Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Blog #5 - Reflections on the oral presentation

Well the past few weeks have sure been fun. This is only my second semester here at NUS and so I've never had to do a presentation so formal before and we've never had to do any presentations at school, so this entire process was new to me. The past few weeks have been quite hard getting to know the process and getting used to the standard of the work. The standard of these presentations when I look back on it is way more than I could have managed individually with my lack of experience and I feel so grateful that I was a part of a group, they made the presentation better than I could have ever imagined it.

Somehow I've never really been nervous about public-speaking, in fact I even enjoy it. So I was looking forward to this presentation and till the moment I had to go speak I was happy and then I got up and I started panicking. I think eventually I managed to calm down and give a decent presentation (considering it was my first try). I could have slowed down a lot though, by the end of it I felt like I had talked continuously for 5 minutes without a single breath and I could have prepared a bit more. But overall I felt the presentation was a success. Of course the only problem was the $15,000,000 question for which I shall blame the faulty source.

I must say I owe a lot to my group mates, I've never done this before and took a long time to get used it and they put up with it and I've learned a lot from them. Overall it has been an incredible experience and I'm sure it will help me in all the presentations I have to do in the future.

10 comments:

  1. Hey Uttara,

    You're a naturally good speaker! You spoke with distinguished confidence and fluency throughout. Without a doubt, this course helped to refine a gem into a polished jewel.

    However, do take note of the way you phrase your words because sometimes they may be vague and ambiguous, hence impeding understanding by the audience.

    Overall, it was a great presentation.

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  2. hi Uttara,

    I think your presentation was loud and clear. You have maintained a good eye contact with the audience. You are confident and have maintained a good posture throughout the presentation.
    However, I agreed with ben that some of your words and phrase maybe vague. I would suggest that you could slow down for certain phrase which would help audience to understand better.

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  3. Hi Uttara!!

    I thought you were awesome! I LOVED listening to your nice voice and really smooth tone. You're really a natural with such a comforting voice! =)

    Nonetheless, I realised your posture towards the end was a little odd and informal, so I thought that didn't really seem appropriate. Also, I felt that there were too many hand movements from you, plus you used 'and' a little too excessively when mentioning the next point.

    Only minor points to take note but otherwise you're really good! Really enjoyed listening to you! =)

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  4. Good posture, good eye contact, nice smile and a brave heart. These qualities you certain have them displayed in the oral presentation. The atmosphere of the over presentation became more relaxed as you took over the stage. I agree with Jac that your posture seemed a bit informal at the end. Once again, it’s a delicate balance between building an approachable atmosphere and still maintaining a basic degree of seriousness and dedication.

    The pace is fine, it’s rather the bringing the words out more clearly. I feel that some of your words seem to be hidden among the others and I have to infer the words before and after to understand the sentence.

    Given that you are just turning 19 this year and lack the experience that we older ones have, I am already so jealous. How I wish I have these qualities 4 years back =) Continue to work hard on your communication skills and with your brave heart, you can make it where your aspirations lead to.

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  5. Hello Uttara! I think you presented very well! I like your eye contact as it seemed to be as being earnest and engaging. :) It is not easy for everyone to have an eye contact that can straightaway make others feel their sincerity. However, you just make me fall in love with your ideas and you! I also find that you are very pleasant when you presented and confident to showcase your group's ideas. Being the last speaker is no easy task, you got to reinforce the points your team mates said earlier and make the audience convinced of your proposal.

    Though there is the 15 million dollars question, I think you can treat this as a learning experience; Anticipate what questions may be raised and response to it appropriately with relevant supporting sources. I think you did well and of course, deserve a well treat for yourself!

    Hope to see you around in school and really happy knowing you. :D Can you tell me more about India? I want to know more about Indian culture and India. :D

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  6. Hey Uttara!

    I have always loved your presentations (even during peer teaching) because you have such a pleasant and clear voice! During the oral presentation, I felt that you were really confident as you seemed really sure of your content.

    However, I'm not sure if you notice this but you tend to occasionally drone off (not sure if I'm using this word right) at the end of your sentences, where you'll suddenly speed up and your words start getting really soft. It becomes a little difficult to hear you when you start doing that.

    However, I still feel it's been a great presentation overall!

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  7. Hey Uttara,

    I felt that you did a great presentation considering this is your first try. You made a conscientious effort to improve yourself. Do take note to minimize the number of "and" usage in your presentation. Your voice was loud and clear. Moreover, you had a good posture which exudes confidence. Keep it up!

    Cheers!

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  8. Hey Uttara!

    It was a great pleasure to listen to your group present! Your style of presentation was quite good! You brought forth your points quite well, with a calmness and naturalness which is quite unexpected from one of your age. The style of presentation was also quite clear, because of a continuity between speakers and slides, to the point where audience do not have to fill in any logic gaps.

    One thing you could have improved on is your speed of speaking. You have quite a strong Indian accent, which is perfectly fine and understandable. But when you speak too quickly and ‘link’ too many words in one continuous breath, I found it at some points difficult to understand. So, if you would speak at a slower pace, it would be beneficial for both you and your audience.

    Thanks for the great presentation, and for portraying the problem that your group had highlighted in such a fresh perspective.

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  9. Hello Uttara, I enjoyed your presentation because of the confidence that you exuded during the presentation. You were smooth in your delivery of the slides and if I may just point out 1 minor thing to take note, it would be to maintain a suitable and comfortable pace. I found your pace a little too fast towards the end but other then this,it was a great presentation overall :)

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  10. Hey everyone thanks for all the feedback, I'll work on everything. I realize I do have the tendency to swallow a few words especially when I;m nervous. I don't know if its the accent or not but I will definitely work on it.

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