookin' smooth. Us and the Power Point. Perfect? Nay. But snazzy. Glad we talked about what to wear. We looked like a team. Power Point, despite its flaws, seemed pretty official and usually legible. Also, the hook was solid. Good for our audience, I reckon. Ring Pops at the end also just made at least the proposal aspect of our presentation memorable.

Choked. Actually using our Power Point. I mean, it was there, and looking pretty good, but I don't know how much we really used it to help present. Some charts, some visuals to make understanding a bit easier. Now, it wasn't terrible. Organized things a bit,  and usually showed the things we were saying. But using it, maybe with the pointer, I think could have made it better. Room to improve.

That's what I got. KAKI doesn't slack (slack, like slacks, khaki, slacks, get it?), so we'll keep getting better. Practice makes better.

KAlexKI, out.

Lord of de Blog: Fellowship of the Ring Pop

Team AKI  gave a presentation today. We're missing Kathryn, due to much more important matters. I wish her well. Anyway, we gave out Ring Pops. It sucked...Ha, get it. sucked...Ring Pops. Ha. Anyway, I will not focus on the presentation in this post, because I will make a separate blog post dedicated to it.

Today, we had a bit of a discussion. Was kinda refreshing. People shared their thoughts on what they thought had been going well in the class throughout the semester and what could be better. Some good insights. Really seemed like our opinions were valued. That's good every once awhile. As WSB 8 says, "A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still." It seems to me that an effective leader gets the opinions of those (s)he leads.

We also looked at some future assignments. Team (K)AKI will study some complaints regarding the company Apple. Should be interesting. A good chance to do some team research. I hope we can combine our strengths to be like a super hero. In the best-case scenario, it'll be a great learning experience.

Oh, and we also heard some words of wisdom from a former student of Professor Middleton named Joe. He credits getting his job with Toyota to this class. Inspirational. This class does kinda seem more important than my others. Seems real-er.

Wut, I got a lotta work to do. Gotta take DOCS into account with my business letter. Ought to remember that this class is about more than a grade.

"So what, I'm still a rock star!" Sorry, that's a line from a song by Pink. So what, I think I'm learning important skills that will make me a better communicator and may give me a competitive edge in the job hunt.

Now what, I'm gonna focus in. I've been getting good advice from the professor, the TAs, and my peers. I'm gonna implement it all like a cold turkey, so I'll do well in this class and beyond! And not suck.

Good night, America!

Your host, Al.

De Blogginator

We went to class in the library this week. What a twist. I learned quite a bit about research methods. I can now more easily find scholarly information online. Before I would have just used Google Scholar. Also, I used to only be vaguely aware of boolean logic. Now, I actually get it AND will use it OR use it some more, NOT forget it. Efficiency, here I come!

I learned me an awful lot of acronyms and other tips that should help me write and edit other people's work. What's up, DOCS?

This class definitely seems to be the most useful of my classes. I will be using the search methods I learned in my COMMS 101 class. The questionnaire tips would have been helpful earlier for my advertisement class. My resume is better. Yeah, if this class lands me a job, I'll be satisfied. Plus, I'm better at understanding grammar rules which will just make me a better communicator altogether. Rock on.

Anyway, am I going to apply what I've learned. My research is going to be more official than a referee and probably quicker too.

The interview, de Blog, and the Wardrobe

Well, Mr. Blog, I know this is highly unusual, but I'd like to take this opportunity to share my thoughts on a mock-interview which I recently held with Sir Ian Jimenez. That fellow is a gentleman and a scholar. He 'interviewed' me for a position as a research assistant.

I felt, and Mr. Jimenez agreed, that the interview went smoothly. It would not be inappropriate to compare such smoothness to silk. I was able to respond to his questions, even the tricksy ones, with poise. I came in with a PAR mindset and it really did come in handy. I was able to whip out a few stories in a coherent matter and relate them to my ability to work for him. Also, I showed passion for the job. But, as Mr. Jimenez so kindly pointed out after the interview, I do have room to improve in a few specific points. And improve I shall. I will strive to make myself and my resume appear professional. Twas' a great learning experience.

I sure wrote "I" a lot in that last paragraph. As for Ian Jimenez, I whole-heartedly give him a 5 out of 5. A stunning performance.