Posts
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| "um.. such as Africa.. um" Ms. USA Beauty Pageant contestant Ms. South Carolina blunders with her words |
- Communication Skills -- communicating clearly so others understand you
- Listening Skills -- clearly hear what others are saying to you
- Writing Skills -- writing clearly, concisely, proper grammar, structure and punctuation
- Speaking Skills -- communicating orally
- Interpersonal Skills -- work as a team, interviewing others politely, going in-depth
- Curiosity and awareness -- eager to know what's going on around you, able to see patterns in life and when those patterns are altered
- Self-direction -- takes direction from editors, can write a story without being told
- Self-confidence -- believe in their abilities to their readers and listeners
Above is a list of the common skills that excellent journalists possess. I feel that I am stronger in some of these than others. I would have to say that my interpersonal and writing skills combined with my work ethic of self-direction helps me as a journalist write a story that readers find interesting. However, sometimes I feel that my speaking skills are not up to par with the others. When speaking, sometimes I have trouble in saying what I mean or I make it too confusing for others to follow. I'd love to be able to improve on this weak area, so I thought of a three step plan t achieve this.
Step 1: Read more. Not only will this help my writing, but also by reading more I can familiarize myself with coherent, concise way of communicating myself.
Step 2: Write everything down. When preparing for a speaking event, write down an exact script of what I will say, that way there will be no impromptu that I would stumble upon. I already write questions down for interviews, too, so continuing that will also help.
Step 3: Listen to speeches to get ideas on how to convey my points in a more concise way.
Hopefully, by working on this skill that I lack the most, I will not only improve as a journalist, but in communication as a whole
