el fin

So this week I was able to go to the Young the Giant concert. It was absolutely terrific. Like, I feel bad talking about it after the fact because I am guessing most of you missed it it was that terrific. But, I am going to share a video from the concert anyways. And it has a purpose, I promise:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0PbYYMp4-Q0clpic0hzS2h4THYyeGh0OGZlTUp5RXRJLUhR/edit

The crowd (I was a lone reed of professional serenity, take my word) goes nuts as soon as he comes on to stage. As I reflected on my presentations throughout the semester, I may not have had all of you on the edges of your seats, clamoring to get close enough to touch my mere, talent full hand (wait, did I  get to do that perhaps??), but I certainly found that I learned invaluable skills that make the audience more interested and engaged.

Maybe I wanted to brag a little about going to an amazing show, but hey I definitely feel that I see MCOM everywhere. Keeping this blog certainly helps me to do that. I look for ways to better my presenting skills from others' examples, I notice (now) obvious grammar and punctuation errors (look out for the further/farther fairy Halloween 2014), and am much more conscientious of the design of my documents and the effect it has on the viewer. Off we go to better the world with our snobbery and exactitude! Fare well, my friends!!

General Conference

Well, my first conference after being exposed to all things MCOM. Valene, you've cursed me. I now focus far too much on body language in delivering speeches, presentations, lessons, etc. It certainly makes Fast and Testimony meeting more interesting, though. Luckily, our Brethren are phenomenal speakers. I was wowed.

Elder Russell M. Nelson's talk from this afternoon was especially helpful to me. He talked about how truth is truth and how we do not have to separate secular from religious. It is a great comfort that as I gain more truth in school and in the gospel that I am able to work them together. They build off of each other and help each other.

Stay classy, my fellow MCOM-ers! Two more weeks! How is that possible!

Is this real life?

Putting so many hours in such a short amount of time felt ridiculous at times this week. I literally spent more time in study rooms and in the library than I did at home with friends or flatmates this week. Priorities stink sometimes! I didn't just have the Case Analysis, either. I, as I am sure you all did, had several other huge assignments for my other classes... all of which suffered! But what I realized was that this was not a cruel experiment or a power-trip moment from Professor Midd--this is real life! This is the business world; this is the academic world; this is the designer world. There will be weeks or months where our families or friends are unfortunately ignored because we choosing to put all our efforts into our projects.

My mother did free-lance design projects from time-to-time throughout my life. She would choose times when we had less going on and my father was less busy at work because she knew that designing for companies was something she had to give her all to and that when there was a deadline fast approaching, there were measures to be made to meet them.

As difficult as it was, this week was a great preparation and similitude how the real world is and what it expects of us.

Remote Meeting

We were able to communicate effectively and plan out who had to accomplish which tasks our group still had to accomplish. We found being able to hear each other the hardest part but we had great communication. I know that we were all able to complete each task and our previous meeting we had great communication and had a clear image of where we wanted our project to head so meeting just over the phone, all of us were able to visualize and understand what the others were intending because of our communication previous times. Having the same group this entire semester, we have had great understanding of each other's ideas and trends in desires so over the phone those trends continued. All in all, a bit more complicated, would have been easier in person, but not as difficult or as frustrating as I had previously imagined.

TEDxBYU

I had the amazing opportunity of going to the TEDxBYU program last night. Elegant. Inspiring. Uplifting. What more can one want from a Friday night? It was a strange feeling being on campus till 10 on a Friday night, but well worth it. 

The theme was "At the Intersection". Each had their own interpretation of the theme based on their own field of expertise and idea of what it meant. I believe we are all at a major intersection in our lives. We are all planning and preparing for what we aspire to do for a career, hoping to be successful at it but also enjoy it and maintain or attain a balanced personal life. At least I am. We are at a major intersection of preparation and actual experience which will set the course for the rest our careers and have major impact. A bit daunting but extremely exciting if we take control and utilize every opportunity available to us at this fine establishment. 

Of course this course has brainwashed me and I can't just sit back and listen to amazing people impart their words of wisdom upon me anymore... I focus and nitpick the nonverbal aspects of the presentation. 

Positives: 

• Beginning and ending a speech with a similar quote or line. Gives it a great sense of closure and credibility. Helps to remember the beginning more and maybe go over other key points.
• Great slides that truly enhance the presentation. Funny pictures, running theme, description explaining what they are talking about. 
• Great eye contact. Making sure not to look at one place the whole time, or jumping around too much, or the ground. 

Negatives:

• Wearing a whole in the ground. Make movement deliberate. If not, it becomes distracting.
• Not knowing audience. Simple and effective. 
• Technology failing. Not up to the presenter, but totally distracts.

Some inspiring words that were said last night are as follow. 

"Making money is fantastic, but of far greater importance is being a principled contributarian in the social sphere."
"Stop associating creativity just with the arts. Start seeing everyone as creative; it empowers them." -Kelli Loosli
"One of the most powerful intersections in life is when we come face to face with the questions we don't know we don't know"
"The more you know, the more you owe."

I learn so much from SNL

Sometimes I think we can be cursed with being too nice. Whether it be because I am a woman, the youngest/baby of my family, a Mormon, it can be very hard for me to think of criticism when I have to. When I don't have to or shouldn't be thinking of criticism, it seems to come much more naturally. 

I know I personally learn so much from others when they point out my mistakes. For years, I would say "nip in the butt". Not so endearing when you are entering your teenage years. 

I think so many of our mistakes seem so obvious to others that they think it unnecessary to point it out sometimes. We mention it in every presentation, but our hands guys! You'd think we were Kristen Wiig as Dooneese sometimes. The reiteration of these mistakes is extremely helpful to me since I may not instantly notice it every time. I know next time I give a presentation in class (which apparently is coming up!), I will be keenly paying attention to my hands in the hopes that no one else will. It does seem a bit strange, to think about it. 

I know that I am grateful for the constructive criticism (apparently that is a bad word in our class) I receive and that others receive so I can learn about it so I need to be more aware and pay more attention. I need to say not only Keeps, but also the Stops and the Starts as to help my presentation skills and my classmates. 

LDS anti-bullying video

LDS anti-bullying video

VoNique's MCOM 320 Insights: Separate People From the Problem

VoNique's MCOM 320 Insights: Separate People From the Problem Such great points! Check it out!

This week's lecture was amazing. Our professor is... well you all know. In high school, I used to try and get my teachers to get off on tangents to avoid talking about what we were supposed to be learning. We were good at it. But now, I think we might just try and get off on tangents to hear more hilarious and inspiring (let's be honest) stories about confessions of love and fake engagements. That was, I'll say it again, amazing. 

This week I had a eureka moment when I realized that all the things we were learning did in fact connect. That situation in which Prof. Middleton brought home a fake fiance is a connecting moment for her and her relationship history. Learning about CLOUD was a connecting moment for my MCOM history (mildly less epic). As we learn different tools to help our writing, tying them together is the best way to help our writing and our success in this class. Connecting HATS to OABC and understanding their importance individually as well as how they work together is going to help us to remember them, remember to employ them, and help to write better and more effectively. She also mentioned the final examination recently and I realized just how quickly that is going to come up. Further need to remember all these acronyms and guidelines. As we do our readings and listen to the presentations, we ought to make as many connections as possible of the material. By doing so, we will be better prepared as we continue with this class for real world situations, class assignments, and the final examination.  

PAR

Problems, actions, results. I know I have the "Problems" section all sorts of covered. But, as I reflected this week on my "actions" and "results" in response to these "problems" I have had in my life, I have come to realize just how much I have gained from the problems that have come in my life. Am I thankful for my trials and tribulations? I suppose I am. Look at them; they make me a kinder, more charitable person, give me more ammo on interviews, get me good grades in MCOM. Blessed indeed, I'd say. 

As I go back and analyze the problems in my life and try and pinpoint ones that have the most clear actions and results, I was amazed to see that I had so many great examples in my life. I know that methodical preparation with the minutiae of the business world and the interview, the more calm we are going to be going into it and the better we are going to perform while there.