Preparing for the presentation
The main criticism I faced for the previous peer teaching presentation was my exceeding fast pace of speech. I tried to make improvements by pausing at times to slow down my speech. In addition, I also realised that I have been using the wrong approach to presentation and that is I always memorise my script. This not only make my speech very fast-paced as I will try to rush through the speech for fear of forgetting the exact speech, my speech also appear very unnatural and monotonous as I tend to recite. However, after I rehearsed with Zikai and Jiwei for our presentation, I realised that the key to their natural presentation was that they only memorise the key points in their presentation. By doing so, not only will they be able to vary their tone which make their presentation much more interesting, they will not be caught off-handed should they forget their speeches. I also have the tendency to be expressionless during presentation. Hence, I adopted the same strategy by memorising only the key points for my speech. After observing presentations by other groups in the class, I saw how effective a great smile can engage the audience. Hence, I rehearsed my speech with a full length mirror placed in front of me in order ensure that I have the right expression and body language.
The actual presentation
After rehearsing rigorously the day before, my confidence level for this morning's presentation was definitely much higher as compared to the previous time. However, no amount of preparation would suffice as the actual presentation setting was still very different from all the rehearsal settings. Firstly, there was an audience and I found it exceedingly difficult to do three things concurrently: sustain the smile on my face while trying to deliver my speech and maintaining eye contact with the audience. In addition, the expressions wore by the audience during the presentation also affected me by a great deal. Some of them appeared expressionless and I found it hard to stay focus on my presentation as I began to wonder if my speech was too boring. Secondly, unexpected events never fail to occur. No matter how prepared I am, there was no way I can never anticipate the kind of questions the audience can pose to me. For this morning's presentation, I tried to answer all the questions posed to me based on understanding of our group's proposal but I realised that there was no way I can satisfy all the audience. In addition, I also realised that I have the tendency to be aggressive in my tone when answering questions.
However, despite all the problems faced, I can see a slight improvement in my presentation skills. I think the method of memorising only the key points in the presentation is effective and my speech was much more natural as compared to the previous presentation.
Post presentation
With the end of our group's presentation marked the end of all the presentations for our class. Brad had all of us sat down with each group suggesting one possible area for improvement in our presentation. Becoming familiar with the content of the presentation, being mental-prepared for the unexpected and making connecting statements to the previous presenters are some of the suggestions made by my classmates. The de-briefing session not only helped me to consolidate all the new presentation skills learnt, it also made me become more aware of the areas which I am lacking in.
My presentation skills are far from perfection and there are many more areas for me to work on. The main problem I faced is still the pace of my speech and according to Brad, it may be due to the fact that I tend to talk very fast even under normal circumstances. I hope that the readers for this post can suggest to me some possible ways to slow down my speech as this problem has been troubling me for a long time.
Finally, I would like to thank Jiwei and Zikai as I have learnt a great deal from them especially good presentation skills and also for their patience as I know I can be really difficult to work with. Thank you guys!
Someday, I hope to be able to stand confidently in front of a huge crowd and maybe like Super Obama?
Thank you very much, Xiu Ling, for this highly detailed and insightful reflection. I like the way you break down the process chronologically. I also like your critical self analysis, and your willingness to be, in some ways, your own worst critic. That allows you a certain perspective, one that if held in a balanced manner, can really pave the way for your steady development. You've done a great job this term looking at your own work and asking question after question. You've done the same with regard to your committed project work and the fine OP segment. I'm impressed!
ReplyDeleteMore comments to follow----
Hello XiuLing,
ReplyDeleteIt’s time for me to comment on your oral presentation! As you have mentioned in your post, you tend to speak too fast, (don’t worry, I have that problem too). I think you have made a marked improvement in this area as compared to the peer teaching. I can also see that you have tried to vary your pitch and intonations so that your presentation is not monotonous. I feel that you have made an excellent effort for that. However, you seem to have pitched your voice a little higher than usual today, making it a little unnatural. I suppose that this is not really a big issue because I only noticed it as I’m your coursemate – if I’m from the Dean’s office, I wouldn’t have realised this.
You have good voice projection and managed to maintain good eye contact most of the time. However, my only complaint is that you turn your head too frequently to look at the screen. While it is important that you look at the screen to ensure that you are showing the correct slide, I feel that your turning is a little excessive, but I think that you do not realise that. As the audience, it gets very distracting to watch you as you keep swinging your head. Furthermore, by always looking at the screen, you seem to be indicating to the audience that all the important information is right there on the screen. As a result, we tend to focus more on what is appearing on the screen instead of giving you our full attention.
In the early part of your presentation, you showed a quote by someone. You mentioned that your point was supported by his/her quote, therefore I feel that it is important that you read out the quote or give the audience time to read the quote. I barely had time to read finish the first sentence and see who wrote it before you switched to the next slide. Don worry, you only committed this once, the transition for the other slides were alright.
Lastly, I feel that you showed a strong knowledge and familiarity for the content as shown by your excellent answers to the questions posed. You demonstrate your conviction in your team’s proposal as seen by your passionate responses. However, sometimes you tend to get too carried away in your eagerness to respond that you forget to let the audience finish his/her question. I feel that this is quite important as it is courteous to do so. Furthermore, it changes the perception. By jumping in with an answer too early, it seems that you are trying to defend yourself. Conversely, by allowing the audience to finish asking the question, it seems that you are genuinely interested in allaying his/her fears.
Hope this helps!
Cheers
Russell
Xiu Ling =)
ReplyDeleteI think you did a great job! =) A much better presentation than our peer teaching!
I agreed with Russell that your pitch was slight higher than usual on the day of presentation. But, I would think that is not the main point. Generally, when you engaged in a normal speech, I do not feel that your pace of speech is as fast as compared to during a presentation. Maybe you could try telling yourself before the presentation that I am just speaking to the audience and not presenting to the audience. This might help a lot! =)
In addition, a good way to slow down the pace of your speech during present could be to practice with a timer and some audiences. With that, you would be able to be more nearer to the appropriate pace! =) You can try taking deep breaths to signal yourself to slow down your pace.
I really hope my suggestions would help! Keep up the good work! =)
Rebecca =)
Hi Xiuling!
ReplyDeleteI felt that you have indeed improved alot from the peer teaching. Your tone variation was not a major problem, and I felt that your speed was not at a fast pace. It seems that by not memorizing the script, your tone and speed had improved alot.
You did not appeared to be distracted by the audience though. I had the same problem of having to smile and present at the same time too. I tend to forget I need to smile~
Overall, I think your speech was well done! Good job! :D
However, I think perhaps you are a little too aggressive in the QnA. It makes me feel like we are quarreling. Perhaps you felt scrutinized by the class when you are bombarded by the questions. I tend to panic and stutter when I am facing a question that I have not prepared for as well.
Perhaps the best way to improve is to take a deep breath (a moment to think) before you answer. Or simply allows other teammates to answer instead.
That aside, I felt that the slides are nicely done. No conflicting colours with the background and little data dumping. However, the content was a little confusing for the venn diagram. It was kind of misleading, was it suppose to be a module that comprises of 3 main elements or other wise? Other than this slide, the rest were clear and fine.
I think you did a great job, don't be too harsh on yourself. Thank you for your hard work! =D
- Yuanhua -
Dear all,
ReplyDeletethank you for responding to my blog post and your most genunine and sincere criticism and advice for my oral presentation.
To Russell: I have overlooked the part of giving the audience the time to look at my slides before moving on to the next slide. In addition, I think I am overly eager to defend my group during the Q&A session to the extent that I did not give the audience the opportunity to complete his/her question. That was the most serious mistake I committed during the presentation. I think I was so focused on preparing myself for the actual presentation that I totally neglected some of the things to look out for during Q&A. I guess I was too overly content-driven. Thank you for highlighting my problems to me.
To Rebecca: Thank you for your suggestions to slow down my suggestion. They will be hadny next year when I need to do oral presentation for my final year project! =)
To huahua: Thank you for suggesting to me how to make myself less aggressive during Q&A. Pause and think before answering is really a good way. I will try to practise it the next time. =)
Hi Xiu Ling,
ReplyDeleteyou were less nervous during the oral presentation than you were during peer teaching. I think that is a great improvement!
I could emphathize with your situation of losing confidence when the audience looked bored. I faced similar problems too.
There are several points I would like to bring up regarding your presentation. First of all, I felt that you were looking at your slides too often. My attention was on your slides rather than on you, the presenter.
I also felt that there was a bit of an info dump towards the end of your presentation. I felt rather lost during one part of your presentation because there were too many words on your slides, and you changed them even before I managed to finish digesting the info. Perhaps you could notice the audience's expression and alter your pace accordingly.
In addition, even though you smiled occassionally throughout the presentation, you used a rather aggressive tone. Being one of the audience, I actually felt a little intimidated. I believe you had already noticed this problem yourself. My suggestion would be to practise in front of another group of audience first. They might be able to offer you feedback prior to the actual presentation.
Overall, it was a well-prepared presentation. Despite being the last team to present and being given immense pressure, your team gave a commendable presentation. :)
Great job!
Regards,
Kesleen
Hello Xiu Ling,
ReplyDeleteDon’t worry, it’s not that serious a mistake! Perhaps it might help if you do not look upon it as defending your group. Think of it as an opportunity to strengthen your case/proposal. By showing the audience that you have already taken their concerns into account, it makes your case much stronger as it shows the depth of research to come up with this ‘final’ solution. Hope this helps!
Cheers
Russell
Hi, Xiu Ling.
ReplyDeleteI have slightly different opinions with others. First, I think your speaking speed was slightly faster. However, I didn't find any problem in the pace of your presentation.
In addition, I like your presentation slides because it has a professional layout. But, it seemed that you were quite dependent on the slides as you kept turning your eyes to the slides. Because of this, you ended up having less eye contact with your audiences.
Besides, there are too much information clumped in one presentation. Maybe you can consider using visual aids instead.
Nevertheless, your confidence overcome some of the weaknesses. I like the way you present because you show a very strong determination to convince your audiences. Moreover, you looked quite calm, audiences can tell that you are well-prepared for the topic presented.
Hope it helps! =)
Cheers,
Zhi Peng