COMM 323 Reflection

Hello! Me again. It's been a few months since I poked around this site, and I must say I'm still impressed with how far I've come.

Initially, getting started on Wix for my Effective Media Writing class felt very overwhelming. I watched countless YouTube videos to figure out how the site worked. But once I moved a few things around, I found it to be easier than I originally thought. However, like most things in life, if you don't use it, you lose it. So, getting back in the swing of things took me a few minutes. For example, I completely forgot how to make a blog post. The easiest part of creating the site was finding templates to play with. When you have a good template, everything from there is drag and drop. Because of that, it should look presentable because of the nature of the program.

I am semi confident in my online presence. I have two reasons for saying this. First, I don't have a huge online presence, so I'm not concerned about what's out there. I keep my digital footprint minimal compared to others. I watch what I say and how I say it, especially online. I don't accept friend requests from people I don't know personally, and I don't post what I don't want others to see. This may be a false sense of security, but it's a sense of security nonetheless. Second, in terms of the professional world, I need to step up my game. I've been with my employer for 20 years, and the idea of creating a LinkedIn profile feels rude to me. I definitely need to expand in that regard and showcase myself and my work, whether I'm seeking new employment or not.

My best experience with leadership was a few years ago with a female leader. She led with her heart and was the perfect balance of loving, caring, and disciplined. Sometimes I think the first two characteristics are easily taken advantage of. But when a person brings boundaries and constructive criticism with love, it makes all the difference. Most people thoroughly enjoyed this leader.

A small event I attended last year was very poorly planned. A mother had invited multiple families to attend a Willy Wonka show at the local dinner theatre. This dinner theatre typically has a "no outside food policy" in place. Upon arrival, I noticed that multiple families brought in food. I questioned the facilitator of this gathering, and she stated that outside food was allowed because of the nature of the audience. I questioned why I wasn't informed of this. The facilitator apparently mentioned it in a specific group chat that I wasn't a part of. This upset me. We were in a time crunch to arrive, mainly because we made a stop to feed my children lunch before arrival. I wish I had known that we could pick up a meal or pack something from home and bring it inside with us. When the show was over, mutual acquaintances asked if my family was going to the "after-party." Again, another thing I wasn't aware of because I wasn't in that group chat.

If I were facilitating the event, I would have done a few things differently. One, there would have been one solid group chat that all participants would have been in. In that chat, I would have made families aware of the outside food policy being void for this event, and that after the show, we would be gathering elsewhere to enjoy more time together.

At this early stage of this portfolio, my first thoughts are, will I have to continually add and delete from this website per class assignments? I'm currently taking my Capstone class, which I believe is asking for a Wix website as well. I would love for these to be streamlined somehow so I'm not back and forth with edits for each class.