My Presentation, Debate, And Negotiation Essay Example

I have gone through various group activities. In the tenth week of the first semester, my group performed a presentation task on Shell-Oil and Gas Company. In the second week of the second semester, I took part in group work whereby we did a negotiation (on buyer-seller). Finally, in the third week of the second semester, the group that I was in did a task on debate.
The process of presenting a topic to an audience is typically referred to as Presentation. Presentation is used to deliver information to influence, persuade, inform, and create good will and many more. Effective presentation has the explicit objective, and it adequately achieves (Nickols, 2003). The teacher put us in groups of five each. My group’s mission was to do financial and marketing analysis for a company of our choice. However, the company was supposed to be listed in the FTSE 100 list.
My group members were Shubham, Cordel, Sri, Jacek and myself. As we started to know each other in the group, I noticed that my leadership skills were above the rest of my group members. This is because I was showing initiative and motivating other people. I was more of an activist; although I view myself more like a theorist. Naturally, I took charge. After some deliberations within the group, we decided to do our task on The Shell Oil and Gas Company. I straight away asked my group to split the roles into sub-sections. Shubham (who happens to be my friend) and I became in charge of financial analysis. Cordel and Sri took charge of marketing analysis while Jacek was in charge of introduction and preparation of the PowerPoint slides.
Knowing the importance of good communication, I made me ensure that my group made adequate preparations. Good Presentation skills are required across a company’s ranks, from the junior salesman to the managing director, (Bradbury, 2006). I heard learned that a good presentation should require that the topic under presentation be introduced. Starting by talking about what is known to the unknown also boosts the audience’s understanding. At the end of the presentation, the presenter should ensure that the audience understood the message and gave room for questions. Questions help the audience seek clarification in gray areas.
Throughout the preparation period, I was the leader of the group. I had to ensure that every member of the group did their part. It was also my responsibility to organize the group work meetings and ensure the attendance of each cluster member. Communication among the group members and the attitude towards each other was excellent partly because all members of the group were brilliant.
Everyone in the group was nervous when the presentation day finally came. I had to calm them down since I was their leader. We all made a few errors during the presentation. In our conclusion, we ironed out the errors made by the submission. In general, it was an excellent experience. I was feeling safe because I knew how each group member felt, and their level of preparedness and I was confident we were going to do well. I learned that good communication is always important. I also discovered that a group’s members should always get on well with each other and avoid arguments at all costs. Finally, I found out that as a leader; always make sure that all members of the group have the same attitude and level of motivation.
Negotiation is a discussion aimed at reaching an agreement. It can also be viewed as the capacity to deal with business affairs through settlements, treaties, agreements, and other viable avenues. People and organizations can negotiate through many ways such as litigation, consultation, mediation, bargaining, and arbitration (Chaturvedi, P. D., Chaturvedi, P. D. and Chaturvedi, Lukesh, 2011).
During one of my classes, I took part in a group work on negotiation. The teacher put us in groups of four and gave each a role. There were three roles: buyer, seller, and two observers. First, I played the purchaser, so I had to negotiate to get a good deal. At the outset, I was acting aggressively towards the seller, who was a tough as well. However, I had to be analytical and change tact. I tricked her with something I knew she would fall for and four minutes. I later made an offer that she could not resist, and we struck a deal. There were two rounds and for the second one the seller and I became the observers.
Negotiations operate within defined parameters and require the negotiators to adopt sound typical values. When negotiations are carried out poorly, they, in the worst-case scenario, result in coercion. Building trust poses a daunting task to all negotiators. According to Chaturvedi et al (2011), negotiating honestly shows that all parties are telling the truth and are willing to give each other the benefit of the doubt. Tyranny and totalitarian thinking are the major causes of conflict and misunderstandings to negotiation. I eventually learned that a person has to be analytical to negotiate well. In addition, one should quickly identify the type of seller you are dealing with. Finally, create and sustain good communication, as it is crucial to making the person selling to believe you.
Debate revolves around discussing controversial issues or having a contention in an argument, (Chaturvedi et al. 2011). The debate was also a group assignment and the teacher set up the groups. My group was composed of four people: Larglinda, Igor, Mayur and I. Larglinda and I were immediately chosen to lead the group while Igor was the theorist and Mayur was the pragmatist. I was in the group that debated the topic “is Bitcoin going to be the future currency?” which we were supposed to oppose. Bitcoin is a form of virtual currency used across in the internet realm. We decided that Larglinda and Igor do the opening part while I was supposed to do the conclusion. The main part was split equally among us, and everyone had to come up with five arguments or more.
We were quite confident on the day of the debate. The discussion went well despite us making a few errors. Some of the arguments we raised against it was that since Bitcoin was a virtual currency, it was likely to encourage illegal trade. Bitcoin equally posed the challenge of currency control and could easily lead to inflation. The major lesson I learned from this debate was that good communication is essential. This is because our speech was not in order, and we could not decide who will say what.
In conclusion, through all the group discussions we had during the two semesters, I learned that for any activity to be executed, proper preparation is essential. Good communication between group members and other people is critical to the success of a debate, negotiation, presentation and any other endeavor. I was equally able to realize and nurture my leadership skills.

References

Andrew Bradbury, 2006, Successful Presentation Skills, Kogan Page Publishers, London, United Kingdom.
Chaturvedi, P. D., Chaturvedi, P. D and Chaturvedi, M., 2011, Business Communication: Concepts, Cases and Applications, Pearsons Education, India.
Fred, N 2003, Effective Communication viewed on 18 February 2015, http://www.nickols.us