I arrive at the corridor of JC 3, the attendant ask me to take out my student ID for confirmation of my attendance. I'm about to take it out from my bag, Ms. Wan inform the student attendants and they immediately hand my participant tag. As I look around, most of the students are either in college or started their first year of university, I'm the only student who is about to step into the final year of university, that makes me the oldest participant. It's okay, most people comment that I don't look like my age which is a good thing so that I can "blend in" with the other participants.
Breakfast is served at Art Gallery, the room is almost full! I have a hard time finding a seat. After savoring breakfast, it's time for us to proceed to JC 3. Once everyone is settled down, the emcee gives opening remarks to welcome the participants as well as distinguished speakers. To warm up, we have an interactive ice breaking session. After that, it's back to our places and Asia Leadership Conference is officially on the run!
The co-founder and president of Asia Leadership, Mr. Samuel Kim, introduced the speakers that we are meeting them today at their respective workshops and professional developments. Not long after, Mr. Kim talked about his growing up and his family life, especially the people that he met which made him become the person he is today- standing in front of people giving motivational talks. His working experience in the UN, catches my attention, cause I'm involved in the Model United Nations circuit, which I'm hoping to step into the real UN one day.
Anyway, participants are broken up into groups to head to their first workshop of the day. Mine is "Communicating as a Leader to Inspire and Motivate" by Mr. Matthew Turner. What are the values that we must have in a leader? Work sheets are given out and find out the four values that we think as an individual leader, while the second part is to share about the experience. There are three things to remember when communicating as a leader
1) The story of me
2) The story of us
3) The story of now
After all that energy is resumed from lunch time, time to head for the second workshop. To identify the barriers, first we need to find what is the root of the problem and how we find ways to overcome it. The third segment which is the first professional development, I'm back with Mr. Turner. He gave us tips on how to deliver a professional presentation. Visual presentations are always the trick to catch the audience's attention, make sure always have a dark background with light colours.
The forth and final segment is Networking Essentials with Mr. John Lim. There are four useful guides when it comes to networking.
1) Give First
2) Use Their Names (at least mention three times in a conversation)
3) Focus on the person, which means maintaining eye contact at all times
4) Maintain contact, keep in touch at all times. Who knows you are the lucky one to be hired in their company some day? Or a strong recommendation for potential candidates in big companies?
Time to head back to JC3. A small dialogue is held and a quick sharing session on how we feel about the conference. If you asked me, my favorites are the workshops conducted by Mr. Turner and Mr. Lim. As a Communication student, I will learn how to communicate effectively in future. We collect our certificates at the end of the conference and taking photos of course, with the speakers and fellow participants to mark the day.
I'm so happy that I join the conference and gain a lot of experiences from it. I'm hoping to join the next conference.
