Stay Focused

Nov. 9th, 2020

Over the past week in ISM, I gave a Quik Trip speech, completed an Evidence of Learning Assessment, and sent follow-up emails and phone calls to the professionals I had already contacted . In giving my speech, I learned how beneficial it is to prepare and practice beforehand, as well as how important it is to utilize certain techniques that will make your speech memorable and strong, such as using hand gestures, incorporating humor, and using the right amount of tonality and voice inflection. In completing my Evidence of Learning Assessment, I learned how crucial it is to the interview and research process to be consistent in contacting professionals, so that I can get a response back and work towards scheduling an interview, in turn increasing my success rate of gaining that real-world experience and knowledge to pursue my topic of interest. Lastly, sending those follow-up emails and phone calls made me understand the difference between being annoying and being professional.

As a result of what I’ve learned about preparing a speech, the one question that came to mind was what I could improve upon to strengthen my future speeches and presentations. After giving my Quik Trip speech, I felt relieved that I finally got it over and was proud of myself for preparing beforehand, because it helped me in the long-run. My initial thoughts about my performance were that I did a good job creating sufficient content that matched the purpose of the speech, and was able to incorporate the techniques we had discussed last week in class, like incorporating humor and utilizing the appropriate tone and voice inflection. However, the feedback I received from Mr.Pirtle and the rest of my classmates told me that I need to work on pacing myself, and pausing in the appropriate places. As a result of writing my assessment, I now have a deeper understanding of the process of contacting professionals, and wonder how to improve upon this as well.

Some challenges that I’ve faced during the past week were contacting the professionals, as well as successfully delivering my Quik Trip presentation. I contacted the professionals through email and LinkedIn, but I found that it was hard for me to get responses back and set up interviews. I think a big part of this was because I wasn’t consistently sending follow up emails, or constantly following up with the professionals via LinkedIn to make sure I was getting responses back from them. With that being said, this week I will work on contacting them not only via email and LinkedIn, but also through phone calls. In doing this, I think I will have a better chance in hearing back from them and scheduling interviews, since I’m utilizing all of the different platforms professionals use. Additionally, being consistent and sending follow-up emails, as well as leaving voicemails and voice messages will show the professionals that I genuinely care about their time and am interested in talking with them to learn more about my career and field of interest.

In terms of delivering my Quik Trip presentation, I was able to successfully deliver it, without feeling stressed and nauseous (as I spent the majority of last week sick at home). My content was sufficient, and I was able to incorporate those techniques we learned about last week, like humor, hand gestures, and the appropriate voice inflection where it was necessary. I’m now going to work on utilizing more of these techniques for future speeches and presentations, as well as working on things like my pacing and pauses, as this will further help me in the future.

In doing those things that I mentioned above, I was able to be successful in delivering my speech, as well as was able to take a moment to deeply analyze my experience with the interview I’ve done with a professional. Additionally, I was able to see how efficient my method of contacting professionals has been, and I now have created a new plan for tackling that. After delivering my speech, I was able to feel relieved with my performance, and work on the next things in ISM. By analyzing my interviewing skills, I now know the areas I need to improve in, and the same goes for contacting professionals.

In the next week, I need to work on being confident when I talk to these professionals via email and phone, both so I can get a response and so that I can schedule meetings with them to begin expanding my knowledge of the field of accounting, as well as to start learning about what it’s like being a CPA on the daily. I also need to work on prioritizing ISM with my other classes, so that I don’t fall too behind in anything. I want to make sure that I’m putting an equal amount of time and effort into everything I do, no matter how easy or hard it is. By working harder on contacting professionals and setting up interviews, I am working towards succeeding in my ISM journey, as I will be getting closer to my end goal: finding a mentor and gaining the real-world experience of the career I wish to pursue. As I’ve mentioned before, being able to not only be efficient and hard working in ISM, but also in my other classes as well, will allow me to put forth the necessary time and effort to ensure that everything is equal to each other, and that I can succeed in each of my classes.

To conclude this, I would like to say that I’m still working on a way to be more efficient with my work in ISM. I don’t want to fall behind in conducting my research on my topic of interest, but I also want to be able to complete my weekly assignments in a timely, efficient manner (as I’ve been doing). I think I’ll explore different methods, and decide which one works best for me at the end. I will also work on finishing my other assignments for other classes as soon as I can, so that I have more time to focus on my research and assignments in ISM, as it will have the greatest impact on my future.