Pechakucha Presentation Day 1

2021-12-10

    Today, four people presented, which was slightly under the planned number (due to technical difficultiesーno brainer). Anyways, looking at the four presenters, I noticed there were three main points I believe could be improved.

    The first point I believe could be improved about the presenters, is the lack of facial expressions. Specifically, I understand this is hard to do as we are required to wear masks right now, but at the same time, I also believe this is one of the most important factors to incorporate in our presentations. Generally speaking, we rely a lot of our communication on facial expressions, through reading the person's eyes, eyebrows, mouth, cheeks, and so on. And so having that factor taken away (due to masks) definitely does make it hard to enhance our facial expressions. However, the face is somewhere audiences look at the most, and so enhancing the use of facial expressions will help them stay engaged in us throughout the presentation. Therefore, I believe this solution would be to use our eyes and eyebrows more often, as those are the parts that stay revealed even when wearing masks. I even once heard that presenters (with lighter brows) will often fill them in, so the people in the back can also read their expressions. To summarise, I'm not saying we have to fill in our brows when presentingーI mean there really is no need to do that because the room is not that big after all, but I'm saying using our eyes and eyebrows can definitely help us with efficient communication, even at a time when masks are required.

    The second point I believe could be improved is the lack of eye contact. Specifically, I noticed many people were looking at the screens instead of looking at their audiences. I believe looking back at the screen can confuse your audiences, as they'll be confused about where to even look at. Like I said in the last paragraph, a lot of the time the audience focuses on the presenter's face, and so having the face turned away from them will confuse them where to lay their eyes at.

    The third point I believe could be improved is the walk (no I'm not talking about runway walks). Specifically, some people can walk very weirdly during their presentations (like walking sideways) and not notice because you're not looking down at your feet when talking, you're looking straight ahead to your audiences (or the screen). And as much as hard it is to be conscious about walking when you're presenting at the same time, it is something almost everyone notices, and so ultimately is a big factor. Saying this, I sound as I don't walk weirdly at all when presenting, but the truth is, I'm not new to it too. And although I still notice I keep on doing it when replaying by presentation videos, I try to overcome this by practicing in front of a big mirror when practicing. I realized this helps me look at myself from the audience's perspective, helping me understand what parts I would notice as an audience.

    To conclude, I believe the presenters could improve their facial expressions, eye contact, and walk when presenting. But overall, I believe they all did very well and I want to incorporate the things I learned from them into my upcoming presentation.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pechakucha Presentation last day

 2021-11-30     Today was the last day for Pecha Kucha presentations, and I was honestly a bit sad it came to an end. I think the presenters did a great job but there were three points that I thought could still be improved and three points I thought helped stand their presentation out from the rest. Points of improvement 1. Not looking at the screen 2. Facing your shoulders towards the audience 3. Placing the hands in front of the body Good points 1. Maintained eye contact 2. Joked around here and there (released the tension for the presenters following) 3. Timing of the talk and the slides changing     In the last twenty minutes, Mr. Paterson talked about the Book Trailor Contest, which I am planning on joining (not sure yet). I think it would be a great opportunity to read Japanese books (which I definitely need to do to improve my comprehension skills) and a great opportunity to work again with Kotone (most probably).
Read more

Part 1 Chapters 1-2

   In the first chapter, it starts off by the narrator talking about the last time he saw the book thief when the sky was "red". (As explained in the prologue, the red represents bombs.) Here, he only talks about it for a few lines, and it sounds as if he is talking to himself, and not necessarily explaining the event in detail. After the soliloquy, the story takes off. The plot takes place in 1939 when the book thief was nine years old. She and her brother, Werner were on their way to Munich, where they would be handed over to their foster parents. Riding on a train, their mother fully asleep, with Werner in her arms, the book thief sat next to her, half asleep. It was then when she realized that something was wrong with her brother. His lifeless body laid there sideways and before she knew it, it was too late. Looking for the right timing, the narrator decided to "extract his soul". He described the little boy's spirit as "soft and cold, like ice cream....
Read more