These are my views on the oral presentation on 1 Nov 2010:
In terms of preparation, I am really proud of my team's unity and perseverance. I recall countless online and physical meetings to edit the proposal, powerpoint presentation, and rehearsals. Some days we just had to grit our teeth and press on amidst all the lethargy, heavy workload or even sickness. In doing so, I felt we have done our part in preparing diligently for the oral presentation.
On presentation effectiveness and style, my voice projection and pace was alright, I feel that I commanded the attention of my audience, however I could have done better by stepping up further in front a little and engage my audience a little more. One thing I noted was how nervous I was of forgetting my script, that my arms were literally locked and froze.
In terms of persuasiveness, I agree with Brad that we could have pitched our agenda clearer at the introduction. In terms of my part~implementation of plan, I have put in effort to explain the plan and also use stories to allow my audience to come to their conclusion, which is effectively persuading as well.
Thank you Brad indeed for spending so much time to critique and point out the areas we can improve on and thank you fellow audiences for giving comments so that we all can learn from each other.. =)
[EDITED to include Preparations]
Hi You Sheng,
ReplyDeleteFirstly, thanks for the presentation. The idea of 3Rs was good. I could remember them well. But you could have emphasized on it more since it is the main idea of what your group is going to do. You could have stated a little bit of the benefit to attract the attention of the audience as it started to get a little dry since your part was right after the discussion of statistics by Daniel.
Could see that you were really nervous from your use of gesture. You were really stiffed at the beginning. The slides were clear. However, you were referring a lot to it. Even though there were not much information on the slides, you were looking at it every few minutes. I thought that the action was a little distracting for the audience. I would follow your eyes and look at the screen. However, I do not see anything new on it.
Like I have commented for Steph, I felt that you could hold your eye contact with the audience slightly longer. This was not really established at the beginning when you have quite a lot to say. Nearing the end of your part, I felt that you were more comfortable and presented with more confidence.
Other than that, I felt that it turned out quite well. Time was definitely a challenge for your group. Once again, thanks for the hard work! XD
Thank you Stanley, from your comments I have noted that I need to learn how to relax and stay calmer during the presentation.
ReplyDeleteBecause I was nervous, my hand gestures were weird and I had difficulty remembering what I had to say(thus repeatedly looking at the slides to jolt my memory) I also learn not to memorise my slides beforehand.
Once again, I appreciate your feedback! Thank you =)
Hi You Sheng!
ReplyDeleteI did not notice your stiff hand gestures until you mentioned it. I will now look out for it in the video. Hehheh! :P
I could sense that you were a bit nervous but your good projection of voice really jolted my attention. It made me sit up and pay attention to what you were saying. That is a definite plus.
I really liked the look of your slides too. Simple, yet informative enough to capture my attention. One suggestion (that I made to all the guys) is maybe smile a bit more?
The idea of using stories is good, but if you used a story that appeals to the audience's emotions or humor, it might create a more lasting impression on them.
Overall, thank you for your presentation. I can see and appreciate that a lot of effort had gone into the preparation. :)
Hi You Sheng,
ReplyDeleteI do agree that you did manage to bring across the points very clearly. Similar to May, I didn't notice on the stiff gestures until it was mentioned. I also observed that you didn't hop around as you used to be! That's great improvement. You also established eye-contact with your audience, so i think it's quite well-done.
From the presentation, I see that you have put in a lot of effort in preparing for the content. The stories, the way the sentences were phrased and the choice of words showed the work done behind the scene. I am impressed by your pursuit of excellence.
Nevertheless, just want to share with you 2 things that I think probably you can work on. I am sharing from my personal experience, so, it may not be the absolute truth, but perhaps it may be helpful:
I think trying to let the audience coming to their own conclusion is not that applicable in a short presentation. If you have one hour to explain the points, to guide the thoughts of your audience, that can be done effectively. However, with only 15 minutes and having the audience to heard of your idea for the first time, it's rather impossible that the audience may come to the conclusion that you want them to, because they may not have thought so much about the content that you are presenting. Of course, if you are a very powerful speaker and have a group of very attentive audience, that can be achieved.
In a short presentation, it's better to tell your audience the conclusion straight (or drop very strong hints such as asking questions) at their face, and prevent them from wandering else where.
Besides, I think stories should be used to illustrate the main points, not the sub-point. If not, it may seem to be a diversion of attention from the main point, which was what I felt happened during your presentation. I was quite puzzled at your story and the purpose behind it.Of course, that's only my point of view.
Oh yea, I think your volume projection was quite good =D Try to relax a bit, it helps a lot!
YC
Hi May and Yong Chean. I have taken note of your advice and I will work on my future presentations. Thank you so much for being honest! :)
ReplyDeleteNo problem YS, give me some comments too so that I can improve too! I have to agree with YC that maybe stories did not fit into the presentation smoothly because of the duration that was allocated to the presentation. I felt that sharing an experience that happened during the presentation might have brought the points over with greater impact.
ReplyDeleteYes, try not to memorise the script. I feel that a presentation that is memorised sometimes turns out to be quite artificial. It does not bring out the real you. Just a little tip that might be helpful: I always go through the presentation in my head the night before and think about the "mishaps" that might happened. This gives me a little more confidence during the actual presentation because I have already "experienced" the worst case that can happen.
You might want to try this the next time you have a presentation. =P
@ Stanley.. You do what!?!? seriously!? why would you want to imagine the worst thing possible?!? i think a good night's rest is the best thing.. be prepared and then go relax. any attempt to over-prepare might end up making you more nervous.. my opinion at least.
ReplyDeleteI would also strongly discourage memorizing scripts especially at the last minute. Do so way before hand is fine, because than you would have time to remember the flow and after awhile you'd actually realize that you'll be editing what you say on the go. :)
But i think You Sheng, you did a great job in catching the attention of the audience. You were engaging and lively. This made what you had to say interesting. If you had did it like i did, they [the class] would have probably checked out a long time ago!! Keep it up!! oh i would caution on the use of anecdotes though.. :)
Are we even suppose to comment on group member's blog?? hmm.. oh well.. :)
Daniel, it's alright. Haha your comments are welcome as it makes for a lively discussion.
ReplyDelete@Stanley, I have commented on your blog already. I am glad that we are willing to learn from each other! HAHA! :)
I will not memorise any more scripts for presentation(this is my first and probably my last) and I will engage in positive thoughts. I know what you mean as an optimistic pessimist. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst! I do that too! :)
As for short inspirational stories, I will use them sparingly in short presentations and strategically use very short anecdotes to make a point. This is not to say one of the most powerful ways of persuading others is for them to come to their own conclusion about something, a feat which powerful stories and rhetorical questions can achieve.
Hey Yousheng,
ReplyDeleteThumbs up for your spirit of adventure in your oral presentation :), I could see that you were trying the new approach of story telling to sell your idea across to the audiences. However I felt that a simpler and shorter story could be used. Frankly speaking, I did not quite catch the point which you were trying to convey through the story. Perhaps you can use a more general story which most audiences can relate to? I remember you cited "Martin Luther" (sorry, I can't remember the name). Audiences like me, who come from a very mathematical educational background, would not be able to relate to slightly literary style that you have used in your story telling. Perhaps this brings up the 'you-attitude' again. The story telling would definitely be more engaging if you had used a more general, or even better, a humorous story to bring your point across. In general, it was still good, your presentation of full of conviction and passion just like during your peer teaching, you kept it quite conversation-style and it didn't feel like it was just reading out of a script.
Hey You Sheng,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the great effort you made for our proposal! It was felt & appreciated by our peers! I think you took a risk in presenting your part with anecdotes and real-life stories - a risk that we were all prepared to face, cause we've discussed about it before, rem? I certainly feel that while telling a story may not sell a business proposal well, it will for another setting/purpose. Example, an inspirational story. Or if you're giving an account of your life. You definitely command attention with your presence! I think it would surprise the audience if you break into a smile once in a while with an appropriate joke (because you're usually quite intense in your presentation). The content was good, and your vocabulary was excellent as usual. Although you were abit nervous during the actual presentation, it was way much better than during our rehearsal. A great job done! Forget about memorizing a script, smile more, and you can be a really good (inspirational) speaker! All the way!
Hey YS
ReplyDeleteI felt the story was a worthy bet! You were close to making it work, but when you ended the story, it was abrupt, and the connection between the story and the point about reforms in rag was not made. This was, in fact, quite a waste.
Your speech initially did not sound very scripted, until the part where you appeared to have forgotten the lines. A suggestion for that would be, as Brad mentioned, remember key points instead of chunks of prose. And don't be afraid to use the slides as cues to help you remember what to say. Besides, it is always good to check what's on the slides, and make sure that they correspond.
Nonetheless, I felt you have done well and come quite a long way. In this presentation, you were much more grounded compared to previous occasions, and that helped to keep a focus. You had always amazed me with your immense vocabulary and citations, and I could see the sentences were truly crafted for excellence. Good job dude!
Cheers
weeboon
Thanks, You Sheng, for this reflection and for all the hard work and positive vibes throughout the project work. You received lots of fine feedback on your OP that I'm sure you will find helpful in the future.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck with future presentations.