My team “Go Green” had the presentation last week on Thursday. Our topic was about “Solar Energy”. I have been studying environmental education for 2 years and this was one topic I could associate with very well.
Despite having prior knowledge in the area, I found this proposal and presentation very challenging. It involved doing lot of research, contacting halls, SERIS, OES, NUSSU SAVE for interviews; conducting surveys, collating results and finally compiling and presenting all the information to convince NUSEU to accept our proposal.
My part of the presentation involved the “Plan of Action”. I tried to incorporate all the comments of Ms Lim while practising my speech text and rehearsed a lot in front of my friends. To speak honestly, I think I did a better job this time than my peer teaching presentationJ. However, there is still some room for improvement.
While presenting, I think I spoke at a little fast pace which might have made it difficult for a few to grasp the information but overall I think I pulled it off well. I was very confident and energetic while presenting and the bright, smiling faces of my colleagues and audience helped me boost up my morale even further. I used both verbal and non verbal cues while speaking and maintained a good eye contact with my audience. I think my tone of voice was also quite appropriate while presenting.
The Q/A session was a bit difficult to deal with. We were bombarded with a lot of questions but my team and I managed to emerge successfully out of it. According to me, I was successful to a certain extent in clarifying the doubts put forth to me. I also managed to actually implement Ms Lim’s advice on how to deal with the curious audience J.
Also, this time, keeping into consideration all the comments from my classmates, I dressed up in full sleeved shirt, had my hair pinned and a smile on my face.
I hope I came out as a confident speaker and was able to convince NUSEU to accept our proposal.:)
At the end,I can passionately say that I had an enjoyable time working with my group-mates. The disagreements were solved in the most rational way possible, everyone was considerate to others and we all were more than willing to help each other out. We started out as a group and ended up a a team. This experience is what matters the most to me!
Hi Kripa,
ReplyDeleteI think your post is very concise and sincere. It is very obvious that you made a great effort in your work with this project and it really payed off. I sure think you came across as a confident and convincing speaker!
I love the sentence about how you started out as a group and ended up as a team :-)
I wish you all the best with everything!
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ReplyDeleteHi Kripa,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your sharing.
Very accurate and detailed reflection. Spot on with regards to how you presented your section in the Oral Presentation.
You were pleasantly loud, you used strong, definite gestures, you knew the content well, and your delivery was fluent and smooth. You'd also articulated your words clearly, using accurate sentences. I would say that it was generally a very successful presentation.
What would make your presentation even better would be pacing yourself, so that your audience could follow your presentation at a more 'relaxed' and 'comfortable' pace, allowing them time to digest the information your were sharing. Particularly for the 'Plan of Action' section, where your audience may require time to digest the information, it will be to your advantage if you slowly bring them through your 'sales' pitch.
For instance, if you were to read this at our normal pace:
"Our plan of action is to first conduct research before actually installing the panels. The time frame for the research is slated to take XX months, after which the installation of the panels will take place during the summer holidays. This schedule will ensure that we do not disturb the regular activities of students because of the ongoing work.
*Referring to the graph/timeline of our plan* As you can see from this gant chart that we have plans of doing research till May,2011. This research would include
1)plans how where to implement solar panels in NUS
2)How to utilize solar energy more efficiently besides the solar panels.
After the required research, we will draw up plans to install the solar panels, gauge the manpower and cost,for approximately two weeks before we start installing the panels in the required areas."
Now read the following, paying careful attention to the [pauses] in-between. The content hasn't changed, but the information is relayed in a much more effective manner.
"Our plan of action [pause] is to first conduct research [pause] before actually installing the panels [pause]. The time frame for the research is slated to take XX months [pause], after which the installation of the panels will take place during the summer holidays [pause]. This schedule will ensure that we do not disturb the regular activities of students because of the ongoing work [pause].
*Reference to the graph/timeline of our plan* As you can see from this gant chart [pause] we have plans of doing research till May,2011 [pause]. This research would include [pause]
1)plans how where to implement solar panels in NUS [pause]
2)How to utilize solar energy more efficiently besides the solar panels [pause]."
Version 1 is not going to be very persuasive in presentations, isn't it? In the second version, information are delivered 'in groups', helping your audience to listen, understand, process and remember the information. This gives your presentation the persuasive edge to leave an impression and win your audience over. Try it, and see if it makes a difference.
All in all, thanks again for the effort, Kripa!