Communication: Today

Workshop

Part A

First imagine that you are sitting at a dinner table together.

How did you as a group end up being there, i.e. everybody turning up at the same time in the same place for the same purpose.

Describe the chain of actions required/leading to such situation.

• What kind of actions were preceding it?
• What kind of agreements/decision had to be made?
• What was the initiative?
• What was your role in it all?
• What were the others' roles?
• How did you communicate?
• What tools did you use in the process of getting together?

Write a narrative describing it.
Draw a picture of the process.

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Sep 21^st, London Heathrow International Airport: The day we all met for the first time. We’d all flown in from different places: Aliena from Pakistan, Anil and Anoop from India, Ajeng from Indonesia, but the common thing was, we were all heading to Royal Holloway, for our Post-Graduate studies. Aliena and Ajeng arrived first at the Student Pickup point, and since they were the only two students there, Ajeng introduced herself to Aliena. Anil and Anoop were on the same flight and had already spoken to each other during the flight, and they arrived a while later. We started chatting amongst ourselves and found out that, coincidentally, the four of us had opted for the same course, BIS. By then, the bus arrived, and on the way to the university, we discussed each other’s backgrounds, and came to know a bit about each other. Aliena mentioned the Welcome drinks arranged for Management students the next day, which the others didn’t know about, so we agreed to meet there and continue our chat.

Sep 22^nd, MX34, Royal Holloway: We met at the party, and were happy to see each other again. We also got to meet other students and faculty members. We had loads of fun catching up, and exchanged phone numbers and email ids. After the party we didn’t want to go home early as we were getting along really well, so Anil suggested we’ll have dinner together. We all thought it was a good idea, but were confused about the restaurant, as we were all new to the place. After hearing everyone’s suggestions, Anoop came up with the idea of going to the Hub. Everyone agreed and headed to the Hub.

Sep 22^nd, The Hub: After a long day, all of us were really hungry, so we just grabbed our plates and went down to the buffet table. After filling our plates, we found a free table, and sat down together. Over the course of dinner, our discussions continued. We shared our different life experiences, and had a few laughs over the blunders and goof-ups. Ajeng brought our attention back to the course, and found out that everyone was really concerned about the choice of electives. As Ajeng was from a Management background, and the rest of us from Computing, we had a short discussion about our thoughts about each elective and our expectations from the course. Aliena, who did her Undergraduate degree in the UK, gave us a lot of valuable pointers about the British way of life. She explained to us the use of an Oyster Card, NI and details of getting a bank account. After chatting for hours, we were all glad that we’d met and become friends, and that dinner was a good idea.