Archives: Speech

BizzComm SpeakOut Public Speaking Contest

So there I was, all dressed up in business formal and (literally) killer patent heels, standing in front of an audience of a hundred in the Ponderosa Centre, ready to launch into the speech that I have been working on for the past month. Why do I subject myself to the scrutiny of the public, the shaky nerves, and the horror known as Impromptu Speech? Because I actually find it VERY. VERY. FUN. *cue fangirl squeeeeee*

SpeakOut 2009 by UBC BizzComm

UBC’s Business Communication Club hosted a public speaking contest this past Thursday called SpeakOut – the first of its kind on campus in almost a decade. We went through an auditions round earlier in the month where they narrowed it down to six finalists. We then paired up with professional Toastmaster coaches and practised our speeches with the topic “The Next Great Idea”.

I passed along my two complementary tickets to my parents, as it has become kind of a tradition for them to attend all my speech contests (and give me their brutally honest opinions). The room was set up with a dozen or so round banquet tables and seated about a hundred. I along with a few of the other finalists got there early to test out the lapel mics. The event was heavily sponsored by CGA (Certified General Accountants) hence we had a wonderful keynote, John Noonan, from CGA to talk to us about the fascinating nuances of public speaking.

SpeakOut 2009 by UBC BizzComm

The competition itself was AMAZING, mainly because all the finalists were talented in so many different ways! A big congrats to Samantha (Sauder ’09) for winning the competition! You rocked girl! And a big congrats also to Roy (Sauder ’11) for winning People’s Choice!

What I Liked

  • Classy atmosphere in the room – each detail was meticulously attended to, such as the flowers on each table, the banners etc.
  • Amazing keynote speaker
  • Transparent judging criteria
  • Awesome pamphlet introducing all the speakers
  • Giving complementary tickets to finalists was very thoughtful!
  • GREAT FOOD – salads, bread, lasagna, pasta, CHEESECAKE <3
  • Smooth information flow – the BizzComm execs knew exactly what they were doing and kept us in the loop all the way since the audition round
  • Starbucks cards taped under random chairs was a nice touch
  • Opportunities to network with CGAs at every table!
  • No technology malfunctionings that I was aware of (they even video taped the audition speeches!), well done guys
  • Nice incorporation of promotion for Style and the City

SpeakOut 2009 by UBC BizzComm

Points for Improvement (personal opinions)

  • One more mic would have made the transition process smoother
  • Voting ballots for People’s Choice were not collected from at least one table
  • Postpone voting for People’s Choice to perhaps after dinner – hmm… I understand that it’s nice for people to vote when the speeches are fresh on their minds, but it’s easy to be heavily influenced by the last Impromptu speech (though the last one just happened to be my favourite!) when the evaluation should’ve have been about the Prepared ones as well
  • Now to be just a little harsh on the dear contest chairs… it would’ve been nicer – since this is a public speaking contest – if they didn’t read off a piece of paper when introducing the speakers. But seriously, they already went above and beyond what many other clubs have done in terms of a professional events, so no complaints!
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End of Term Wrap Up

I’m going to follow Sam’s template here and do a review of the classes I took this year. Thanks for the idea and title Sam!

Commerce 292 (Organizational Behaviour and Management)
Deborah Rupp
Tuesday/Thursday
11:00am – 12:30pm

OB in a nutshell is basically employee-manger relationships in the modern workplace. Maybe it’s because I have two office-type jobs or maybe it’s fate telling me to pick the Human Resources stream in third year, but this class turned out to be one of my favourite of the term. Yes, the textbook is common sense to a certain extent, but one has to approach OB with the intent to apply it to the real world. The class was largely discussion/activity based with lecture off the powerpoint usually taking no more than 40% of the class time (I think we spent half an hour having a paper tower building contest *ahem*teamwork in one of our classes). We watched hilarious clips from The Office and movies on Kennedy and decision making. Both the midterm and the final were multiple choice; a one page “cheatsheet” was allowed for the final exam (I managed to cram 6000 words into mine, don’t ask lol). The class was very much team-oriented. A group case study project was worth 25% of the mark, and the rest came from participation. Dr. Rupp was a very nice and enthusiastic prof who gave us the choice of what to do each class, whether it was a discussion on past material, lectures, or a jeopardy review game (did anyone else notice that OB profs seem to be the HAPPIEST ones around? Makes the students more cheerful too!). She definitely knew her materials and was extremely well-prepared for each class with activities and such. Our section had the highest class average – a whole 5% above the grade average – so that says something about the prof (or us haha)! For those of you who want to get her as a professor, unfortunately she was only at UBC for a one-term Sabbatical. Grade: A+.

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KPMG Crack the Case Competition

One of my goals this year was to step out of my comfort zone and participate in things people wait a few years in university before doing. Last weekend, KPMG and the Case Competition Club hosted a competition for first year’s and second year’s. My team (three first-year’s) got to KPMG’s downtown office tower bright and early on Saturday morning. We had some breakfast and got a tour of their humongous multi-floored office.  After we were given a conference room with an awesomely huge whiteboard that covered an entire wall, we started on the “cracking” the case.

Basically we had three hours to plow through, in this case, a 15-page long case on a company, identify the major problems it faces (such as corporate culture, organizational structure, global expansion, demographic shifts etc. etc.), come up with solutions/implementations/risks, and create a powerpoint presentation. Then we had to do a 15 minute presentation to KPMG judges as well as endure an intense Q&A period.

You’re probably thinking at this point, what the heck, people do this for FUN?! Shush, we’re commerce-majors, we powerpoint and party like there’s no tomorrow.

Before I even get to the presentation, I have to say that the prep part was absolutely NERVESWRECKING. Three hours may seem like a lot of time, but 1/3 of that was just reading the case. It didn’t help that the case was about an international wine distributor, which was a completely foreign topic to us underage kids XD. Don’t get me started on oddity that is wine names (Banrock Station and Kelly’s Revenge anyone? Yep they’re wine brands)! However, it is rather amazing how efficient we were working under stress. We soon had filled up the entire 2m x 4m white board with diagrams, flowcharts, maps, and mock ppt slides. It then occured to us in our self-congratulatory euphoria that we had about 30 minutes to synthesize everything that was on the board into a professional-looking presentation and come up with intelligent-sounding things to say. Somewhere along the way we lost track of time and was reminded that there was OMG 5 MINUTES LEFT when we thought we had at least fifteen.

I was responsible for the powerpoint. Wow, I have never finished one so fast in our life.

The presentation room is set up like a classroom – a projector screen at the front with a table, some walking room, and a few rows of tables facing forward. We walked in in our business suits, shook hands with the four judges, and cued up the powerpoint.

The good

  • The group member in charge of the introduction wrote it out and memorized it, making us seem very relaxed and confident at the beginning =D
  • No PPT crashes, font was legible, template was a nice blue
  • Everyone generally knew what they were talking about
  • Perfect for the time limit

The bad

  • I said a lot of “um….”s which I wasn’t even aware of; now I am haha
  • The PPT seemed really bare
  • Our solutions may have been too drastic for the company’s liking
  • Didn’t have a chance to answer one of the judge’s questions – time was up, maybe this should go under Good?

The ugly (hey Im honest!)

  • Total dead air at one point because of the extensive amount of abbreviations/short hands on the PPT resulted in lack of comprehensibility

Congratulations to Uvini and al. who won, and two year 1s who got honourable mention! We had lunch after the presentation (gotta love competition food!) and mingled a little with the judges. Was the almost-reaching-stress-breaking-point worth it? Only time will tell =D In the mean time, Crack the Case was just a little taste of the business world to come.

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Letter to Anonymous

Dear Anonymous Student,

When you wasted five minutes of the class’s time on the proper way address the guest professor who was filling in for the day, I did not mind. We all like a little curiosity. However, when – a few minutes later – you waved your hand in the air again interrupting the prof’s lecture, you got my attention. Our prof nodded to give you the chance to speak, at which point you proceeded on a full-out rant on how useless you thought this course was, how you failed to understand its real-life applications, and how you believed the textbook “got nowhere” in its “vagueness” after six chapters. The prof decided to push back his lecture and open a little discussion.

Then, Anonymous Student, we heard about your “extensive experience in managing” others as well as a detailed, play-by-play description of some interview you participated in for a company.  Furthermore, you stated that you are not convinced that this course would help you in the future, and that it was “almost like psychology”, and that because it lacked the quantitative precisions of disciplines like calculus, accounting, and other courses in your “background”, it is unworthy of the attention of academia (I paraphrase of course, though I believe I put it more eloquently, hmm?)

Anonymous Student, there were more than fifty other students in the room plus a professor who had a Doctorate on the subject and is renowned for his expertise in the field.  Although you had every right to voice your concerns about the curriculum, I can’t help but think that during a LECTURE by a GUEST might not have been the best place to do it. I commend the said professor for giving you unlimited floor time to talk and for appreciating your challenging questions. Though for me personally, I think I got your point the FIRST THREE TIMES you made it.

I’m sure there were people in the room who agreed with parts of what you said. I FOR ONE would be willing to listen to you after class or in a small group setting with the professor during office hours. However, the manner in which you presented your displeasure was completely unprofessional, inconsiderate and disrespectful.

With your confident – though slightly verbose – speaking abilities, I have no doubt that you will have success in future meetings with clients and employers. However, I couldn’t help but notice how VERY ironic it was when you said that you believed you were a “good manager” and that the course’s material paled in comparison to the experience you got from the real world. If there was one person who needed to take this course on management and motivation, it would be you.

Regrettably yours,

Phoebe Yu

P.S. – I still think you are a wonderful person and probably a brilliant student. But yesterday, your actions and words were disappointing.

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