Presentations

 Alanis Rivera

The Presentations that took place on Tuesday May 16th, were very well done. Every group was very prepared and presented everything very well. I enjoyed all the presentations as they were also very well informed and detailed. Considering the fact that this was everyone's first presentations, even though some were nervous I feel that they all took their time while presenting and followed the professors instructions when it came to adding the fewest words possible to the powerpoints! 

Just like most of my classmates, I was also very nervous. This is the only class that I've been avoiding since I've always struggled with speaking in front of an audience. I decided to take this course online to make it a little more comfortable for myself when speaking to others since I'll be behind a camera. After having this first presentation, I honestly feel less nervous, It's actually more exciting and interesting than i thought it would be. YES it's very scary since all the attention is on me but just like the professor says you just have to be patient and calm when it comes to presenting. When presenting I also noticed it's really good to keep the audience interested in what you're talking about and I actually learned that from my part of the chapter in this presentation. 

Not only is this presentation going to prepare us for future presentations but also how to speak to an audience and what to expect from your audience. I feel that working in groups was great, although it can be very stressful at times because sometimes some classmates may not want to do some work but that was not the case with my group. These presentations can get very overwhelming for students that don't do really good when speaking in front of an audience, when in groups we all advice and interact with each other which is very helpful. I noticed that when most of my classmates would present they would speak very fast or in a low tone because they were nervous. To me it was very important for the two class leaders to add on to the presentations or give a conclusion once each group was done. 

This project helped me better understand the qualities that it takes to be a good speaker. Not only was the book very helpful but so was everyone's presentations. The 3 group presentations consisted of how to create a speech, how to keep your audience entertained, what to expect from your audience, the importance of public speaking. The most important detail I learned from this project was the importance of putting less on your powerpoint to keep your audience curious. When speaking it doesn't seem very professional to read of the powerpoint or presentation. It's always better to memorize your speech and add details while you're speaking instead of just reading bullet points which is what I would always do. 

Group 1 had chapters 1-4 which explained how to get started for a speech, what topics to speak about. The group explained the importance of choosing what to speak about because of the audiences, like for example in the book it says that an audience would prefer the speaker to speak on "current issues" that are affecting us. It explained how important it is to choose the topic of what you will be speaking about because it will "make you a valued source of information and ideas". The importance of listening when someone is presenting was also a very interesting topic from the chapters, they explain the importance of listening and writing down ideas and questions for clarification, how to engage with a speaker, how to reduce the fear of presenting. This very last topic was actually very helpful to hear before presenting because I struggle with speaking in front of others. Also analyzing your audience, meaning the importance of the occasion, the environment, and the amount of people attending. 

Group 2 had chapters 5-9, in their presentations they explained the importance of doing research mostly when collecting information from many sources and putting it all together into your presentation. Doing research adds credit to your speech while also adds ideas and helps you prepare for your speech. They also spoke about adding personal experience details when giving a speech as this sometimes can be an attention grabber, everyone loves to hear a personal experience from the speaker instead of it all being research. A very important topic that was spoken about as well was the importance of being organized while presenting as this helps the audience understand your presentation. Developing the important ideas in your presentation by highlighting them, how to introduce your presentation, how to deliver a speech. The most important from all chapters was how to use your voice meaning the tone of your voice, the rapidity with your words, the rhythm, and lastly the important brief pauses in between ideas and key points. 

 

Group 3 which was actually my group had chapters 10-12 & the appendix, in our presentation we spoke about why the audience should be invested in the topic, explaining to your audience why you chose to speak on that topic, helping the audience understand the information by having a clear introduction and clear points. We spoke on persuasive presentations, which are often used to speak on current issues or anything political. 

In my opinion, giving feedback to other classmates or a professor giving us feedback is very important when it comes to presentations. Being our first presentation, Professor Sinkoff was very helpful and lenient with these presentations, I appreciated her feedback which is always good because it gives us room for improvement. I really enjoyed doing this presentation, being able to choose what I wanted to speak about from the chapter was perfect since each of us chose a topic that we could enjoy learning about. I look forward to more presentations like these and gaining more confidence when it comes to speaking in front of an audience.