Criteria:
• Impactful
• Engaging (includes eye contact and stage presence)
• Informative
• Professional demeanour
• Exhibit confidence
• Good time-management
Suffice to say, OP2 was a much better experience compared to OP1. Being genuinely passionate about the project gave us the impetus to excel. Lest the minor flaws and hiccups, I am pleased with our team’s overall performance during the presentation.
Reflection:
Team:
Sufficient preparation was the key to a good performance, which was why my team had a total of three rehearsals. Through the months, our team had built up good rapport, which explained the excellent camaraderie we had while presenting. Consequently, our delivery came forth as smooth and clear. Being well prepared and confident, we had little difficulty tackling questions raised during the Q&A, which were answered systematically and comprehensively.
Individual:
Bearing in mind the flaws from OP1, I reminded myself to actively engage the audience. Having known the flow of the PowerPoint-slides, it helped in anticipating the subsequent points during the presentation. As a result, I could speak more fluently and devote more emotions into my speech. One objective I laid down was to create a light-hearted presentation that serves to educate and inject fun with humour. I believe I had succeeded in doing so.
Despite efforts in sprucing up my speech, I was still bogged down by nervousness. I was susceptible to mental blocks; this led to instances of awkward silences and stuttering. I could have dealt with those situations better by keeping myself more composed. Also, I found myself speaking too quickly towards the end, especially when I had already exceeded the stipulated time. I hereby apologize to all if my speech resulted in some confusion.
Additionally, something unusual I noticed was my tendency to exhibit abrupt actions (e.g. turning my head too quickly), that could have made my presentation seem less professional. For future presentations, I shall be more conscious of my body language; No matter how good my speech is, poor body language can undo all the hard work.
For your convenience, I have embedded my team's presentation slides for your reference and enjoyment =P
Dear Justin,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, you have my praise regarding the wonderful presentation slides! I was deeply attracted by the visual aspect of the slides. It really portrays an impactful and engaging message across to the audience.
Being the first speaker, you are able to capture the attention of the audience through your confidence and fluency in your speech. However, there is some awkwardness (suddenly silence and awkward expressions). Constant practice is needed if you want to portray a more natural you. In this case, good “acting” skills could be the factor to improve on. You can also try to have proper cue cards instead of just a printed script next time round.
Body Language
You and I both have this particular weakness in our presentation. Just as you have said, self-awareness is very important. Our nervousness blinded us. We would thus need to work harder on this particular aspect.
Overall, I believed that your group has done well for this OP2. I am looking forward for the CG1102 Oral Defense where we can make an impact for our team!
Regards,
Kevin Lin
Hi Justin,
ReplyDeleteNice presentation slides, clear content and smooth transition between speakers were the advantages. It is true that your team have a little difficulty answering the question and time management but on the whole your team did very well in the OP2.
I can see that you already achieved most of the things listed in the criteria above. You spoke fluently in a very confident posture. The eye contact was maintained throughout the presentation. It is very hard to avoid being nervous. Being silent and stuttering sometimes could be the result of nervousness but on the whole you did well in controlling it. Furthermore, you are true that the nervousness also the cause of some abrupt actions. Although these flaws were just a few in your presentation, you need to practice more to remove completely the nervousness.
On the whole, you did very well in the presentation. There are just a few flaws that need improvements. I believe that you will do better in the oral defence.
Regards,
Khoa.
Hi Justin,
ReplyDeleteI see that you have done a good reflection by identifying your strengths and weaknesses. However, I feel that even though you have a list of criteria for your performance, you did not really made use of it when reflecting your individual performance. Maybe you could reflect on each point of your criteria to make your reflection clearer.
Nevertheless, your presentation was good. You spoke confidently and enthusiastically. Perhaps one area that you could improve is the fluency of your speech. You tend to stutter sometimes. This can be overcomed by more practices.
Good luck for your oral defense! :)
Jing Mei
Hi Justin,
ReplyDeleteAs you mentioned in the post, we showed good rapport and connection and I was delighted with that. I liked the part where we stood together as one for the Q&A. It symbollicaly showed our togetherness.
Being the first speaker of the team and day was always going to be a challenge and I thought you handled it well. You started off strongly by setting the tone for the presentation. I also liked the humour that you injected although I don't know if it was intentional. :)
It was in the middle where there were some stutters and hiccups as you mentioned. I think you became nervous due to the amount of information you had to communicate to the audience. You began to ramble due to that as well. So as Ms Goh mentioned, you need to be succint.
In summary, it was a great effort and it was a pleasure working with you. Wishing you the best for future projects and presentations! :)
Hi Justin,
ReplyDeleteI must say you had a commendable presentation.
There is a key quality of a first speaker which I always believe to be very important and I am glad to see you have placed it at the top of your criteria list. Being impactful is very important as a first speaker because we have to keep in mind that you are presenting a problem that is very inconceivable to the audience. Also, you will be giving them the first impression of the team. Lastly, you set the expectation for the last speaker’s conclusion. Your fluency, pace, tone, emphasis and gestures certainly gave you that edge.
You also used very light humour to stay on that track and this was one your most effective attention grabber. However, we have to know that some jokes may have a small possibility to cause unpleasantness among certain audiences. For example, when you mentioned that the person who said the sentence “Is my personal information so valuable” was a naive person, you should have considered that some of your audiences might have that similar viewpoint.
Your body language did not compromise your good presentation skills. Do remember that audiences usually look at the non-verbal cues only when the verbal cues are absent. So you do not have to really worry too much about your body language.
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ReplyDeleteJustin,
ReplyDeleteYour reflections on the oral presentation are well organised and is a clear and easy read.
A presentation that is just as light-hearted as it is professional and impactful is something that everybody in the audience looks forward to and congratulations on having achieved it !
I believe you can make an even better impression during the your oral defence and any presentations that follow by depending on your natural eloquence and avoiding any sort of printed notes. This ofcourse, implies a prerequisite of arduous practice.
-Lakshmi
Hi Justin,
ReplyDeleteYour presentation was indeed engaging and informative. You have certainly achieved it by setting the tone and pace as the first speaker!
I liked the flow of each slides and how each point was placed nicely and simply in each slide to emphasis a point. However, you could improved on "impactful" by placing more emphasis and severity with your tone and even certain points if needed to garner attention to the problem at hand.
Kudos to your attempt in injecting humour! Proper use of humour helps perks interest in your topic and you achieved it without bringing down the quality of the presentation!
Good luck for your Oral Defense! ^^
Yours sincerely,
Junhao Quek, C04E & Dr.Bug