photo source: blog.lib.umn.eduNovember 2nd, 2009 was my proposal presentation for ES2007S. My heart beat fast and it was quite obvious that I’m very anxious that day. When it was my turn to present, honestly, I have forgot almost 70% of the “important points” that I have told myself (based on the rubric) after the rehearsal with my team. I don’t know why I just can’t help with my anxiety (what you think?).
Overall, I think I’ve spoken too fast and I was not very good in pronunciation. Ironically, I found that if I speak slowly, I’ll stutter. I have tried my best to overcome this problem during "my own rehearsal” (speak to myself) while I’m riding my bike back home or heading to school. I thought that I have overcome it but when I started to get nervous again, my brain went blank and my muscular system started to break down. Am I born with stammering or I have just pushing myself too hard or simply I have not enough practices?
On the other hand, I found that our team rapport was not good enough due to the “last-minute” change of my presentation—I want to “blackout” the screen for my last sentence and it was not part of the inertial plan. To my team members, I’m so sorry about that. Once again, if you were in my position, would you stick to the original plan for the sake of the team or just behave like what I have done in order to “score points”?
Well, I have really tried my best to present (my only strength was enthusiasm) but at the end of the day, I’ve got backfire. So, I hope that you can think it over again (by answering the questions i raised), learn my mistakes and prevent these from happening when you have your next presentation.
Dear Ryan
ReplyDeleteLet me start off by saying, I thought you did a relatively good job. I think it is natural for one to feel nervous and anxious when they start presenting, especially if they are the first group! It is worthwhile to note that whatever happens in the rehearsal does not necessarily translate to the right set of actions on the actual day. I can understand that plans do change, and perhaps you could have discussed with your teammates a little earlier as to whether you would be heading to the computer to "blank" the screen during your presentation. While it did come as a surprise, I do not think that was a huge pitfall to your team. Perhaps there was a little gap in the teamwork but it doesn't take away the fact that the content was still delivered strong.
I always remember you as someone who is very interactive, so I was a little surprised that you sounded nervous, but I believe the enormity of the situation could have been daunting. However, you did have very good body language (despite some of the mistakes) and you had good eye-contact and excellent enthusiasm. I can vividly recall how often you humbly requested the panel to consider the proposal many a time-4 times to be exact!-I could sense the effort you were putting into your presentation, which is always a plus for any presenter!
I also felt that if you had refrained from "hypothetical" sentences, such as maybe 2hours for tutorial classes, that would have aided your cause because it sounded very probable, as opposed to something concrete and possible. Definitely more explanation could have been given to statements that needed clarification, since the OP is to address the issues directly at hand.
But as for the Q&A, I thought your team had a good answer to my question. There was good teamwork and the rapport was evident, as members were willing to add on for group members where necessary, which is highly encouraging.
By and large, it was a good, valiant effort. There are certainly a lot of positives that you can take away from this experience (likewise for me as well). Don't be too hard on yourself, because the learning journey is still afresh for you.
It was really nice knowing you. Thanks for really being the super "harsh" one at our presentation. We certainly had our work cut out for us, but it was a good experience. All the best to your university education and future endeavors!
Best
Prashant
Dear Ryan,
ReplyDeleteI was sitting behind preparing for my speech when your group presented. I finished preparing and it was your turn to speak.
You should not worry about stutters or stammering. I mean, there are phDs that stammer/stutter when they talk. If they can make it that far speaking like that, I am sure you will do fine.
Initially, I thought you did very well. However, closer to the end of your speech, you started to rush more. I also felt quite weird when you paused and ask for questions. This is a presentation not a dialogue session or a lecture, questions should be asked only after the presentation. Doing that, not only did it cost you time (which was limited), it made some of us confuse on what was happening.
Overall, like Prashant mentioned, it was a very good effort put in.
Regards,
Pak Ming
Hi Ryan
ReplyDeleteI feel that you did well for your presentation. I enjoyed your interaction with the audiences, often you will smile and post some questions to the floor and the invivited guest and this engaging our attention. In fact, you did not really exhibit much signs of nervousness. However, one point to note is the abrupt blanking of slides, I was a bit shocked when you suddenly blank of your slides and end of with only a sentence. There was some lack of transition between you and the next group member but I think overall, it still turn out alright. Therefore, you shouldn't be feeling so bad about it. Overall, I enjoyed your presentation and you showed improvement compared to peer teaching.
All the best!
Eileen
Hi Ryan,
ReplyDeleteThere is no need to worry so much; I personally felt you did a good job in your presentation. What is most important in a presentation is that your audience understand what you are trying to say and I think you managed you fulfill this requirement very well. Like Pak Ming has mentioned, stuttering is not a major factor to worry about since most people do stutter during presentations. However I think you could have refrained from running over to the computer, I am not sure why you did that but it would have been better if you had just stopped for a while and thought of what you wanted to say.
But all in all I think you were interacting well with the audience especially when you asked questions :) I think asking questions during presentations will help bring attention to the point you are trying to put forth and I think you did that well. Cya in class :)
Cheers,
Keerth
Hi Ryan,
ReplyDeleteTo my opinion, I felt you appeared formal and sounded confidently during your part. You managed to engage eye contact with the audience and was rather convincing. As pointed out by a few of our classmates, I felt there was lack of communication between you and your team members when you were trying the “blank” the screen. They don’t seem to be aware when you will end your part. Therefore, maybe you should inform your team members in advance as afterall, it’s a groupwork.
Anyway, I can see you have tried to present yourself with the utmost effort. Thanks for your convincing speech and hope my feedback helps for your future presentations.
Gail
Dear Ryan:
ReplyDeletePutting aside the stuttering and issue on pronounciation which I thought is of least importance(not that they are not important),as long as you can bring across your message effectively to the audience, that is what that is more important. Like Keerth, I thought you did well in bringing across the message effectively to the audience.Good Job!
I can see your enthusiasm and passion for your project through the presentation which I thought helped you to better present your message to the audience. I appreciate the appropriate questions asked as I think it helps to trigger thinking in the audience which ultimately helps to emphasize the purpose of the presentation. Cheers to that:)I thought there was appropriate use of gestures and eye contact with the audience. What I particularly liked about your presentation was the feeling you gave to the audience(at least for me)-you were not just presenting your ideas, you were interacting with the audience too.
With regards to the sudden blank screen, it really caught me off guard. I guess it would be good to inform the team in advance and with more practice as well as more team coordination, I believe the effect of the blank screen would be brought out more effectively.
Nevertheless, it was a good effort.
Hi Ryan,
ReplyDeleteI was really impressed by the enthusiasm you had exhibited during your presentation! It effectively engaged your audience and made you seem confident despite your anxiety. I noticed that you have the tendency to move your body about when you speak, probably because you were nervous, but it was a little distracting for the audience. Maybe you could take note of this when you present next time?
Another suggestion I have for you is to make more reference to your slides when you present your points, so that the audience can have a better understanding of the content. Nevertheless, I enjoyed your presentation!
Cheers,
Chai Yee
Dear Ryan,
ReplyDeleteJust as Chai Yee and Prashant has said, I am impressed by your performance. You probably is the only one in the class who tend to mispronounce words and also may have difficulty in wording them. However, this did not stop you from giving a brilliant presentation. Your enthusiam and the desire to share your ideas was heartfelt.
Comparing with the previous presentation, you must have hours of revision, making your presentation smoother and coherent.
I noted that you tend to make "spin off ideas" that are interesting but maybe not so relevant that you will want to touch on. Our project of writing a proposal presents to us an unlimited possibilites of working our solutions to a problem. You may want to concentrate on a few points rather than talking about multiple points togather.
Though it may not be obvious, you tend to look at the ceiling or upwards as you present. This can get distracting as the audience are focusing on you and what you are focusing on. I was irritated by the fact that i was looking at the ceiling a few times because i was looking at you and you were looking at the ceiling. However, this also just goes to show that your enthusiam was rubbing off on the audience who follows your presentation attentively too.
Lastly, who will not ever get nervous and panic at the last moment? I myself am guilty of that. However, I believe, being adequately prepared and also practice takes some of that uneasiness away.
Thank you for the comments you gave me. And to be honest, bearing witness to a capable and more talented person always leave one dejected and feeling defeated.
However, I would think that this module is a great learning experience for all of us. We learn the good and about the bad, learn of our shortcomings and lengthen and strengthen our positive points.
Dear all,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for all the positive feedback! It is in fact a real morale booster!
Frankly, I really don't know that i was that "good". I really thought that i have done a very lousy job and i have to keep smiling after the presentation to cover my another "embarrassment" (base on my first entry). :P
Thank you so much for being so nice to me. Well, i shall never satisfy with this and I'll keep learning and improving myself. Hope that one day we can see each other to present again and found that we all have great improvement or even present perfectly!
All the best to you!
Cheers,
Ryan