14th April 2010 marked the end of the series of oral presentations in ES2007S. My group, Team Invictus, was the last to present our research findings and results to the class. I was glad that everything went smoothly and accordingly to our plan, albeit some technical faults before the start of our presentation – the ‘disappearance’ of the background picture in our slides made us flustered. It was indeed a great experience working together with Glenn, Japser and Rohan, who were always that helpful and considerate towards me, especially during the period when I fell sick. Therefore, I would like to say a big thank you to you guys here.
For my personal reflection on:
Content
The idea of summarizing and presenting all our findings in 3 main points for every section was good. It had made our slides look impressive, clear, structured and less wordy. This in fact facilitated the audience in absorbing and ‘digesting’ all the presented information. However, it posed a big challenge for us in terms of speech delivery, for we had to stay calm and be concise when explaining the large chunks of information to the audience.
For the small video clip, I felt that the name and the job position of the three interviewees should be included for the sake of clarity. Also, the sound quality should be better, for I did hear some muffling background noises, and some of the audience seemed to be ‘stretching’ their ears so that they could hear the words properly.
Presentation
As compared to the peer teaching session, my part of presentation was much longer this time round. As I was not a good speaker, I tried my best to stay calm and be confident, and prevent my voice from trembling. Also, I tried to have much eye contact with the audience. But I guessed that I had failed in the latter part, for I kept looking back at the slide to check whether the slide animations were in pace with my speech (I had the tendency to keep pressing the ‘forward’ button when I was nervous). Hence it created the impression that I was not confident. Nevertheless, I felt that my performance this time round was much better, as I was able to tell my ‘story’ in a nice and smooth flow, and felt more comfortable when facing the class. Also, I had succeeded in preventing myself from regurgitating my script. This is an area which I definitely wish to improve on further.
I liked the ‘good-bad cop’ role played by both Rohan and Jasper, for that was something new and it tended to liven up the atmosphere. I guessed by doing so, they were actually trying to grasp the audiences’ attention, and preventing them from feeling sleepy. This was in fact an essential move, for if they were boring and monotonous, the audience would tend to drift off and no longer paid attention. Hence in the end, they might not understand the underlying concept behind our recommendations. I also liked the way Glenn presented, for he sounded very professional and was calm during his explanations.
Overall, despite the setback that our team had faced for our proposal, I was glad that our presentation had ended off with a blast. Good job, Team Invictus!
7 comments:
Hello WeiYing,
Good job for your presentation. I think this is the first time I see your formal presentation. Firstly, I think your delivery is loud enough but perhaps it can be more assertive. Although your tone is not monotonous, it gave me a kind of 'floating in the air' feeling. It's as though you took a deep breathe and speak all at one go. As such, sometimes its abit tedious or perhaps I feel abit breathless trying to catch up with you. Nevertheless, your smile and eye contact were good and quite constant throughout the presentation. You do reflect a sense of professionalism too. Also, I realised you did not use a cue card! Great job Weiying! However, there were times during your presentation, I could sense that you memorized your speech. So perhaps you can take note of that. Otherwise, I would say with more practices, your presentation will certianly be much better.
Cheers!
Hey Wei ying,
I felt that you were quite clear and calm with your delivery. However you were pretty soft too, or maybe it could just be presenting along with 3 other men.
To Diana: Thanks for your kind comment and pointers! I will take note of them in my future presentation. I find that it is quite difficult for me to be assertive in my speech. Perhaps it is due to the insufficient oral practices. Like what you said, with more practices, my oral presentation skills will definitely be much better. :)
To Kunlin: Thank you for your comment. I thought I was loud enough on that day. All right, from tomorrow onwards, I have to train myself to speaker louder when I converse with people. :D
Hi Wei Ying,
I thought you sounded more confident than during your peer teaching. It was certainly a good improvement, in my opinion. However, I do agree with Diana(1) that if you could speak louder, you would sound more assertive. But I guess your soft spoken nature did have a part to play in it. Perhaps you could mentally remind yourself to speak louder the next time you present. Nevertheless, I thought the story about your cousin was well told – it was clear and it strongly brought out the point that you had wanted to make. Another area which you could improve on, would be your hand movements. I realised that throughout the presentation, you felt awkward about leaving your hands behind your back, yet not knowing where you should keep them if not behind your back. A suggestion would be to use them to show your expression, or stress your point, just like how you use your hands to show some expression when you talk to someone one-to-one. It would be wise not to overdo it though.
All the best!
Hi Wei Ying,
Great effort! I remembered you were busy practicing during the first hour before our presentation. The performance you put up was definitely a big step forward from our group practices. Your story was well told and you managed to cut down on the unnecessary points keeping your presentation concise.
Was a pleasure working with you
Good Job!
To Jolene: Thanks for your kind comment and pointers! Yes, I did feel awkward about my hand movements. I thought everyone might notice it, but it seemed like you were the only one who saw it.I did not know where and how I should position my hand during the presentation. I will also try to improve on my speaking, so as to overcome my soft-spoken nature. All the best in your future endeavours! :D
To Glenn: Thanks for your encouraging comments! It is really a nice opportunity to be able to work with you! All the best for your upcoming uni years! :)
Hi Wei Ying,
I thought that I have made comments on our blog post but it seems like I have missed out.
I would like to congratulate you for the big improvement in terms of your delivery. I remember that at the beginning of the semester, you always tell me that you are not confident to speak up and present. I am happy for your to have a breakthrough on this "phobia" that you had. You were confident, clear and fluent during your presentation.
There are certain things that you may want to take note. I find your volume a little soft, although I am not sure if my flu was still blocking my ear. Also, I noticed that when you referred to your slides, your ponytail was sort of sweeping across when you turned your head, which distracted me a few times.
On top of that, you are generally good in your presentation. Keep up the good work.
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