Dear students,

Singapore is hosting the first Singapore International Photo Festival (SIPF), which might be of interest to you, especially for those of you who have intense interest in photography. It will subsequently be held once every two years.

The official website is as follows:

 Singapore International Photo Festival

Some details of the event that you might like to know:

• The event is from 8th October 2008 to 31st October 2008.
• The event is first of its kind in Southeast Asia.
• Its objective is to showcase the works of Southeast Asian artists alongside those of international artists at various venues in Singapore.
• The 3 main festival components are the official exhibitions, workshops and a 2-day portfolio preview session for 50 selected Southeast Asian photographers. This will be followed by a series of workshops facilitated by curators and senior photographers for 40 participants.
• You can get a copy of the festival guide by clicking here.

Dear class,

I believe some of you might have already heard of Tony Buzan, the man who is most commonly associated with the use of mind maps. However, what’s not really known about him is the fact that besides the renowned “mind map” technique, Tony Buzan has also introduced to us other methods of recall that is invaluable to us. I remember reading one of his books and was interested in a technique that improves our recalling abilities. I will like to call this technique the “movie” technique since it employs the use of mental moving images.

Before I discuss this technique, I will like you to have an awareness that almost all of us think visually and not linguistically. What do I mean by this? Well, let’s consider a simple example. Look at the following scenarios and think of your own experiences:

• Celebrating your birthday parties
• One of the more memorable days in your secondary school
• One memorable outing that you have with friends

Now, what comes to your mind first? Is it images or text (as in words and sentences)? I am quite sure that it’s images. It is rarely that someone recalls any incident with words in his/her mind like this: “I see many friends in my house and my mum comes out of the kitchen holding the birthday cake…” In this instance, what someone sees is almost always a flashback of the entire scene happening simultaneously in images and not linearly in words (as what we usually do when we write an article or read a book).

Knowing that our minds think and recall using images rather than words, you can put this to good use in your presentations by stringing the points that you wish to present together and turning this into a movie. Hence, I call this the “movie” technique. This is most helpful to those who present using scripts but on the whole, it is useful to all of you. However, as most of you are using presentation slides, you will not find this technique helpful as you are able to read the points from the slides. Still, I will like you to learn this technique in the event that you have to present without any slides in the workplace.

So, how do you use this “movie” technique?

Say, you have several points to present for a particular presentation, as follows:

• Respect
• Curiosity
• Understanding

Now, try to visualise a scenario for each word. For instance, you can imagine a boy facing an old lady and speaking gently to her (indicating respect). Subsequently, he notices that the old lady is holding a plastic bag in one of her hands. He points at it and asks her about the bag’s content (indicating curiosity). When the old lady chooses not to answer his question, the boy merely nods his head and stop questioning her (indicating understanding).

You can always use a different story and you can always craft a story that is in a different order (such as highlighting ”curious” first, then “respect” and then “understanding”). When it comes to this technique, flexibility and creativity is key. Try practicing this technique to remember the points in the order that you want and before you know it, I believe that you will remember the points in the order that you want. From here, you merely have to elaborate on your points and provide examples accordingly.

You can even use this technique when you need to buy a list of items. Just visualise a story linking all the items that you wish to purchase and you won’t even need to bring a shopping list. Try it and see.

Happy practising!

There are certain individuals who may have a tendency to dominate and create a consensus in their teams not through the willingness of team members to collaborate but through the domination of discussion sessions. This is, in fact, an issue of groupthink, which is defined by Thefreedictionary.com as “the act or practice of reasoning or decision-making by a group, especially when characterized by uncritical acceptance or conformity to prevailing points of view”. From my understanding, I have not encountered any such cases in my classes for the past semesters.

I believe that there are two causes of groupthink, one of which is due to the personality of specific individuals who take on leadership positions and control the direction that the team is heading. For such instances, it is difficult for any one of us to change the personality of someone. What we can do is advise these individuals on the situation and explain to them the benefits of teamwork (such as the benefits of having more interesting ideas from every teammate). If the issue persists, do inform your facilitator.

The other cause of groupthink is due to the fact that there is no member within the team that is assertive enough to find a direction. Hence, the team moves in a direction upon the first suggestion put forward by one of its members. Such cases are rare but it does happen.  When groupthink surfaces in such situations, team members can encourage each other to discuss further before deciding.

Regardless of the situation, we should avoid groupthink whenever possible.

In the midst of one of my lessons in class, I have brought up the fact that each of us has our strengths in some areas. For those of us who do not feel this way, it is because we have not found our strengths, talents and abilities yet. As I feel that this is something that will be good for you to know, I will like to extend this awareness to all of you in my classes.

According to psychologist Howard Gardner, there are not one but several intelligences in life. What is being assessed throughout your academic life is primarily inclined towards logical-mathematical and linguistic intelligences, which is merely two out of several intelligences. For more information, you can key in “Howard Gardner” and/or “Theory of Multiple Intelligences” into any search engines for more details.

I will like you to know that you are smarter than you think. And if you put in effort in achieving your life goals, I believe that all of you will do very well in life.

I am reading a book on leadership when I came across a sentence which states that leaders always live their lives with values. However, this point is not elaborated further and I am left wondering what the values are.

Personally, I feel that living lives with good values is important not only for leaders but every one of us. However, what are these values? I feel that they are as follows:

• Respect: I figure that I won’t have to elaborate much on this point since all of you have learnt this in your cross cultural communications for two semesters. We have discussed how important respect is when it comes to establishing rapport with others but it’s also important to note the consequences in the absence of it.  Therefore, we should make every effort to respect others as unique individuals with their own strengths and talents.
• Thriftiness: This is a value that is rapidly eroding in today’s society. This is especially so in this day and age where consumerism is becoming more prevalent. In Barry Schwartz’s book “The Paradox of Choice“, the author mentioned that we become less happy when the variety of our choices increases immensely. Therefore, it’s best we think twice about walking into a retail outlet the next time we are in a shopping complex. We should draw a distinct line between what items are “necessities” and what are “luxuries”. This is even more important in recently years where media advertising has somewhat blurred the lines between the two terms.
• Reciprocity: The tendency to reciprocate is losing its impact on society in recent years.  While we used to send season’s greeting cards to friends and anticipating a letter from our pen pal in the past, we are seeing an increased signs of societal isolation in urban society, where urbanites are inclined to listen to a music player than making an effort to talk to their friends. This observation has been given a name by psychologist Daniel Goleman in his book “Social intelligence“, which is “urban trance”. Most urbanites are almost trapped mentally in their own world, and much might be attributed to their bid to avoid the bombardment by media advertising and all the distractions around them. I feel that it’s time that we go back to basics by engaging others in more face-to-face communications.
• Integrity: The value of integrity is also decreasing in value in recent years. You read about it in the papers (cases of embezzlement and frauds), you will observe it in the workplace and you see it in the streets. Personally, I consider integrity as one of the personal values that should be upheld by us because should the value of integrity depreciates drastically, the very social fabric of society will be destroyed, and this will eventually plunge society into a state of decadence.

Personally, I feel that the abovementioned values are good values to hold on to. I hope that you feel the same way too.       

Dear class,

I have noticed that there is a tendency among some of you to stop midway in your speech when you are presenting your points in class. Below are a few observations that I have made when you are unsure of your points:

• Give up trying to find a way to complete your sentence
• Informing your audience that you are unsure of how to continue
• Abruptly end your sentence with words that you find appropriate with no further elaboration
• Seek assistance from your team mates
• Stay silent and wait for your team mates to take the initiative to either help you or present their points

While I understand that all of us do encounter challenges while presenting, I will advise you not to give up too easily on the elaboration of your points. Being a presenter who can speak well is a skill that can only be improved through practice over time. The five approaches that are mentioned will not help you to improve in this aspect. One of the things that you can do is to be more confident of what you are presenting, which can be achieved through good preparation before your presentation. Try to familiarise yourself with what you are presenting. Then, rehearse your speech several times before your team presentation. During your rehearsal, do say out what you are going to present in your own words. You might like to seek feedback from your good friends as well with regard to your presentation. This will give you more familiarity with the presenting materials and improves the fluency of your presentation. 

However, this is not enough. The most important factor is still missing: confidence.

You must have confidence in yourself that you will do well. Having the thought that you can be a good presenter is not enough. You must take steps and make the effort to achieve what you want to achieve.  For a start, always make the effort to finish all the sentences that you are presenting.

Remember, confidence is important in all aspects of our endeavours in life. If others are not there to give us confidence, we need to instil confidence in ourselves.

The day when we are truly confident is the day when we will excel.

In life, I believe that all of us have dreams. It is easy to have a dream in life. The challenging part is in turning our dreams into reality. Some of us didn’t put in the effort, some of us think that it is too difficult and some of us give up midway. If you were to look closely at the cause of our procrastination, we will realise that it is fear and insecurity that stop us in our tracks and prevent us from going forward and realising our dreams.

So what are we afraid of?

In a society that recognises achievements and applauds prestigious titles, it’s not surprising to see many of us not daring to undertake challenging tasks like public speaking, coaching/mentoring tasks etc. The challenge is even greater for students who do not have any previous experiences, unlike working professionals who have both experience and credibility. Merely looking at a public speaker’s online profile and/or resume can be intimidating.

Nevertheless, we have to ask ourselves this: how do all these professionals become successful? And we will realise that – like us- these professionals start with nothing and accumulate their experiences over time. But is it smooth-sailing? Probably not. We only see the successful aspect of their careers but we often overlook the obstacles and difficulties that they overcome over time.

As students, have more courage and believe in yourself. Constantly remind yourself that successful people do not become successful overnight. They put in a lot of time and effort before they become successful.  You can do the same thing if you live life with courage.

Life is not smooth-sailing and it can get rough at times. What’s important is not to hope for a life with no worries, because it’s not going to happen. Life’s a roller coaster ride with its ups and downs. We can’t stop the roller coaster from moving but we can definitely brace ourselves for the ride.

As the saying goes, “the night is darkest before the dawn”. If we have the resilience, determination and perseverance, we will definitely get to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  

Most of us are familiar with product/service marketing through the use of branding.  With the rise of consumerism, branding has become more prevalent. We have seen the impact that branding has on consumers. Since branding promotes the uniqueness of the products/services (and often a lifestyle in recent years), many consumers have been influenced to more readily purchase the product/services. Considering that branding is so impactful, it’s not surprising that marketers have been emphasising on companies branding all if not most of their products according to their target customers.   

What is mentioned above is obvious. However, what is not so obvious is the fact that we can and should brand ourselves to potential employers. I call it “personal branding”. When it comes to personal branding, we do not promote a specific lifestyle. We promote our abilities and talents.

So, how do we do that?

We should start with the basics, which is identifying and acknowledging our talents and abilities. All of us are unique and we possess specific skills that others do not.  These skills and abilities are what differentiate us from other job candidates when we look for jobs. Most job candidates apply for jobs with a cover letter and resume. But the details on these documents are merely skimming the surface when it comes to promoting our talents most of the time. I will recommend an additional 1-page document which provides a detailed summary of your achievements and abilities alongside your cover letter and resume when you apply for job in the near future.

Below are some questions to help you with this 1-page document:

• Do you have any interests or hobbies that you do not mind engaging in, even if it cost you time and effort? List them down. Identify the skills that are required for these activities.
• Do you have friends who commended you on specific achievements? List them down.  Identify the skills that are required for these activities.
• Have you joined any activities in school before?  What skills have you learnt from these activities? List them down.
• Have you attended any courses before? List them down.
• What is your goal in life? Is there anything that you wish to achieve in your life? Write them down.
• Look through your school testimonials. Look at the comments by your teachers and identify any skills that have been highlighted. Write them down.
• What profession(s) are you interested in? Write it down.
• In your life, which areas do you tend to excel and have interest in? Write them down.

After you have done the above, try to identify common areas and summarise your abilities and talents.

Now, do your interests and talents align with your preferred professions/career? If they do, it’s good. If not, you might like to explore other career options, since working in a profession of your preference which requires expertise that you do not excel in is not a good option. It’s best if you are able to join a profession where you have both the interest and the abilities. While we may switch career more than once in current times, it’s still advisable to get the right job for our first job. This is because our first job usually provides the foundation for our subsequent jobs.

Now, arrange your abilities and talents on a piece of paper. Writing in paragraphs or in point forms are both all right. Personally, I will encourage you to write in paragraphs as it looks more detailed and structured. Organise your writing such that your readers will be able to get an overview of your achievements, abilities and talents easily. Be as detailed as possible.

It will be good to start working on personal branding now while you are still in school.

Brand yourself, and shine.

Dear class,

I have noticed that some of you are holding back during the course of the lesson when questions are posed by the educators. This is especially so when it comes to the “Q & A” session at the end of each team’s presentation, where some of you have also hesitated to question the presenting teams. 

There are several benefits to asking and answering questions, as follows:

• Improves analytical skills: When you ask a question in class, you are actually clarifying some facts on behalf of your classmates as well. This benefits the class on the whole. The same can be said when you pose a question to the presenting teams. When you attempt to answer a question posed to you by one of your friends, you have to think things through before answering. This improves your analytical skills, a set of skills that is drastically different from your presentation skills.  While your presentation skills involves getting your message accurately across to your target audience, analytical skills involves exploring issues from various perspectives (some of which you have not even thought of previously) and putting forward your stand persuasively and convincingly.  A good presenter needs both analytical and presentation skills since both are vital ingredients for an interesting and credible presentation.
• Gaining confidence and learning humility: When you start to ask questions consistently, you began to develop a skill to explore issues from various perspectives, which is good. And if you were to answer your friend’s or your educator’s question correctly, it builds your confidence over time. And confidence is an important ingredient to being successful in life. And if you were to answer a question incorrectly, you learn humility from the experience, which is also good.  This is because it is always good to remind ourselves that all of us make mistakes and we do not know everything. When we are able to accept ourselves, others will be more accepting of us.
• Failures are the stepping stones to success: Following from the last point above, we should have an awareness that failures are the stepping stones to success. Many successful individuals fail many times in their lifetimes. Therefore, avoiding failures will also hinder you from being successful. Instead, go ahead and put in your best effort in everything you do (which includes asking and answering questions in class). If you fail, learn from your mistakes and try again. It’s merely a matter of time before you succeed. But remember, we must all learn from our mistakes and failures.

So, I hope that all of you are able to put in more effort in class by asking and answering questions during the course of the lessons, which includes the “Q & A” sessions at the end of the presenting sessions.

Keep up the enthusiasm!

Out of all the talents, the Creatives are the most misunderstood.

Highly individualistic by nature, the Creatives take pride in all of their works. While there may be some Creatives who appreciate the contributions of others, most of them do not. They take great delight in creating something out of their own efforts and they often create something for aesthetical value and not for practical usage.

The last point is what makes the Creatives unsuitable in most corporate workplaces, where practicality and profits often take precedence over aesthetical beauty. Conflicts and disagreement often result between management and the Creatives since there’s apparently a conflict of interest between the two: the management wants to make a profit with a practical product while the Creatives often opt for aesthetics.

Another factor that makes the Creative averse to working in the corporate workplace is the fact that most of them hate the rules and bureaucratic atmosphere that exist in most work places. The Creatives often wants independence and flexibility to do what they want to do, which means that they want some quiet time to think things through. And they have a strong dislike for deadlines. Unfortunately, deadlines are prevalent in most work places and the numerous meetings often frustrate the Creatives. This may explain why the Creatives are often found in certain professions, which includes fashion design, advertising and any form of performing arts (dance, musicals etc) where freedom and flexibility is often given and even encouraged.

It’s interesting to note that there exists a group of Creatives who are able to blend their creative talents with the practical demands of companies. This gives them an edge when it comes to certain industries such as the design industry, the IT industry etc. An ability to use their creative talents to increase the profitability of a company may be one of the few ways for Creatives to assimilate into the company. Nevertheless, most Creatives will never allow their creative talents to be compromised by bureaucratic demands.  

To most Creatives, being creative is actually a gift. This is because not everyone is one. They feel that they are special in this world and they want to make use of this talent to create something for the good of mankind.  Most of them do not pursue materialistic wants and they are satisfied that the works that they have created have made this world a more beautiful place.