Write & Speak Day

Miia Itkonen

Report
Degree in Tourism
2018
Table of contents

1 Write & Speak Day -schedule........................................................................................ 1

2 Different subjects and reflections .................................................................................. 2
2.1 Writing reports....................................................................................................... 2
2.2 Presentation / Making speeches ........................................................................... 2
2.3 Communication / Feedback................................................................................... 2
2.4 Body language ...................................................................................................... 4
2.5 Office tools / Word ................................................................................................ 4
3 Reflection for the whole Write & Speak Day .................................................................. 4
3.1 Feedback for classes ............................................................................................ 4
3.2 Feedback for assignment ...................................................................................... 5
References ........................................................................................................................ 6
1 Write & Speak Day -schedule

Write & Speak Day took place 29.1.2018 and was part of the Learning Camp compilation.
Participants for the day were all new POMO18, ABBA18 and SAMPO18 -students. Our
POMO18 group was divided to two smaller groups. Table below shows schedule for my
group.

On chapters below I’m going to briefly explain what each lecture contained and my own
reflection on subject and presentation.

Table 1. Schedule for Write & Speak Day (Haaga-Helia 2018.)

Time Subject Lecturer
9:15 Report writing Ulla Kuisma
10:15 Presentation / making speeches Maria
Lunch
12:00 Communication / feedback Jaana
13:15 Body language Pia
14:00 Office tools Jörgen

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2 Different subjects and reflections

Here I reflect on all the subjects we learned on Write & Speak Day, how important I felt
the subject was, what I learned and how each class was executed.

2.1 Writing reports

At this lecture we got to know basic information about writing reports by Haaga-Helia
guidelines. We went through the two different formats which are used for writing reports.

I felt that this was very valuable information and will come useful as our studying pro-
gresses. It made me also realise the amount of work time needed when writing reports.

It would have been nice to have a little bit of more time on schedule for this lesson. Now It
felt that subject was kind of rushed through even though I liked the way it was presented
and the fact that the links to more information were provided.

2.2 Presentation / Making speeches

Next lecture of the day was an introduction on how to make good speeches and how to
present yourself in front of audience. First, we went through the same basic elements of
presentations as earlier in the Learning Camp week and then we got to practise speaking
in small groups. Finally, we were asked to make a small presentation in groups about one
subject and give a presentation about the subject to the larger group.

I feel that this was very useful class as we are quite new to whole speech making and pre-
senting. There is still a lot of nervousness going around in class rooms when we are
asked to do a presentation. It was good that the class was divided to half and I felt much
more comfortable doing the small presentations when there was only half of the class pre-
sent. As in the first lecture, more time on schedule for focusing on this subject would have
been good.

2.3 Communication / Feedback

After lunch break we were introduced to DISC -test. Results of the test provided infor-
mation about how we communicate and how to communicate with different kind of per-
sons. I myself got results C/S which means my communication styles are mix of conscien-
tiousness and steadiness.

2
Photo 1 DISC –test categories (Disc profile 2018.)

As seen in the picture above my communication styles are both based on stability. I do
like a challenge but also rely a lot on collaboration between co-workers. It seems that I am
more introvert than extrovert. I’m more driven on the accuracy and analytical thinking than
achieving fast results.

There are several ways to improve your communication and feedback skills. As stated by
Rohm (1992, 17), “Reserved, slow-paced types can balance their own personality style by
learning how to be more demanding and inspiring”.

As it says on web site – that C/S –type of persons are likely to be perfectionist. (Disc
profiili 2018). I find myself agreeing with this stereotype. I find it difficult when I don’t have
enough time to do proper job and I don’t want to leave anything half done.

I felt that the subject of this lecture was interesting and lecturer executed it well. I would
have liked to have more time for this subject on schedule because it felt most interesting
one of all the different subjects we had.

3
2.4 Body language

Next lecture was about body language and how to present yourself. Our class was inter-
rupted because SAMPO students were also scheduled to be at the same class. After we
were all placed in the same room with people that our group was not as familiar with I felt
that the atmosphere in the lecture changed. I personally didn’t feel as comfortable as I
would have felt if it would have been only our small group. I also felt that we could have
gained more information about the subject if it would had been held in Finnish.

2.5 Office tools / Word

The last lecture on Write & Speak day focused on how to use Microsoft office and espe-
cially Word as a platform. We were shown how to create table of contents and bookmarks.
Also, few useful tips on shortcuts were provided. As this was the last class of the day, I felt
that it was a little bit rushed and subjects were käsitelty lightly. It would have also been
great to have more time for this subject.

3 Reflection for the whole Write & Speak Day

3.1 Feedback for classes

My personal opinion is that some of the classes could have been cut from the schedule as
now it seemed that everything was rushed through and students didn’t get all the infor-
mation they would have wanted to know. Also, most of the subjects were so large that
there was only time to scratch the surface. I would have loved to know more about few of
the subjects.

Most comfortable I felt in communication and feedback lecture. I felt that the subject was
interesting, lecturer professional and information provided was useful. I would have loved
to have more time to really reflect the Disc-profile test on how I give and receive feedback.

The least interesting for me was the body language class, but that was mostly because of
the interruption and the fact that we were forced to join forces with some SAMPO18 –stu-
dents.

4
In figure below, named as “Utility” I have ranked each subject on scale from 0 to 5 (5 be-
ing the highest score) by how important and functional I saw them. The “Presentation of
subject” scale shows how I felt that each subject was executed.

Figure 1. Different subjects scaled based on their utility and how they were presented

0
Report Writing Presentation / Communication / Body Language Office tools
making speeches feedback

Utility Presentation of subject

I tried to enter the day with open mind and attitude to learn something new, but I felt that
the whole day could have been planned a little bit better. And because of this feeling I felt
my motivation dropped slowly throughout the day.

3.2 Feedback for assignment

I do understand why this assignment was given; for us to reflect and also to learn how to
use correct reporting platform, but I feel that the instruction given for the assignment were
unclear. Different lecturers told different information to their groups and I personally felt
that there should have been more specific instruction on Moodle or other platforms. Now it
seems that student have made different kind of assignments with different lengths and
others received more information what was expected from them than others.

5
References

Disc profile 2018. DiSC Overview. URL:

https://www.discprofile.com/what-is-disc/overview/. Accessed: 29.1.2018

Disc Profiili 2018. Disc analyysi. URL: https://www.discprofiili.fi/disc-analyysi/. Accessed:

1.2.2018

Laaksonen, J. 2018 Haaga-Helia Porvoo Campus Write & Speak Day schedule 29.1. De-
gree on Tourism. SharePoint/Intranet. URL: https://haagahelia.share-
point.com/:x:/r/teams/PorvooCampus1stSemesterSpring2018/_lay-
outs/15/WopiFrame.aspx?sourcedoc=%7BCE119AAC-E7E3-452D-BDA3-
3A1477991563%7D&file=29.1.%20timetable%20W%20%26%20S%20Day.xlsx&ac-
tion=default&IsList=1&ListId=%7BF0CA5B02-B5A4-43A1-A5F3-4A7334401A0B%7D&Lis-
tItemId=107. Accessed: 29.1.2018.

Rohm, R. A. 1992. Positive Personality Profiles: D-I-S-C-over Personality Insights to Un-

derstand Yourself and Others! Personality Insights Inc. Atlanta, Georgia.