Speaking skills are essential for effective communication, which are vital for establishing and maintaining professional relationships, engaging in productive discussions and communicating information in an organized and persuasive manner. I have been able to improve my speaking skills through many assignments which varied in purpose, audience and content. Additionally, some also required successful team coordination and leadership. Here, I have compiled some of those that best show my abilities.
Renewable Energy Final Project for Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Course: Energy Resources and Technology
This final presentation was the culmination of a semester-long group project. The project’s goal was to create a plan to replace Baton Rouge’s non-renewable energy for renewable sources and storage. This required calculation of the city’s energy and storage requirements, determining what renewable technology would be most beneficial for the city in terms of energy production and environmental impact, determining locations for the facilities and assessing and mitigating environmental impacts of the project. The project’s final product was the presentation, which was done in a professional manner as if we were presenting to the city’s officials to persuade them to invest in the replacement of their energy system for renewable sources. The completion of the presentation required proper team coordination, practice, organization and preparation. Even though the final product of the project was the presentation, it was the culmination of other assignments done throughout the semester, requiring the use of many other skills. Tasks were assigned according to specific roles of the team, the presentation lead, supply lead and storage lead. I held the position of presentation lead, which was essentially the group leader. I coordinated group meetings and practices, created the presentation, and ensured my team was meeting assignment expectations and deadlines. An essential part of the project was to ensure that the environmental benefits of the renewable energy installations outweighed the impacts, for which I developed a community narrative for the city and an Environmental Impact Statement. My contributions required proficient research and data analysis skills, strong teamwork, leadership and problem-solving skills, effective speaking and writing skills, along with sufficient digital fluency, which were essential to the development of the project and guaranteed a successful presentation.
Climate Advocacy Project
Course: Icehouse-Greenhouse Earth
For this project, our main objective was to share what we had learned in the course about Earth’s climate with the community outside of UMW. I did this in collaboration with my peer, Thalia Sabit. We chose to do a presentation on paleoclimate, climate change and advocacy to freshman students at Courtland High School in Fredericksburg, VA. Our professor for the class, Dr. Pamela Grothe, got us in touch with an environmental science teacher at Courtland, Allison Grant. We coordinated a date for our presentation and did it during their class time. We also brought an environmental science bingo to play with the students afterwards and earth day bookmarks. This experience was significant to me in that I was able to engage with the community, specifically younger students who are the future of the world, talking to them not only about climate but also about things like college. This project enhanced my speaking skills by helping me learn to adapt to a different audience and find appropriate ways to orally communicate with them.