I thought that since I'm going to give a speech tomorrow, I might as well get started with my speech draft today. And since I hate writing, I'm gonna type. Right here into this blog. Saves me of having to upload another post again. Like they say, one speech kill two purposes. So here goes.
"Hi, my name is Luke, Luke Phang to be exact, or you can call dori_lukey or Lukey as how I am known online.
As you all may or may not know, I am one of the blogger mentor speaking today, aside from the two other handsome mentors here, Darryl and Ding Neng, of course, I'm the more handsome one although I'm a little bit shorter but that's another story for another time.
For today, I will be talking a little bit on competitions and blogging, The Ultimate Campus Spy organized by Youth.sg is something like this and also I will be sharing some tips on how to blog like a good campus spy should.
Before I start however, let me say a little more about myself. I have been blogging for quite some time already, six years to be exact, but only became involved in the Singapore blogosphere just two years ago when I came to Singapore to study in NUS. Prior to that, I'm just another small little blogger back in Malaysia.
I blog at lukeyishandsome.com, yes, I know the name sounds a little bit narcissistic but hey, a little self confidence is better than none right? Just joking. There's a long story behind the name but that is also for another day.
Anyway, I have been participating in various blogging competitions in the past 2 years, and few of my notable achievements include winning an iPad from Exabytes Be Cool Blogging Contest, being chosen as Standard Chartered's Top 23 World's Coolest Intern and recently was one of the Top 10 Bloggers for F&N's Spread The Groove so you can say I have sufficient know how on blogging.
But aside from being handsome and slightly good a blogging, I'm not without weaknesses. For starters, I am terrible at speaking. Which is why I am a blogger instead of a speaker.
I only work best behind a keyboard typing away but not in front of a large crowd like this. So if I stumble on my words later, do forgive me. I would prefer to type a blog post for all of you to see but that would just spoil the fun, won't it? So yeah, that's why you have a nervous Lukey standing in front of all you right now trying the best not to wet his pants.
I only work best behind a keyboard typing away but not in front of a large crowd like this. So if I stumble on my words later, do forgive me. I would prefer to type a blog post for all of you to see but that would just spoil the fun, won't it? So yeah, that's why you have a nervous Lukey standing in front of all you right now trying the best not to wet his pants.
Just joking, I brought diapers.
Anyway, now that I'm done with the awesomely long self intro, time for the good stuff, "What does it takes to be Youth.sg's Ultimate Campus Spy?".
If you have not known, Youth.SG Ultimate Campus Spy Network is an initiative by Youth.SG to have student bloggers writing about life in school and what is it all about. Be it happenings, trends or any issues that involves the school. Not only that, there are also loads of prizes to be won in the process! But since I'm here to talk about other stuff, I'll leave it to you to look for more information.
I on the other hand, will share a little bit on what it takes to be a campus spy. You know, like the secret tactics that only a spy would know.
First of all, being someone who writes, good writing skills is a must. And that means keeping SMS type language to a minimum. No ...., -la, -ma or mixed up languages. And no Yoda like English too. Something like, "Burger I Ate Today".
The reason behind this is simple. You want your audiences to understand to what you are writing. And keeping to the standard English is one of the ways. Of course, Singlish is sort of like a grey area so you can still use that, but sparingly of course. You're writing under a campus blog after all so formal or standard English is expected.
Other than that, you will also need consistency for your blog to stand out. Blogging is really much like doing a business. The readers are like your customers and your blog posts are your product. You have be consistent with your updates to keep the readers interested and to give them something to look forward to. It's like a magazine or a newspaper. What would you think if your newspaper fails to come one day? Being consistent is the first step to attract people to your blog. It shows that you are dedicated to blogging and also your readers.
A simple way to be consistent is to give yourself a quota that you must write for a certain period. Like one post per day. Make it a habit. And the readers will make it a habit too to come back day after day too to read your posts.
Thirdly, you'll need originality and also a personal touch to your posts.
Blogging is really much like entertainment. It's like how people post those funny videos unto Youtube except you're doing it with words. You want to engage people and make them feel good when they're reading your post. One way to do that is to write in a way that it feels like you're sharing something with a friend.
And copy and pasting is definitely out of the question. It shows that you're lazy and lack the originality. And writing as if you're reporting a news is a big no too. You know, the neutral stand and throw you all the facts style? It's boring. And if we want to know what's going on only, we would have gone to a news portal, not blog. Blog is different from news because it's where the individual shines.
A good example would be to compare what Twitter and Facebook asks for a status update. Twitter for example, asks "What's happening" as compared to "What's on your mind" asked by Facebook. Notice the difference? To answer the Twitter question one would just have to simple state what he/she is doing like "I'm drinking coffee now" as compared to "Coffee is such a good start to my day. I love coffee" if you were to say what's on your mind.
Just to clarify, I'm a big fan of Twitter, and this is in not anyway a part of "Facebook or Twitter is better" debate.
Also as a spy, having a few extra set of skills would come in handy too. If you're big on photography, comic drawing or videography, you can supplement your blog with these to make a point. A picture speaks a thousand words after all and having a picture in your blog will definitely help. Besides, we humans love visual stuff.
Oh and not forgetting, as a campus spy, one last required attribute is to have your ears everywhere. Which means you know what is exactly going on around your school. So you can come up with the latest topic and have materials to blog about.
Good writing skills, consistency, originality and personal touch together with some extra skills and keen sense of what's happening, those are the quality that I think would make up a good campus spy. If you think you got what it takes and love new experiences, this is the opportunity for you! It will surely be a good experience.
I guess that's all from my speech then. Hope to see you all in the competition. Bye!"
*****
I just hope I can blurt out all of these when tomorrow comes. And hope that this speech is good enough to make it. What do you think?
4 comments:
Awesome man! But I think you're gonna have to practice ALOT... the most important thing in speech giving is CONFIDENCE, and that only gets built up if you practice and practice and practice. Good luck man!
Treat your audience as your group of friends, talk slow and clear.No hurry and don't be nervous.MUST PUT FORTH YOUR CONFIDENCE. NARCISSISTIC young man!
This was throughly detailed and entertaining. Though the intro was a little lengthy.
Plus, bringing ACTUAL diapers really could really leave quite the impression.
Good luck!
Hello.
I started to write blog in English.
I will write about everything, will be a lot of pictures, reviews of books, films, songs etc.
So it would be nice if you visit my blog sometimes :)
(Sorry for mistakes, I'm still learning English)
http://bianchii.blogspot.com
(you can follow me)
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