Four Reasons to Visit CommLab Now! Top Six Tips and Tricks for a Trainee. Studying Abroad: Madeline Dodd. Ways to Market Yourself to Employers Using

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1 CommLab Newsletter Spring 2018 CommLab Location 2034 Newman Library Hours of Operation Monday/Wednesday: 10AM-6PM Tuesday/Thursday 11AM- 6PM Contact Us! Follow Like us: CommLab at Virginia Tech Schedule an appointment! intments Four Reasons to Visit CommLab Now! Page 2 Ways to Market Yourself to Employers Using Page 4 Studying Abroad: Madeline Dodd Page 5 Top Six Tips and Tricks for a Trainee Page 6

2 Four Reasons to Visit CommLab Now! By: Corinne Gorda Shaking knees, wavering voice, the papers or index cards in your hands shaking noticeably to the entire audience-- these are all trademarks of a nervous public speaker. We ve all been here before. There s a reason public speaking is known as one of the most common fears in America, with around 25% of Americans reporting they are terrified of speaking in front of people, according to the Washington Post. Luckily for all of us at Virginia Tech, we have the CommLab, a designated space to receive assistance on oral presentations, staffed by students and graduate teaching assistants who study communication. If you ve never been to the CommLab before, here are some of the reasons you should come to the Newman Library to check us out! 1. Increase your confidence The hardest thing about public speaking is overcoming your nerves, and the best way to do so is by practicing. The more you speak in front of audiences both small and large, the easier it becomes. Public speaking will play a part in our future careers and classes, and there s no reason for us to be bogged down by fear that keeps us from being successful. A confident speaker is a successful speaker! 2. Need help brainstorming for a speech or presentation. Feel free to bounce your ideas off of our student coaches if you re totally stuck on what to do for your speech. We have access to course materials and all of the CommLab coaches have taken either Communication Skills or Public Speaking before, and we can help you decide what s best for your presentation. Just remember, we can t write the speech for you, but we can help you improve it! Continued 2

3 3. Practice for a presentation Nervous about a speech or group presentation? Feel free to come in by yourself or with a group to practice your presentation skills. Our trained student coaches will be sure to provide you with constructive feedback in order to make sure you kill it on presentation day! 4. Video tape a speech for a class One reason students come to the CommLab is to have their speech recorded by a CommLab coach. If you need your speech recorded, come to CommLab and we ll help you out! Image Sources: GIFs from Giphy.com There are so many great reasons to visit CommLab, so we hope you come to 2034 Newman Library to check us out and find out for yourself! #Speak Well. 3

4 Ways to Market Yourself to Employers Using Commlab By: Shelby Mras For many coaches, graduation is imminent, meaning the long-awaited job search is too. When it comes to beating out the competition, knowing how to market yourself using the CommLab might be that determining factor that leads to a job offer. Here are some ways to do just that: Talk about working with clients Working collaboratively with students from across the university community to improve their speech performance is an aspect of the CommLab few other college jobs can provide. This hands-on experience shows you can facilitate communication and can deliver quick solutions to problems through providing constructive feedback. This will help show your ability to think critically, work with others, and deliver solutions. Show your ability to manage your time Being able to balance a full course load is hard enough, so showing that you did that in addition to working can prove your ability to plan your time accordingly. Set yourself apart from others by proving you have experience prioritizing between work and school demands. Find a way to make your CommLab miniproject relevant Showing that you have hands-on experience doing one of the many mini-projects can help diversify your skillset. Your project shows your ability to write for a newsletter, to organize client information with Microsoft Excel, or to promote the organization through social media. With that being said, pick a project that aligns well with some tasks you might carry out for the company/position you want. Tie in your capability to speak publicly Odds are if you can help someone improve their public speaking, you yourself know a thing or two about what it takes to give a successful speech. Public speaking is a skill universally sought out by employers and it shows you can articulate and deliver a message with confidence. Working as a CommLab peer speech coach provides you with numerous valuable experiences. Applying these tricks to market yourself to employers can give you an edge over your competitors that will impress hiring managers and help you land that job. 4

5 Studying Abroad: Madeline Dodd By: Caroline Zolper What was your favorite part about studying abroad? My favorite part about studying abroad overall was getting to travel every week and day to day it was great to live in Lugano because its such a pretty place to live and its right next to a lake. In Rwanda, I have always wanted to go to Africa and so going on safari and going to the capital were great experiences. It was also cool to be able to help the kids there and to learn more about Rwanda s history, especially the genocide. Do you feel like studying abroad has helped you to be a better coach in CommLab? If it has, how so? Yes, studying abroad has definitely helped me to be a better Commlab coach through working with different types of people in Africa because I gained more confidence in working with all different types of people. Peer coaches at CommLab work with many types of students on a variety of projects and presentations. This diversity requires coaches to think on their feet and to be experienced and comfortable working in many different situations. Studying abroad can help a peer coach gain valuable life experience that translates into improved expertise when brought back to the CommLab. Great CommLab coaches who are successful working with all students and overcoming any presentation challenge are created through hard work and new experiences, both of which are important aspects of any study abroad program! How long have you been working at CommLab? I have been working at Commlab for 4 semesters, but for one I was training and for one I was abroad. Where did you study abroad? I studied in Lugano, Switzerland for 2 months and I traveled around Rwanda for a month. Did you have any experience with non-native English speakers while you were abroad? Did that experience make you more confident in helping non-native English speakers in Commlab? We had some experience in Europe and a little more in Rwanda with non-native English speakers. While I still don t consider myself an expert in helping non-native English speakers, I definitely feel more comfortable in helping them to communicate with native English speakers! Has studying abroad changed how you think about cultural diversity? Has any of that carried over to CommLab? Going to Africa helped me to learn a lot about the importance of the little things and human interaction, which are things that aren t as much of a focus in the United States. This has carried over to CommLab because focusing on how you can help others or make their day better, even if its something small like help on a speech helps me be more aware of my everyday interactions.!! 5

6 Top 6 Tips and Tricks for a Trainee By: Ally Larrick 2. You re going to have to sit in on WAY more appointments than you think For a while, every time a client came in, I would tell myself, Okay, you got this one on your own. I definitely didn t, because the first thing I would do was forget to give them the Client Information form and the CommLab Participation form. These two pieces of paper are the only real forms of documentation that the client visited the CommLab, so it was essential that they were given to each person who came in for an appointment. I realized after a while, that it s okay to watch and mimic a few more coaches, or to sit in on a few more appointments. Doing this will only make the appointments you run on your own smoother, and more successful. 1. LISTEN to the current coach s advice, don t just HEAR it There is a big difference between hearing and listening, as we all learned in Comm Skills. I found this to be essential to my training as a CommLab coach. As I sat around the table at our first meeting of the semester, the wealth of advice I received was overwhelming. From simple tips to CommLab stories, I slowly realized that everything the coaches were saying would pop up at some point during my time as a trainee. One piece of advice that stuck with me was, Start with positives, end with positives. Not only does this give you an easy segue into critiquing the clients, but it is a great way to build automatic confidence. The most rewarding aspect of the CommLab, for me, is being able to watch the clients walk out with more confidence than they walked in with. The current coach s advice should not be going in one ear and out the other. By remembering this, and utilizing their advice, I have witnessed a growth in self-esteem client by client. 3. Ask the clients if THEY have questions for YOU At the end of a client s speech, asking if they have any questions for you helps alleviate a lot of pressure on your part. It is difficult, especially for the first time, to come up with helpful and impactful critiques, and the right ones at that. It may go both ways. Don t worry if they don t have any questions for you, just go on with what you ve prepared and keep it at that. But, if they do have questions for you, be ready to guide any of those questions. The keyword here is guide. It is important to never give a client a solution to all of their problems, and to remember that you are the coach and are not supposed to do the work for them. 4. Don t forget PAPER This one is a rookie mistake. The first appointment I did on my own, I remembered the forms, time cards, rubric, but forgot blank paper. You can t remember as much as you think you can, especially after sitting through an eight-minute speech. Another Continued 6

7 trick you can teach yourself is learning to write while still looking at the client and then being able to decipher your chicken scratch. This will ensure that the client has your full attention, and possibly sharpen your handwriting skills. 5. Don t be afraid to USE your resources In the CommLab, all of the rubrics, course guides, time cards, video cameras, and equipment are provided for use. It is extremely helpful to be able to pull out the course guide when a client walks in to make sure they are following the guidelines. During my time as a trainee, I have witnessed numerous clients come in and not know how long their speech is supposed to be, or if they are supposed to have oral citations or not. The resources in the CommLab are to help you, but also your clients so that they can understand the assignment fully, so use them as much as possible. 6. Treat your CURRENT job as a trainee the same as your FUTURE job as a coach There is no way you will succeed if you don t put yourself into the coach s shoes. Do what is expected of them, do what they would do and soon your days as a trainee will be over and you ll be invited back as a CommLab speech coach! 7