Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Individual
As compared to the first oral presentation, I was evidently more composed in this Oral Presentation. I was also better prepared, and did not rely as much on the index cards, opposed to Oral Presentation 1. I felt that I was more capable of expressing my ideas coherently, and elaborating on the points that I had raised.
However, I still have the problem of speaking too fast, and sometimes not very clearly. In some parts of the presentation I seemed to be almost mumbling and the words could not be heard well. I would need to work on improving the speed and pitch of my voice, and express myself better the next time.
I tried to maintain eye contact with everyone in the class, but at some points in time, I seemed to be focusing on a certain few people in the centre of the class. This is another thing I need to improve as the others whom I am not maintaining eye contact may feel unimportant, or distracted as my attention is not given to them.
Team
I felt as a whole our team did well, we had sufficient visual aids and diagrams to illustrate our point, and different portions by various members of our team complemented each other well. For example, my slide on the vicious cycle and Brandon's slide on the self sustaining cycle emphasizes to the audience, that a change in perspective of the public can help to solve problems, if their perception of things can be changed. Moreover, we did not have too much trouble with slide transition.
However a problem we faced was that we placed too much content into the presentation, causing all our team members to have to race their way from the start to the end of their parts, and our time also overshot. This is a lack of time management on our part, and in the future, we should not be overly ambitious is having too much content in the presentation.
Here are some comics showing us how presentation skills are important to communication and transmission of information :
Source : http://images.google.com.sg/imglandingq=presentation,funny&imgurl=http://www.presentationmagazine.com/graphics/Boring%2520Presentation.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.presentationmagazine.com/humour.htm&usg=__3hUDiKZut6d4-zBBHjuIqN8ziaM=&h=400&w=400&sz=21&hl=en&itbs=1&tbnid=5uibefAIJ2Gr-M:&tbnh=124&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpresentation,funny%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1&sa=G&gbv=2&tbs=isch:1&start=0
Source: http://images.google.com.sg/imglanding?q=presentation,funny&imgurl=http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/rte/lowres/rten88l.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/b/bottom_line.asp&usg=__bSGpJ-gOTbj2E9WtNj_4t8a5aA4=&h=400&w=373&sz=40&hl=en&itbs=1&tbnid=wpISQ9zcGZsUlM:&tbnh=124&tbnw=116&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpresentation,funny%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1&sa=G&gbv=2&tbs=isch:1&start=6
Source: http://images.google.com.sg/imglanding?q=presentation,funny&imgurl=http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/rte/lowres/rten88l.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/b/bottom_line.asp&usg=__bSGpJ-gOTbj2E9WtNj_4t8a5aA4=&h=400&w=373&sz=40&hl=en&itbs=1&tbnid=wpISQ9zcGZsUlM:&tbnh=124&tbnw=116&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpresentation,funny%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1&sa=G&gbv=2&tbs=isch:1&start=6
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Hi Cherlia,
Since we are in the same group, we do share similar sentiments about our presentation.
In my honest opinion, the whole team was guilty of placing too much information into the presentation. Even with graphics, our presentation did seem intensive in our attempt of bringing across our point. Although our topic, given its complicated nature, required necessary expansion on what we presented, we perhaps should have focused on a few causes of problems instead of finding as much possible reasons as possible.
However, besides the unintentional lack of eye contact and looking at the cue card for too long, your presentation was excellent as it achieved what it was done for: bringing our main point of the assignment across to the audience successfully.
Hi Cherlia,
In comparison to your last presentation, you have indeed improved. This is evident from the ideas and points you have elaborated. However, I feel that there are still some instances where you were over dependent on your index cards.
Speaking too fast in a presentation is a common problem and most people have this problem because they are not used to being in a presentation and hence they tend to speak in their usual speed and style. In my opinion, to correct this mistake, it is advisable to rehearse more and allow your teammates to give comments on this aspect. This will allow you to be aware what would be the appropriate and proper speed that you should have in the actual presentation.
When this problem of speaking too fast is solved, I believe that the other problems that you mentioned would naturally be solved as well, such as mumbling of the words.
Indeed, having good eye contact will make the audience feel that they are being given your attention and make them feel important. In my opinion, to improve on this, one way is to be more familiar with the contents that you will be presenting. In this way, you can avoid from having to constantly referring to your index cards and be able to elaborate in your own words more confidently. Thus, naturally, you will be more comfortable with the presentation and maintaining eye contacts with the audience will no longer be an issue.
Overall you have done a good job in this presentation and I believe that you will be able to improve in your future presentations.
Regards,
Jason
Hi Cherlia,
The problem of placing too much content is a common problem that we should try to avoid. As more preparation is done in doing this project, it is natural that we want to show as much findings as we could to bring the idea across better. However, it may lead to the audience becoming bored and distracted if the content is not linked properly or if certain points are repeated too many times. To reduce this problem, we could have spent more time in revising the slides and take out points that were repeated or summarize some points to make it more clear and concise for the audience.
You also mentioned the problem of the speaking too fast and being unclear at times. This problem can be resolved by having more rehearsals while taking note of this problem, since you have already identified it as one of your common mistakes. You could also ask your teammates to listen to your part and let them comment on flaws that might surface. This would reduce the problems in your speech and will help you to improve on your presentation skills.
I hoped that my comments were useful and that you overcome the problems that you mentioned in your post.
Leonard (C06)
Hi Cher Lia,
As an audience to your presentation, I do not find that you are speaking too fast in the presentation. You have expressed yourself well and I can catch what you are presenting during the whole presentation.
However, if you find that you are still speaking too fast, you may want to consider recording your voice during one of the oral presentation rehearsals and reflect on the recording. Sometimes it is hard to realize that you are speaking too fast while you are speaking. Furthermore, your friends may have adapted to your speed and pitch of your voice, thus making it harder for them to realize that you are speaking too fast. Thus, you may want to record your presentation and reflect on the speed and pitch of your voice. This may help you realize the mistakes you made and reduce such mistakes during the actual oral presentation.
As I have mentioned in Brandon’s blog, you may want to consider having a timer during one of your rehearsals so that you can roughly gauge the amount of time needed for the whole presentation. If the time has exceeded, your team can work together to reduce the amount of content to present.
Lastly, good job in your oral presentation and your blog post. Your blog post is generally clear and concise. You also have analyzed your oral presentation well. Keep up the good work!
Li Hua
Hi Cherlia,
You have definitely improved from your previous presentation, it was a pleasure to watch, and I found myself convinced that your presentation was very “real” and relating to the information you provided.
What I liked about your part of the presentation was the strong conviction you conveyed in your tone and your actions. By being confident in your information, you allow the audience to see how important the issue is.
Personally, I found your pace reasonable, but for those not well versed in English, it might be slightly incomprehensible. I agree that you did mumble at times but your posture and general demeanor during the presentation made it less noticeable.
As silly as it sounds, to regulate your speed, I recommend using a metronome, or a song with a tempo that you wish to follow. Play it on repeat when practicing. It will slowly influence change your paces to the one you want.
In addition, I liked that the links between each person’s parts was quite obvious and made the presentation smoother and easier to process the information. I felt that the information conveyed was just enough and that it’s better to overload information than give too little; more information would mean giving us more to contemplate.
Overall, a truly enjoyable presentation that spoke to me. I hope that your future presentations will be just as interesting.
Regards,
Kimberly
Post a Comment