Reviewing my oral presentation on video was an eye-opener as I was able to notice my strengths and flaws. Below is a list of goals that I wanted to achieve prior to OP2 and I will use them to reflect on my performance.
- Strong familiarity with content
- Clear and effective use of language
- Suitable eye contact
- Relaxed, natural and effective use of gestures
- Clear enthusiasm and confidence
OP1 weaknesses: Slightly monotonous; Looked nervous; Did not seem to know content ;Hesitation
I have stated my weaknesses in OP1 to check if there were improvements.
Firstly, I believe I was very well-informed of the content compared to in OP1. I did not solely depend on my memory but rather displayed understanding of the project. Hence, I did not hesitate like I did in OP1. So it was an improvement in that aspect. The use of language was suitable and appropriate and I believe I managed to get my message across effectively and clearly. I did a quick survey with the audience during my presentation and they responded to me well, which serves as a proof.
One of my weaknesses from OP1 was my nerves. I was visibly nervous. In OP2, I believe I appeared far less nervous although my heart was racing. This could be due to the extra rehearsals and practice. Also, I maintained eye contact with the audience throughout and engaged with them. Something I failed to do in OP1.
However, I would like to improve on my gestures. I gesture too frequently which could be a distraction. I could have kept my hands by the side at certain segments of the presentation. Finally, I should appear more enthused and inject some energy into the presentation. Something I feel will come with experience.
In summary, I feel there was progress and I am pleased. As a team, we did relatively well too.
8 comments:
Dear Ganesh,
I could definitely see the improvement that you have made for this presentation. You appeared confident and assured. I could see your enthusiasm on this topic of privacy. That may be one of reason for your improvement.
For the non-verbal gesture, I personally feel that your gestures are still quite alright. I do not foresee any major problems with it. Since you feel that that is a weakness, continue to work on it. Your attempt to interact with the audience is very brave. In our case, we responded well to your questions. It is a double-edged sword. I have seen instances (elsewhere) where the audiences remain utterly silent. This may lead to awkwardness and hard for the presenter to continue on. But this can be another chance to show your calmness and EQ in handling such a situation. In short, always be prepared for any sudden changes.
With regards to injecting energy, I agree that has to come with constant practice (a lot of practice, to be precise) and experience. I believed that you will be able to accomplish it in the near future. Overall, a job well-done!
Regards,
Kevin Lin
Hi Ganesh,
Do not be disheartened if you felt that your performance was slightly below par. I felt that you, as my fellow team mate, did well! Of course, it was not a perfect presentation, but overall, the impression that you left on the class was definitely a positive one. One thing for sure, you looked composed despite your nervousness which you mentioned in your post. With a delivery that smooth, and a pleasant, soothing voice, it made for a delightful presentation.
However, I do agree that you were not as enthusiastic as expected. This left a mild dampener on the presentation, which I felt could have had a greater impact. Also, your speech was a little too short as compared to Xiangyu's and mine. I am unsure if it was poor organization on my part, or because you did not fully elaborate your points. With more rehearsals in future presentations, hopefully these minor problems can be eliminated.
All in all, I believe you had tried your best then, and I am thoroughly pleased by both Xiangyu and your efforts during the presentation. I look forward to working with you guys again.
It was a job well done, Ganesh! =)
Regards,
Justin
Hi bro,
I believed that you did have extensive knowledge for this project as you really showed immense confidence in that presentation.
Using your 5 criteria as judgement, i realised that did effectively reflected on how you weigh the criteria and what you intended to achieve with it.
However, i feel that your reflection based on these criteria is not in depth enough. You said that you used too many gestures, but i believe that it is not the case of excessiveness, but rather, inappropriate timings and actions. For example, instead of gesturing to aid you in finding your next key phrase, you could, point to the screen. In a way, its a cheat to help you look at the screen. Yet, it is also the best way to direct attention from the audience towards the screen.
You could too, look more into your tone used. A good intonation etches the information into the audience mind. In layman term, i am talking about stresses in key points and words and certain pause to enable the audience to read the graph or picture. It facilitates understanding as well as give you time to prepare for your next slide.
Oh yes, your weakness in OP1 is nervousness, not nerves.
Hey Ganesh,
Your post is good in that it clearly states how you were going to analyze your presentation.
However, it would be nice to include what actions you plan to take such that your future improvements do occur.
For example, you could say that by holding notes in your hands, you won't be tempted to move then around so much. Or perhaps a visual cue somewhere only you can see.
It's much better since it would show to others that you have a method to solve the problem. (Not saying that you don't actually have a method right now. Problem with the word count and all =D )
Overall, I felt that your presentation was done quite professionally and was able to keep the audience's attention. Good work and keep improving on those points you felt you were lacking in!
Hi Ganesh,
I think you have analysed your presentation quite well. However, you have missed some points that you have mentioned in the criteria. So, you must try to ensure that you analyse the things keeping the criteria in mind.
As far as nervousness is concerned, I think this time you were confident and didn’t explicitly look nervous as compared to the previous presentation. Your verbal skills were pretty good. You were clear and fluent.
I think you made proper use of gestures and interacted with the audience well. You maintained proper eye contact. However, I do agree with you that you were not enthusiastic during the presentation. A further addition of energy and enthusiasm could have improvised your presentation. It would have made your presentation light hearted instead of a serious one.
Content wise, all your team members had good knowledge of the topic. All of you managed to convey the message across to the audience effectively. This shows the hard work that each of you has put in the project.
You have really made some improvements as compared to the last presentation. You should try to work on your weaknesses and I think you can surely do better presentations in future.
Good Luck!!
Thanks
Best Regards,
Nitika
Hi Ganesh,
First of all, I would like to commend that you did an excellent presentation. Your calmness and composure was one of a kind and I really hope to learn from you as much as possible. Like many have commented, your gestures were not bad; instead, I felt it was good with the timing and magnitude.
Your attempt to engage the audience with a question was good too. However, as mentioned in the first comment, it was fortunate the audience were cooperative. In future, I would suggest asking questions which only require the minority to reply e.g. “who thinks privacy is not important?”. You could also restructure the question into a form of confirmation instead e.g. “I believe everyone here agrees with me privacy is very important”.
Hi everyone,
Thanks for the comments and suggestion for improvements.
Kevin: I agree, I was fortunate that a few of the members of the audience responded to my little question/survey. If they had not, what would I have done? So as you said, I have to prepare such instances.
Byron: Yes, I do gesture excessively which also means gesturing at inappropriate times when as you said a simple reference to the screen would have sufficed. Also, I could have varied my tone. Thanks for the suggestions :)
Rax: Yes, maybe I could have mentioned what actions to take to improve on my flaws. Also, the word restriction is a problem, so I could not really cover that part.
Nitika: Thank You for the comments. Like you said, I have to work on my weaknesses and keep my stengths.
Junius: Good suggestion. I will definitely try to restructure my questions for the audience If i know in advance that my audience is going to be a serious bunch of people.
Thank you all once again for the positive and encouraging feedback. I am now definitley driven to better myself and hone my skills.
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