First of all, I am just relieved and glad that the presentation was over! That was practically the first line that greeted my friends when I met them in school after 12pm. Try asking any of them. =D
1 .Before the presentation
It would be good to start off with this because PREPARATION MATTERS. I believe it was this that made all the difference. My team mates and I met last Saturday from 8.30am to 2pm! That totally set a new record for me as I never had such a long meeting. We discussed about ways to enhance our slides and to deliver the presentation effectively. We want to make sure that our presentation has a THEME, which later became the title of our presentation, i.e “Broadcast@NUS”. I think that was really cool! Haha.
On the day Brad introduced Garr Reynolds and Steve Jobs in class, I made it a point to challenge myself in the upcoming presentation by not using any cue cards. After all, I took ES2007S to improve myself and why not try out something new? Thanks to Shih Han also who suggested that I searched for effective presentation videos on YouTube. I especially liked the one below and would like to share this with everyone.
In order to live up to the challenge and also not disappoint my group, I practised and rehearsed many times to familiarise myself with the content. Firstly, I memorised the order of the slides instead of the script. I remembered taking an hour just to ORGANISE MY THOUGHTS on the things I would like to say, taking note of what Soon Yee and Van has corrected me earlier on. It was really worth the effort because practice came in much easily after that. I made an effort not to memorise word for word but to remember the key points for each slide. That really helped!
2. It’s showtime!
Honestly, I was getting the adrenaline rush even before the presentation day itself. Perhaps I was excited because of the challenge, presenting without cue cards was something I never did before for such a formal presentation. However, I put my mind at ease knowing that my group and I had done all that we could – so bring it on! Haha. It always happens to me – getting nervous before any presentation is normal. I am glad that it wears off within the first minute after I speak as I reminded myself of the ULTIMATE GOAL - to sell my idea.
Take-away points from this presentation
• PRACTISE with your group. I would like to thank Soon Yee and Van again for giving their feedback on improving our slides and also on my presentation during our meeting. It is always useful because audience paint a better picture.
• Do not rely on cue cards. I think this is very effective. Firstly, it puts the responsibility on me as the speaker to know my content well. This also enabled me to establish better rapport with the audience. I also felt a sense of achievement by overcoming this challenge. =)
• Make it SIMPLE for the audience. They have no idea of your contents, and that precisely is the only reason for the presentation – to inform! Therefore, it is important to organise the ideas such that the listeners can get a good flow of the content.
At the same time, here are some things which I would like to get feedback on. Was it good to pace across the floor? I did that yesterday as I felt that the situation was quite dull when everyone kept looking at one side. Haha, and it’s a good way to avoid straining the necks to one side, right? =P Any comments on this, please feel free to voice out. However, I think it should not be done too much for a small room like that of our tutorial class.
I have some thoughts to share on the Q & A Session. It was my very first time that I enjoyed it, partly because I have my team mates with me! Unbelievable! Frequently people (me included) has negative perceptions tied up to Q & A, like it is the time to shoot tough questions to the speakers. ES2007S changed this mindset of mine because I was really in the mode of this NUSEU set up that I felt all questions raised were valid, interesting and insightful. Therefore, it had led to our team being able to give honest and realistic answers.
Overall, I must say I enjoyed the presentation thoroughly, from the beginning of the drafting stages till the very end. It was a great team effort. Also, I would like to thank Brad and all my classmates because I learnt a lot from you all!
Terima kasih.
P/s: Some words were capitalised to highlight their importance. It is of no intention whatsoever of the writer to be aggressive or fierce. LOL.
Hey Steph,
ReplyDeleteAs I mentioned in Van's blog, I thought that your group’s presentation was really good. The introduction was captivating and the content was well balanced throughout the presentation. Although the course of action part was a little messy, you did a nice save with the summary slide. You definitely seem prepared for your presentation and you had good voice projection. However, sometimes you can come across as being a little too over prepared. Although, I think that’s just your style (or maybe confidence) as you seemed so prepared during the interview even though you did not know any of the questions! That’s amazing. Lastly, you should try to be a little careful with your diction. Overall, you did really well!
Geraldine
finally your post is using some informal form of presenting style and that was what actually catches the reader's attention by feeling for familiar towards the post...
ReplyDelete@Geraldine: Hi, thanks for the compliment and comments! Haha, it's amazing to hear things from other's point of view. Appearing as being a little too over prepared (or confident) is something new I learnt about myself! Perhaps being more relaxed when speaking does the trick? Especially on the diction, yes, there's lots of room for improvement! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteHey mafer! Thanks for reading and commenting! :) Can you please explain more on what was so familiar about my post? Haha? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteSorry Steph, I can't quite figure out if it’s over prepared or confidence. Think I'm leaning towards confidence. You did seem relax though. I could not sense any nervousness.
ReplyDeleteGeraldine
Selamat Stef,
ReplyDeleteCongrats! I heard from Vanessa that you team did really well! Bagus!
Firstly,many people might think that the Q&A session is a chance for the audience to torture the presenters.But, in actual fact, the Q&A session is the last opportunity for the group to substantiate their points and to make further clarification with the audience.It is also a chance for you to add on any "last final touch" to your presentation.
Well,as with regards to what Geraldine has mentioned, I think that being overly prepared is still far much better than being totally unprepared. Even the best presenters in the world have to rehearse and practice several times before they get to the stage where they do not even need to do a run-through.
I think being confidence level is something really subjective. It is difficult to debate about whether being overly confident is appropriate or not.More importantly, as long as the presenters make the audience feel comfortable and at ease, I guess everything else doesn't really matter. :)
Thanks Stephanie and Geraldine for sharing your views!
Hey Steph!
ReplyDeleteI thought you did really well during your presentation. I admire confident speakers who really know what they're talking about. And you were one of them. :) You were totally passionate about the whole radio being a minor thing and that was really a factor in keeping my attention throughout your presentation!
Great job babe! See you in UofT! :)
Hey Steph,
ReplyDeleteI would just like to clarify that I did not mean "over confident" but just "confident".
With regards to what Deenise said, I agree that being over prepared is better than being unprepared. With regards to being over prepared, it becomes a problem when you sound too prepared. For example, during the Asian Idol, the Malaysian singer was probably the best singer there. However, it felt like she was just singing and she failed to make the audience feel her presence although her singing was perfect. This probably led to her lost.
With regards to you, as mentioned earlier, I am rather unsure. I think it is probably just your style of speaking based on your peer teaching and interview. You seem confident and prepared all the time. (It is good thing, especially for interviews!)
As for being overconfident, I think it is definitely inappropriate as most people are turned off by that. This can make the audience overlook your talent/content. (This applies for final year project presentations from what a professor had told me.)For example, Taufik Batisah from Singapore Idol season 1 nearly did not make through the auditions as the judges felt that he was “over confident”, thus seeming “cocky”.
On the whole, I think charisma or the X-factor is probably what sets apart the best speakers from skilled speakers as you either have it or not. Not everyone has the ability to draw people‘s attention to them, even when their content or speech may not be perfect. This applies to all area of entertainment. As the Indonesians would say, “Taksu” (similar to the idea of X-factor) is very important for artists.
Geraldine
My dear teamate!
ReplyDeleteOnce again good job! ;) As I was at the back, behind the computer, I could not see your facial expression. But just from listening to your voice, I can hear that you have a good use of tone. Good emphasis of certain words and excellent projection of your voice! From the faces of the audience I can tell that their are not bored and engaged by your presentation! ;) Good use of hand gesture as well!
I agree with you that it is a good thing that we rehearse as a group and point out each other flaws and weaknesses! ;) I am glad that all of us rise up to the challenge and not to take the notes with us. I also find it cumbersome to hold the notes and remote at the same time! For the your final presentation, I can't think of any major flaws but if I would really to be nitpicking, maybe you can further improve on your pronounciation and diction. But it is not a major problem!
Hello Steph! Great job done! I think you're a natural presenter as well. Just like you were natural and relaxed in the peer teaching, I thought you were pretty natural and relaxed in your presentation this time round too. I thought that the recommendations that you guys came up with were fantastic! Interesting concept! ((:
ReplyDeleteExcellent work! See you in class tomorrow(:
Thanks Vanessa, I agree with you!
ReplyDelete@Shih Han: Thanks! Enjoyed working with you for peer teaching. Learnt from you too when we worked together!