Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Reflection on Oral Presentation

I was extremely relieved that my oral presentation on 'Where is the baby boom' was finally over, but I personally think that I could probably have done much better.

Firstly, compared to my mock presentations and peer teaching presentation, I felt that I was less steady for the oral presentation. I encountered problems with the use of the remote mouse. Since I have never used it before in an actual presentation and was unfamiliar with it, I pressed the wrong buttons and it caused my speech and slides to be incoherent, as well as resulting in some technical difficulties. These unforseen circumstances made me nervous throughout the presentation, which affected my confidence and overall performance.

Secondly, the Question and Answer (Q&A) session was more intimidating than I thought. Even though I know my project topic and content well, nerves still got to me when our classmates posed questions which my teammates and I had not anticipated. There was a particular question which I didn't think I answered well, as I had difficulty processing the question in my mind quickly enough to provide a satisfactory answer. The consequence was that I stumbled on what I wanted to say, kept repeating and emphasizing on a certain phrase as I was unable to come up with a more well-thought solution due to extreme pressure and time constraint. That also left the audience unclear of what I was trying to express.

However, there were still a few positives to take from my performance during the oral presentation.

For instance, I attempted to inject some enthusiasm while presenting. This enthusiasm not only engaged the audience, but also helped to maintain my confidence and mask my nervousness.

In addition, I tried to keep calm even though I made mistakes during the presentation. It enabled me to recover quickly and focus on what to do next.

I also feel that Sofie, Jiewei, Zhuang Wei and I have great camaraderie through much practice prior to the presentation. Our transitions were generally smooth and we managed to help one another out during the Q&A session when we observed that any one of us was struggling with coming up with a satisfactory answer to a specific question.

I was also glad that the rest of the class were actively raising their doubts and suggesting better approaches and solutions for us. This helped us explore questions that we had never thought about or solutions that we had never considered. The discussion also improved everyone's understanding on the topic, which resulted in a win-win situation.

7 comments:

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  3. Hi,


    I think that your performance was convincing and encouraging. You were quite enthusiastic. Nevertheless, I noticed that the use of the remoter has disturbed you during the presentation and sometimes you seemed to be a little bit lost.

    Moreover, I think that your performance during the Q&A time was good, you tried to explain your opinion, it was OK for me.

    So, if you continue to keep your calm and to bring enthusiasm during your presentation, I am sure that your next presentations will be very good!

    Cheers.
    Maxime

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  4. Hi Rui,

    I like all the graphical presentation your group used on the slides! It was very clear and definitely a good analogy to use. I also felt that you tried to have less injections of 'erms' in your speech since that was the feedback you got during the peer teaching previously.

    The remote caused you much trouble but you did pick it up well and it was all good. Perhaps, you were too flustered and in certain parts your speech was slightly incoherent. But by smiling despite all of the hiccups, you managed to bring the attention back to your speech.

    Also, I don't know if its just me but I had a feeling that there were many times that you had the tendency to want to lean against the table? Probably cause you were clicking using the keyboard, not sure about that. :/

    All in all, good presentation!

    Cheers,
    Maple

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  5. Hi Rui,

    I agree with you, the Q&A was the hardest part. It is difficult to predict questions and prepare when we took on such a complex problem to solve. I think we all learned a lot from it though, and that is what is important in the end.

    For your performance I think you brought a great amount of enthusiasm to our group and to the final OP. You should try and not jump around so much during the presentaion. It will get the listeners to actually listen to your content instead of focusing on your body language.

    Thank you for a long and bumpy journey through this project!
    //Sofie

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  6. Hi Rui!

    Although there were instances when you paused to recall your script, I thought you projected enthusiasm for the presentation,and passion for the topic. Do not worry about the Q&A, because I think that it is not your (or your group, for that matter) lack of preparation, but rather the scope of your topic, which made it challenging to provide a balanced argument in the first place.

    One technique I find useful is to humanize the audience in your mind while practicing your script. Oftentimes, in our attempts to appear as professional as possible, we tend to perceive audiences as critical and unforgiving people, especially in important presentations. This is an issue for me too. So i will do my best to imagine the daily lives of the audience and "get to know" them as people, so that they will become living, struggling human beings, rather than a group of faceless, fearsome authorities.

    Eunice

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  7. Hi Lin Rui,

    You were good actually. Probably one of the most effective presenters so know that you have it in you. The issue is just about maintainance for as long as possible. You started out so strong, the stumbling came later. But really in my opinion, you would have a career as a car dealer.

    Good job.

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