Reflections reflections and more reflections

Yay! It's over! The presentation is finally over! ((((:

Before I start reflecting on my presentation, I'll like to take this opportunity to thank all my group members for their efforts and the hard work they have put in for both the proposal and presentation. ((: It was a great experience to work with all of you; Deenise is the conscientious one who always searches for interesting things we can add to our project. Tiffany is the IT savvy who came up with our awesome slides and Kellyn is the brave soul who has to memorise chunks and chunks of information just for the introduction of our presentation. Thank you girls for making my project in ES2007S a superbly fun one! (:

Often we hear the words, “He/ she is a good speaker. He /she did a good job. I truly enjoyed it.” When we fill out the evaluation form, we sometimes give the top score, but how many times can we really rate the presenter as “excellent” or truly “exceeded my expectations?” How do we make a good presentation a great one?

With that, I shall share with everyone some of the points that I had done in an attempt to make our presentation a better one.

How I prepared for my presentation
Instead of writing chunks of words and tons of paragraphs for my presentation, I wrote them out in point forms. I remembered the sequence of my slides and this helped a lot during the presentation because I wasn’t regurgitating rather I was just connecting the points that I have and it was much easier. Therefore I felt that I was more comfortable with this presentation as compared to my peer teaching session. Slotting the research findings together with the recommendations also helped me to connect my ideas together and make it easier for me to put my points across.

Presentation Aspect
I read from somewhere that there are several factors that determine the effectiveness of the presentation. Therefore, I tried to incorporate some of those factors to make my presentation more effective and omit those that would hinder me from delivering a clear and concise message. I’ll share some of the factors here with everyone.

What makes presentation ineffective?

Overcrowding of audio-visual aids
Third on the list of hindering effective presentation is the poor usage of audio and visual aids. After reviewing through several websites and looking at the video clips of several successful presenters, our group decided to revamp our slides and kept the information on the slides to the minimal. Although it was very challenging for us as presenters and for our classmates as audiences, I found that there are several benefits of omitting bullet points. During the presentation, I felt that some of the information that I initially included in my speech were too long and lengthy for my audiences so I omitted them. Without listing the points on my slides allowed me to change my speech according to the non verbal feedbacks I get from my audiences. Also, it was much easier to look at the audiences when I didn’t use the speech cards. Previously during the peer teaching session, I used speech cards for as a form of security. However, with the cards around I felt that I was compelled to look at them in case I missed anything out.
No effort to relate material to audience interests, background

This was rank second in the list of making presentation ineffective. Since I was supposed to be speaking to the NUSEU as well as academic staffs from the NUS Law Faculty, I tried to connect with them by doing a background research of NUS Law School. I also tried to make them understand what they could do to help improve the current communication curriculum of the NUS Law School instead of just telling iterating our recommendations.
One thing that I should improve on would probably be to maintain more eye contact with my audiences rather. But it was really more comfortable to look at Brad when he was hiding behind his Mac Book. O_O!

Monotone delivery, dry style, no emotion
Top on the list of ineffective presentation was monotone delivery, dry style and no emotion. Therefore, I tried to vary my tone when I speak so as to avoid being monotonous. I put myself in the shoes of someone trying to “sell” the recommendations to NUSEU and members of the law faculty so as to make myself sound as convincing as possible. I think Deenise was really very successful in this aspect. She was able to connect with the audiences and led them into believing the data that we had collected.

How to be a great presenter then?

Confident, stylish dress and manner
I believe confidence is really very important in a presentation. Just like in any scenario, if you don’t believe in yourself who will? Before I went for the presentation, I painted a positive mental image of the presentation and this was really effective as a confidence booster. It made me less nervous and more comfortable to speak in front of my audiences.

Energy level
Great presenters are those who exude energy and enthusiasm. In many great speakers, they often give off quiet but magnetic quality that comes from true enthusiasm. To be passionate about the topic and doing thorough research for the presentation would definitely help! (: I think Geraldine had done a fantastic job in terms of the energy that she exuded during the presentation. Probably because her voice sounded loud and confident, it was very attractive and made me want to listen to her. Thumbs up! (:

I would definitely put all the skills that I’ve learnt through this presentation and the rest of the course into practice in any future occasions. This presentation had really been an eye opener for me.