Daniela Ponce group 1

Public speaking is the number one fear around the world. Most people are afraid of speaking in front of other people, it could be due to the anxiety generated for what others would think, the pressure of not making any mistakes, or simply because we, as human beings, are afraid of being looked for too many people at the same time. In my case, I wasn’t born in the United States, I grew up speaking Spanish and English is just my second language. For that reason, I don’t feel too confident when I do a presentation in English. This time, on the other hand, everything went so smoothly with my teammates, and we worked so well as a team that I didn't feel the pressure I always feel. Everyone finished their slide on time and on the day of the presentation we were ready.  

I was in group number one. We talked about Chapter 3, culture and communication. Culture is defined as a set of shared values, beliefs, attitudes, and norms that govern what is acceptable among a specific group of people. Communication between individuals from two different cultures is referred to as intercultural communication. I personally talked about socioeconomic status and competent communication strategies. Socioeconomic status is estimated as a composite of income, educational level, work experience, and the prestige or status of your job. People with a lower socioeconomic status usually have less access to financial, educational, social, and health resources than those with a higher socioeconomic status. As a result, they are more likely to be in poor health and have chronic health conditions and disabilities. We all need good skills to be able to communicate or share information with people from other cultures and social groups. Some of the strategies you can use are acquiring accurate knowledge, adopting an appropriate attitude, and developing culture-centered skills. You can acquire accurate knowledge through formal study which means that you can learn about other cultures by reading books and magazines, an observation which is by watching as members interact which each other, and immersion which is that you can learn about other cultures by actively participating in it. Another competent strategy that you can use is to adopt an appropriate attitude, this will be easier if you tolerate ambiguity, be open- minded and be altruistic. Lastly, develop culture-centered skills by practicing listening, practicing intercultural empathy, and developing flexibility. 

Group 2 did an excellent job on their slides. I loved the images and videos that they used. They worked on chapter 9 which was about communicating in groups. Communicating in groups is the most fundamental aspect of communication. This chapter explains the different types of groups when it comes to communication. Communication within the family is extremely important because it enables people to express their needs, wants, and concerns to each other. Social groups are a group of people who shares the same interests. Sometimes people who work together evolve into a social group when they begin to get together for social activities outside of work. They also mentioned support groups which is a small group of people who provide mutual support for each other regarding a shared characteristic. Interest groups are those where people come together because they share a common interest or hubby. Service groups are made up of people who come together to do charitable work or raise funds to support organizations. I enjoyed the pictures that group 2 used to illustrate it. This chapter also taught me what makes a group good at communicating which is listening carefully to the conversation, knowing your audience, incorporating feedback, showing respect, knowing what everyone's task is, and treating another one with respect.

In chapter 10 group number 3 talked about group leadership and problem-solving. Leadership is the ability of an individual or a group of individuals to influence and guide followers or other members of an organization. Leaders give different task roles in order to unite and contribute to every member. They also talked about how important is for a group of people in a team to share leadership, meaning that every person in a group should be able to finish their part on time and contribute in order to obtain a successful result. They shared strategies on what to do before, during, and after a meeting. Before a meeting, members must prepare and distribute the agenda, decide who should attend, and manage meeting logistics. During the meeting, members should review and modify the agenda, monitor the time, summarize decisions and assignments, set the next meeting, etc. After the meeting, it is important to review the outcomes and process, prepare and distribute meeting summaries, and conduct informal progress reports. 

In conclusion, I would say that every group put a lot of effort into their presentation. They shared a lot of precious information, strategies that I’m sure will help me achieve better results on my next group projects, and videos about this topic. One of my favorite parts of the presentations was when group 3 shared the video “The power of teamwork”, which is a very fun and creative way to share the importance of a team. In that video, they showed how what looked to be a very dangerous and hard situation ended up being solved easily by working as a team. Every group in general did an amazing job and I’m sure I’ll be using some of that information in the future.