Personal Narrative 4: Communication

Communications skills are critical to successful diplomacy. Describe a situation which you used your communication skills (either in English or another language) to further an aim or achieve a goal. Include the following elements in your response: the situation and the steps you took to deal with the situation. What was the result?

In 2006, while I was working at the Shanghai Consulate General’s Foreign Commercial Service, my supervisor tasked me with attending the 4th Annual Jiangdu Cultural Economic Tourism Festival. The goal was to provide U.S. government support to an event that open up opportunities for American small and medium enterprises to export to China.

Upon my arrival to Jiangdu, event coordinators greeted me and asked me to give a speech at the event. They even provided me with a script, which was a point of concern. Because I was there in an official capacity, I knew that anything I said might indicate an official U.S policy, so I made sure to edit the script to remove anything that could indicate a commitment from the U.S.

The next day, I spoke at the event, which was much larger than I had anticipated. I gave my speech in front of a crowd of 900 local attendees, and appeared in a news story on local television.

The result of my participation in the event was greater visibility for the consulate’s Foreign Commercial Service and increased opportunities for U.S. companies to export to China.

Video of the newscast can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDwoTXFujn4&t=1s