Last Wednesday, I attend a discussion
that arranged by international relation office of NUS as part of event attached
to my scholarship (TF Learn) programs. All of Temasek Foundation Leadership
Enrichment and Regional Networking (TF Learn) scholars were invited to share
experiences of voluntary, leadership, and community services they have done in
their home country. Mr Tan from IBM and Mamie Cheong, CEO
of Student in Free Enterprise (SIFE) Singapore also attend the discussion.
At my batch, TF Learn scholars
come from various countries in Asia: China, Hong Kong, Korea, India, Thailand,
Cambodia, Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia. With various backgrounds, we shook
together; discussing past, present, and future of voluntary work in Singapore and
our home country.
Silu, one of TF Learn scholar
from China did a presentation. She told us her experience as president of SIFE
in her home university at China. I was amazed. I could see this girl had done
various important presentations before. As student form country in which English
is not national language, presenting your work in English is not easy. Furthermore,
doing it in front of important person makes it more difficult. But, this
extraordinary girl made it! She was overawing.
Actually, Silu presentation was
not perfect. Her presentation was not written in English, but Chinese. However, we still could understand the idea,
from her oral presentation and body gesture. She communicated effectively in
delivering her idea in front of student from various countries.
That is just one example of effective
communication. You and I probably will have chance like Silu has: delivering a
presentation in front of key person. We possibly will have thousands of
opportunities that require us to communicate effectively. Indonesia students need
to present their undergraduate thesis in order to graduate. Graduated students will have some
interview session in getting job. Those are just several formal occasion when
people certainly need to use effective communication. Moreover, people need to present
your idea effectively in daily life. I think you will not be pleased if your listener
wrongly gets your idea right? Well, the importance of effective communication is
undoubted then.
