Reflection on my presentation

So approximately two months ago, I presented about my book review on “The Book Thief”, and I finally got the courage to look back at the video today (ahahah).

Starting off, there are six main points I need to reconsider and be more careful about when presenting from now on.

The first point is to speak slower. Looking back at the video, I notice how fast I was talking, and no, it’s not that I didn’t notice that when presenting, I did. However, I couldn’t help myself at all and honestly, I still don’t understand why I was speaking at such a fast pace. And so I researched, and according to inc.com, a fast tone may indicate that the person is experiencing nervousness or a lack of self confidence.—Which I didn’t think I would show that kind of response because I had practiced a fair amount time and whenever I did, I was able to talk much slower.

I guess the only way I can get over this is to practice until you are super confident, and to just experience presentations on a daily basis. Also, maybe meditating on the mornings of (big) presentations can also help??

Not to mention that I think I understand how posting videos of your presentations online beforehand could help with this problem. Specifically, by posting the video of your presentation before presenting in person, you gain a sense of security, that you don’t need to be so nervous because, well people have already seen your presentation before, and that this is technically your second time presenting.

The second point is on eye contact. Specifically, I notice that during the middle part of the presentation, there are some parts where I’m able to hold eye contact for 3-4 seconds. However, in the beginning (approximately 1:00-3:00), I was not able to hold eye contact for that long. And this again, is something that I thought I had no problem with because when practicing, I could hold my eye contact on specific areas for long enough. This may have occurred due to again, my nervousness, however, eye contact is probably one of the most important elements of a presentation, (as it drags in the audience and makes sure they’re not the only one watching you, and that you’re aware of them too). Therefore, eye contact during presentations and in general, should never be under looked, and so this opportunity taught me the important lesson again.

The third point is on words such as “like” and “um”. Again, this mainly occurred during the middle of the presentation, however, this time I think I know what caused me to. It’s that for this presentation, I created a script. (Yes, a huge mistake.) Yet, my understanding then was that scripts are important so I don’t forget the things I say, and since Mr. Paterson doesn’t like scripts, all I have to do is read them naturally in my head. However I now understand that scripts are what made me say words for instance “like” and “um”, since whenever I couldn’t remember how the script went on from one point, I lost the sense of my security and made me feel like I wouldn’t know what to talk about, although in reality I spent 6 months with the book!! Furthermore, I realized you don’t need scripts to remember what to say things in order, because slides do that for you!! All you have to do during a presentation when you forget what to talk about next, is to simply look at the screen projecting your slide, and remind yourself.

The fourth point is on arms. I hadn’t rolled up my sleeves from the very beginning of the presentation, and instead I did so at approximately 2 minutes into the presentation. And since I was wearing thick clothing, it looked like I was struggling to pull them up, and it would occasionally drop downwards. So, from now on I will have to make sure to either fully secure it by folding it a few times before the presentation, or wear a lighter piece of clothing.

The fifth point is on gaps. During some parts of the presentation, I can see myself struggling to remember what I had to say for the next part, which again was a problem caused by scripts. In this case, since I was presenting with a script in my head it made me stop immediately when I forgot what to say for the next part. If I had not made a script, the result would have been different and made the gaps more natural as when talking with a script, the sudden gap throughout the fluent talk sounds and unnatural.

The sixth point is on the time of the presentation. Specifically, when reflecting on the time within each part, I pent approximately 40 seconds on the author’s background and what influenced his story, 3-4 minute on the summary of the book, and 6 minutes on the critique of the book. As a whole, I spent 10 minutes which is over the time. I believe I should of have spent less time on the critique part and brought it down at least 2 minutes so it would fit inside 8 minutes. The reason I should of have been more careful about the time is so I wouldn’t bore the audience out for talking too long, especially since I still don’t have the techniques to keep the audiences interested and participated in the presentations and also because class times are limited. (Not to mention our class has well over 40 students..)

Although the majority of the reflection on my presentation is on the negative points, I can still see that some of my practices did make the presentation a lot better.

The first is the fact that I was moving my hands occasionally. In fact, I was able to clap my hands at some points too, when indicating the transfer of the topic within the presentation. The sudden sound of clap would allow the audience to wake up and stay focused to the presentation. 

The second point is that the words on the slides were not cut off or camouflaged by the picture of the slide. I think I was able to do so, through projecting my screen during presentations in different classes and understanding how different colors show up on the screen.

Thirdly, I was able to use my voice louder when saying the last part, “one last thing”. Thus, I think I was able to grab my audience’s attention at the very end and share an important lesson on wars.

Overall, I was shocked to see that I had still not gotten the hang of important elements of presentations, of which I had practiced them for over a year now, in Mr.Paterson’s classes. However, I believe this experiences ultimately me allowed me to become a better speaker and presenter in general.