DISCUSSION: Week (2) personal brands, speech preparation

Just like last week, this week you will meet for your Thursday discussion section synchronous and online using your TA's Zoom room.  Find your Zoom room URL from your TA, on your text Discussions board, on our Home page, or on the Zoom Rooms page.

Perform your personal brand

This week you will perform the personal brand speeches you wrote and recorded in your assignment Draft and perform your personal brand. Your TA will leave some time for you to reflect with your fellow classmates about things that students did in their speeches that were compelling and effective (so please take notes as you listen to your classmates speak).  

Here are some other questions your TA might have you discuss:

  • Is your initial personal brand more about who you are right now, or who you want to become as your career progresses?  
  • Now that you've written it out, how do you think you'd like to see your personal brand statement change over the course of the semester?
  • Are there any downsides or risks to thinking about yourself as a "brand" in the same way that commercial products and services are marketed and branded?
  • Does UW-Madison have a "brand"?  What is it?  What does being part of UW-Madison say about you?
  • How difficult do you find it to speak in front of an audience -- especially about yourself?  Do you think others share these challenges?
  • What kinds of experiences can you explore to improve your public speaking skill?

Your TA may also ask you to discuss some of your reflections on the scholarly article about speaking skills that you read this week.

Prepare for next week

During the second half of section, your TA will talk a little bit about the upcoming articles about technology in the workplace, and give you some ideas for improving your writing and doing well on your first essay project which is going to stretch over the next few weeks.  This is also your chance to ask any questions about how these writing essay assignments work.  

Here's one possible question for discussion: Not all "new technologies" are digital tools.  Can you think of an example of an important new or transforming technology within your career community that is not a digital information/communication technology?

Finally, since next week you start to work through your scholarly article speeches, make sure you understand when during the semester you are scheduled to prepare your Five-minute prepared article speech.