PROGRAM REFLECTION REPORT 2

• Reporting

The program was a dinner reservation to celebrate the 4^th year students of the Bioscience Department of Faculty of Science of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Skudai. It is an annual celebration that is known as Bionite Dinner and for that particular year, Bionite Dinner 2019. The event was held on the 25^th of April 2019, and it started at 7:45 pm and it ended at 11:00 p.m. at the Le Grandeur Resort, Senai. As the theme was “elegant”, everybody came with fancy dresses and smart tuxedos to compliment the scene. Besides the 4^th year students that were about to be celebrated on their success in completing their studies, 2^nd year students and 3^rd years students were also involved in the event as the crews and the management team, while the academic staffs including the director of the Bioscience Department, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Shafinaz Shahir, also were invited to perfect the evening. The reserved hall was small and intimate, fit exactly the amount of people that were needed to be there at the time. As the decorations were very well put together by the students, including the dim lights and the music, “elegant” theme was ideally portrayed.

As I was chosen to be the moderator of the event alongside my classmate, Muhammad Aidil Wafi bin Rosli, we were given the task to carry out the whole itinerary smoothly during the whole evening. Wafi and I both were responsible in engaging with the audience, constantly keeping the atmosphere lively, setting the right tone and pace according to the topics and making sure that the event ended well. We were told that we were chosen as moderators about two days before the dinner and we had very little time to practice due to receiving the scripts late. We also had to prepare our own informal script on the spot to be the interlude between the formal activities such as the introduction and the closing. The management team barely told us what they actually wanted from us, so Wafi and I helped each other out a lot at figuring things out. The whole situation was a bit chaotic and fun at the same time as we brainstormed together to bring out the best in such a short amount of time.

Particular details like names, pronunciations, intonations, and face expressions were all practiced again and again even until seconds before the event started. The whole day was well utilized with practicing. We started the event right when the first guests have arrived as we asked them politely to join us in the hall until the last guests arrived. When then everybody was made sure properly seated, Wafi and I alternately introduced the dinner’s theme and purpose and welcomed everyone. Informal gimmicks started after we welcomed the director to inaugurate the event, so the performers were asked to perform their acts, following that we invited the academic staffs to present the gifts to the best students and to the “king” and the “queen” of the best dressers of the night, and right before the formal closing of the evening, we presented a little farewell video made by the 4^th year students as a sign of appreciation.

• Responding

First of all, I was way happy at the moment I found out that I was chosen to be the moderator as I passed the audition. I did not think that I could have made it at the time because there were students who gave better presentation at the audition. Later then, I was a bit confused and frustrated that I could have not gotten my hands of the script earlier for practice. That lead me to nervousness as I was very worried about how I would have handled it at the last minute when I was just about to get a look on the script.

Last-minute practices limited our chances to perfect our presentation. If only we had more time before the day of the event, I could have created a more interesting way to communicate with the audience to expect a better reaction from them and might just have handled the itinerary better. As an example, Wafi and I did create a little conversation as a gimmick between us before we called out the names who were prized as the “king” and the “queen” of the best dressers. Just like planned, I asked Wafi from the rate of 0 to 10, how well dressed or pretty looking was I that night- and later answered by Wafi, I was a negative 1, that meant as a joke. But unexpectedly, the crowd gave a very unbelievable gasping reaction and we were shocked and stood still for a moment to digest the response. This is because at the time when we created the little script, our crews who have heard it actually laughed at that joke and we accepted it as a good response and decided to use it on the real event. If only maybe we had more time to practice and process it, we would have not agreed to carry it with us during the dinner and we could have saved us from the embarrassment.

Besides, I was pretty excited as well despite the chaos happening during the whole program. The involvement of dressing up, decorating, and fancy foods really hyped me up. It has been such a long time since the last time I was given the opportunity to become a moderator or an emcee on stage. The excitement boosted my confidence and made me feel like I was capable of facing the crowd nevertheless. Wafi and I somehow carried our responsibilities until the end of the event smoothly despite the changes of details in between our speeches. It was proven when the end of the dinner was celebrated joyously and everybody had a great smile on their faces.

• Relating

According to this program, I had very similar experiences before during my active years in primary school where I was regularly emceed my school’s events. Due to that reason, I was a bit comfortable and confident getting to do what I have been good at since young. Using my experiences, I was able to enhance my skills and performance as a moderator as soon as I got the chance to speak despite of the long period not having to speak on stage. I controlled my face expressions and my intonations well so that it felt pleasant to the audience to look at me and listen to me. I was very comfortable having to speak formally according to the script prepared by the management team just how I used to do it before. It was also very familiar to me to be involved in events that include musical performances, dressing up fancily, and preparing a dinner. Although my presence was specifically as the moderator, I was still able to get myself included in the preparations.

It was only that having to create my own informal speeches was a new thing to handle. I was hesitating most of the times whether to use or not to use the words that I have picked because I was afraid of them for being too frank and ungracious for parts of the audience. Plus, I never had to emcee an event with a partner before. It was somewhat difficult at first because not only I had to communicate with the audience, but also with my partner. Balancing the attention to making sure that everyone is entertained is the hardest part of moderating the event. Speaking informally sometimes can come out wrongly when it had to be done spontaneously. But we were asked to do most of the part spontaneously because having it written down might just knock down the whole purpose of being informal and spontaneous, and we might just look like scripted. That was the difficult acting part, to have my partner in sync with me so we can avoid any colliding between words.

• Reasoning

As from my point of view, preparation time is what mattered the most. By having more time to practice and to digest the information, our presentation could have been smoothly done and seemed effortless. Communication among the management team and the moderators is also utterly important to keep things on track. Whether there are changes in details such as the name of the guests to be mentioned, or changes in the itinerary, they should be informed to the moderators as soon as possible to avoid any misconducting. Sensitivity in the communication skills is also entirely significant. To be able to read and interpret the audience’s reaction might just save the moderators from a big slip by not saying things that they should have not said.

According to the Focus Group in chapter 5, the moderator must speak clearly, respect the audience and making sure that they see it (“Moderating Skills”, 2015). As the responsibility of a moderator is to connect with the audience, so that the whole program can run respecting to the plan, it is understandable that to communicate with clarity is the key. Then when the audience feel respected, without a doubt, they will listen to you better and pay more attention to what you have to say. It is also absolute important to expect the unexpected so that as a moderator, I can quickly read the situation and calmly respond to it. It is also said that moderators should always have their mental prepared so they can handle any situation swiftly. Giving a respond is also a mutual thing to do between the moderators and the audience. By giving an eye contact or a head nod with a smile is a give-and-take, not only hoping to receive them from the audience.

While Kawasaki mentioned in his website, a good moderator should prepare themselves in advance and make everyone else look smart (2006). Relating to my case, having the time for preparation was a big issue and it could have made a big difference in our presentation. Being rushed and in a hurry caused us to make spontaneous decisions without thinking any further consequences, or we could not just have thought any of it due to the chaos. Furthermore, as Kawasaki said, making everyone else look smart is a very interesting skill. It can make people like you and be pleased with everything that you might say- thus the event might as well just run smoothly.

• Reconstructing

Based on my observation, communication skill is one of the most important graduate attributes to have to be in this kind of situation. Poor communication might lead to misinformation, misunderstandings, receiving and presenting the wrong details and catastrophic events. Not only between the moderators, but the involved crews also need to communicate to be prepare for unexpected occasions. According to what happened during the program, one of the crews of the management team was able to quickly inform us to change the name of the invited VIPs due to some issues just right before we were about to announce and welcoming the VIPs. That was very fortunate because if they had not informed us any earlier, as moderators, we could have called out different names that did not belong to any of the attending VIPs.

Teamworking is also an important graduate attribute that I had to experience during the program when I had to depend on other people to help me. Just when I spaced out during the speech or my mind went “blank”, my partner helped me out a lot by interluding so not to leave me hanging. He would have spoken to me and asking me questions so to remind me what I should have said and I can get back to talking normally. In the future, I would still really like to continue to emcee an event and hoping that I can use this kind of teamworking skill to help my team instead.

Other than that, adaptability is one of the most important skills as well. Since the situations can unexpectedly change, being prepared is the utmost crucial thing to do. Besides changes of the itinerary, in response to the unexpected reaction of the audience is also important. When the audience gave an unexpected reaction and it was different than we hoped for, it was important for us to quickly adapt to the situation and not taking the time a little too long to process it. We should have been able to carry along the response given and made something out of it that could have made the atmosphere calmer. We had to improvise a lot, according to the mood and the last-minute changes of details. It was unbearable to keep a straight face when things did not go as planned, but situations and the movements in that hall were controlled and lead with our convincing words, so we had to be confident in things that we do.

Overall, it was a fresh experience that I had to go through and I am glad that I was chosen to do it in the first place. I was able to see the extend of my capabilities and I also learnt a lot from this experience. It was also a very pleasant situation to get to know other students of Bioscience Department that I had never met before, especially the seniors. To be able to see different perspectives and different communication skills, I was amused and inspired by them especially being a 1^st year student, everything was an eye-opening.

REFERENCES

Anonymous. (2015). Focus Groups. Chapter 5: Moderating Skills (pp. 103-135). SAGE Publications, Inc. Retrieved May 1, 2021, from https://us.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-assets/65004_book_item_65004.pdf

Kawasaki, G. (2006). How to Be A Great Moderator. Retrieved May 2, 2021, from https://guykawasaki.com/how_to_be_a_gre/