Final Portfolio

Communicating Gender

Everybody has been profiled before, I know that I have. Whether it is for the way that you dress or how you decide to style your hair, people make assumptions about your personality and your abilities with a glance. Many of these assumptions can stem from your perceived gender. I have personal experience in this area, being the only male working in a department made up of nine other people, all of which were a different gender than me. After the first couple weeks on the job, I started to notice that the tasks that I was being given were different than others with the same job description as me. That’s when I noticed that the tasks that I was undertaking were considered to be “manly”. It took only a few conversations to find out that I was the only male to apply for the position and that was a large reason as to why I was awarded the position. Without even knowing my personality or background, I was perceived to have value because I was a man. Because of this, I was given different responsibilities than those around me, even though we were all working the same job.

How to Become an Authentic Speaker:

This is a photo of an actual man on a stage. I don’t know who this man is, yet I feel as though he knows exactly what he’s talking about. This may be because of the TED Talk logo in the background, or maybe it’s due to the relaxed manner with which he seems to claim the stage. With the simple red logo and the background otherwise completely black, your eyes are forced to focus on the man on stage, who looks as though he is offering you some sort of advice, or perhaps some wisdom.

Crisis Communications

Most people’s first instinct when a crisis arises within their organization is to try and fix the relations between the company and the public. Trying to fix public relations before consulting with the PR staff can lead to more problems. For one thing, it is important to have a full understanding of what’s going on before addressing the public because you might not know the full extent of the crisis and how it is affecting both the organization and the public. Once everything is known about the crisis, the entire staff of the organization needs to get on the same page regarding how they are going to address it. This means they need a script that includes both things that they should say to the public as well as topics to stay far away from—there is no room for personal opinions within an organization crisis. Finally, when it is time to let the public know about the crisis, the most important part to focus on is what the organization is doing to rectify the situation. It is the journey that matters, not the destination.

Telling Tales

This photo is of a painting of Jesus teaching his followers. Jesus is sitting underneath a tree, looking out at all the people around him so that he can make a personal connection with each of them as he tells a story. Jesus was known for using stories, or parables, as his style of teaching because, with storytelling, Jesus was able to spread his ethos to others so that they too could go and spread the gospel in a way that others could understand.

Branding

Take a second to think about your favourite brand. Picture their logo in your mind. What is it about this brand that sticks out? What does this brand stand for? The odds are that you thought about a brand that seems to fit with your personal view of yourself. Are you a sporty person whose favourite brand is Adidas? Maybe you’re into the trades and your favourite brand is Makita. The point is, no matter what kind of person you are, there is a brand that seems to fit you just right. That’s because companies and brands are trying to fit you, they want to make you feel as though there is a personal connection between you, the consumer, and them. Their brand is building up your brand. The kind of companies that you choose to represent are also representing you.