See Chai’s ES2007S lament
The project work of ES2007S is finally over for me after today’s oral presentation. On one hand I feel totally relieved as I can concentrate on assignments of other modules which have snowballed over the past few weeks. On the other hand I feel a little sad because it kind of marks the end of ES2007S. At the same time I will really miss the memorable moments shared with Iris and Geraldine during project meeting.
Alright let’s get on with the reflection on oral presentation. I remember after the peer teaching session, I was looking forward to presenting in front of the class again incorporating all the lessons that I have learnt then. Yet today I felt rather disappointed with my part of the oral.
Preparation aspect
Firstly I felt that we did not cater enough time to prepare for the presentation. Everyone in the team has a busy schedule and meeting was often conducted in the evening when everyone is already drained. On top of that, we only finalized the content at 3.30 am the night before. This meant that there was little time for rehearsal and also to get the content in my head. During rehearsals I would forget all the things I was meant to say. I must admit I did not have a good run before the actual presentation. I’m sure Iris and Geraldine was quite worried about that.
Content aspect
Another reason which I felt was disappointing was the amount of content I was presenting. If you ask me I would say that it was pathetic. The benefits that I came up with were not even something that needs heavy research in order to come up with. This brings me to my third point.
Have you ever had the feeling that you invested so much time and effort into something only to be disappointed later?
That was how I felt with the presentation. We have done so much and gained so much insight but none of them could be used in the presentation. Perhaps I failed terribly in bringing the team in focus during the research as the chair.
Delivery aspect
Delivery aspect went better than expected for me. Not respective to professional communication standards definitely. Respective to the rehearsal which I forgot almost everything I only forgot 25% of what I was supposed to say. Also, relative to the 1 minute elevator test which I was practically frozen solid in class, today presentation was only slightly better.
I was never known to be quiet or soft spoken to my peers. Am I? Iris and Geraldine will definitely disagree with me being soft-spoken. I wonder where my voice went when I was presenting. I couldn’t believe it when Brad mentioned that I was too soft.
Two saving graces for me today probably were that I tried very hard on the eye contact thing (I certainly hope some of my classmates caught that) and me not turning back to look at the slides (simply because there was nothing there!).
I admit I was never good at oral presentation. The reason for today’s poor presentation was probably due to the lack of self confidence, lack of practice, lack of passion on the things I was presenting and the previous incident where I froze in front of the whole class. I was totally uncomfortable with standing in front of a crowd. The only time I was at ease was during the Q&A session. However when I tried to add on to something Geraldine said the whole class burst into laughter I can’t help but wonder why?
I wished I had ended the project and ES2007S on a better note. I felt that I have learnt so much and yet when it is time for application I failed. I’m sorry if you had to read through this article. I wished I could find something more positive about my part of the presentation but I could find none.
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Bonjour Monsieur!!!
ReplyDeleteCongrats! Presentation is over!
Well, things actually doesn't seem so bad. Look on the bright side.Let me tell you why.
Firstly, I guess you have made some improvements in terms of your presentation skills. You seem more confident and at ease than your previous presentation during the peer teaching session.
Not everyone is born with the ability or talent to dance,sing or to present. It takes alot of time and effort with intensive practices to acquire good presentation skills.So, please do not blame yourself or feel disappointed about it.I guess the question does not really lies on whether one is a good presentater or not.The important question is:" Did you put your heart in doing this project? Did you give your best shot? Were you serious about it?Did you take note of your previous comments on your peer teaching session and work on it to improve yourself?"
In addition, I felt that your content on benefits was sufficient.You probably need more elaboration on the benefits. In fact, the lesser the content you are presenting, the easier it is to get the audience to remember what you have covered. Instead, you could have strengthen your benefits by supporting it with evidence or you could simply paint of picture of what would happen if NUS EU accept your proposal.You need to get your audience to visualise the positive outcomes of your recommendation.
To end on a brighter note, I think your team has definitely put in effort to prepare your presentation.When you told me that you stayed in school til 5 am, I was seriously taken aback.WOW! Anyway, ES2007 isn't all about presentation skills. You have gain friendships and knowledge from our communication guru,Brad.And it is really great to have you in class, contributing and sharing your ideas and knowledge during class discussions.Now we all know more about the communication in the nursing industry.So, don't feel bad about it.It is just part of the learning process.
Anyway, thank you for presentation! Bon effort!!!
See Chai!! Don't be so hard on yourself! Thought you did really well from where I was standing. You really improved a lot. As for content, remember that being concise is one of the 7Cs!!! Besides, I do not think the content mattered much. It was more about our presentation. So cheer up! All the best for your other project. I had a blast working with you and Iris. Yes, even at 4am in the morning!!
ReplyDelete(P.S. ITS OVER!!!)
Geraldine
Hey man, I am probably the worse guy on Earth in terms of consoling but cheer up! It is truly quite sad that you could not tell us everything you guys know about the project. When I hear you all talk about your project, I can really feel the concern you have over your problems and the passion you have for the whole project. Yet sometimes things just do not go smoothly. Perhaps drawing the lot for the earlier presentation was one of the big issues. When you don't have sufficient time to prepare, it creates a big problem. Education get truly get depressing but at the end of the day, I always console myself by saying that the most important thing is that I have learnt something. Don't be too hard on yourself right, it could just have been a bad day at the office.
ReplyDeleteAnyway with regards to delivery, I thought you were slightly nervous and forgot a few lines. I would attribute that to the lack of time though. I think your group was really pressed for time that's why. On a positive note, you did recover quite well very quickly so that is a plus point. Projection-wise, I thought you were okay because I could hear you clearly. Relative to Geraldine you do sound significantly softer but I must still say that I can hear you quite clearly so projection was not a problem for me. Perhaps when Brad said quiet, it was more of the whole vibe that you were giving. You seem to be giving this slightly shy mannerism. Personally, you feel that you weren't really enjoying being at center-stage. You did move forward to the audience but you seem uncomfortable in your position with no table to hide behind and no table corner to lean on for support. It was quite a scary position to choose. Perhaps that explains why you ended up feeling a bit shy and that could have been why Brad said you came across as a quiet guy. I know you are not :D
Okay, anyway don't be too hard on yourself. Win as a team lose as a team and learn from your mistakes. Hope you enjoyed the everything and hope you feel much better when I see you on monday!
Hi see chai!
ReplyDeleteLook at the better side of things! Delivery wise, I think you really did better than the time you did your peer teaching. I am not sure how you feel but I find that you are more relaxed and you are not really relying on your notes during this presentation. I agree with you that not all of us are born to be a good presenter like Steve Jobs. There is a nurture aspect to it but I am sure your DNA and personality parts a huge factor. As long as there is improvement from the previous presentation, that is great! ;D
I don't think you are a shy guy too and I can tell that all of your team put in alot of effort for this project. Besides the presentation skills that we have acquired during class, the friendship, knowledge that you have gained is invaluable.
I hope that for all of us, as we graduate from this class, we are able to apply whatever we learnt in this module in the future, whether in the workforce or in relationships with others.
see you on monday!
Hello See Chai! I think you did much better in this presentation as compared to the previous one! You stood in a position that all of us could see you clearly and you were pretty confident in presenting your points to us. (: The most important thing from this presentation is not about how well you did but what have you learnt from this presentation and how you could work on them to achieve better results in your following presentations. Everything in this course had been a learning process and as long as you improved I think you need not be so hard on yourself! Cheers! See you in class tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteHey everyone
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the consolation. I'm feeling much better now. Maybe writing the post right after presentation was not such a good idea after all. Or maybe its because of all your comments here that makes me feel much better. Its heartening to know that all of you care. I think the biggest gain in this module is the 14 new found friendship.
I've learnt so much after looking at everyone's presentation. I'm already looking forward to future presentations and to apply little bits of everyone into it.
Alright looks like I'm over it already. :) look forward to Thursday morning.
Friends Forever
Cheers
See Chai
Hey See Chai,
ReplyDeleteI think I am a very sensitive person and I can't help but share how you felt when I read your blog post. Glad to hear that you're feeling better already!
Okay, let me share few things here. First of all, you are definitely are a good team player and I could see how you and your team mates worked really hard throughout the proposal and presentation. This is definitely a transferable skill and noone can stress enough of it, especially in the future workplace.
On your presentation, I felt you came in as very calm and confident of your topic. Personally, there is no size that fits all. Therefore, I think you don't need to be very loud in order to appear confident. It's good to be just yourself, but you can play with voice projection and place emphasis on your important points.
At first you seemed a little stiff, but eventually it got better. One good tip is to open up yourself more to the audience and think that you are talking to them personally. Gestures are helpful too because it makes the speaker appear natural. Haha, but of course it shouldn't be too dramatic that it become a distraction. =)
In fact, I think you improved a lot ever since we first stepped into the class few months back. You do not appear nervous to the audience, that's a first good impression already!
Keep up the good work!
Hey
ReplyDeleteDon't be so hard on yourself. Cheer up! It's over! I felt that you have improved from the previous peer teaching session. As with Stephanie, I realized that you were abit more stiff in your presentation at the beginning, but after getting the hang of it you began to loosen up and had more confidence in your presentation. And I must commend you for coming out of your comfort zone and interacting more with the audience :)
Although I do feel that cue cards are not necessarily bad (since not everyone is born natural presenters), but I thought that there was a bit too much reliance on your notes. I noticed that there were times where you were scanning your notes to find the specific information.
Great job though!! :D
Hello!
ReplyDeleteNo way, I didn't really think you were soft either! So don't worry about it. :)
And wow 3.30am? That must have been bad. But considering the content was finalized so late, I think you guys did a fine job.
It's true that the content was a bit sketchy at times. Stuffs that had to be more elaborated on weren't and yet stuffs that did not need much emphasis on were too over-elaborated.
But overall I felt that, despite the lack in content that you had presented, it was an informative presentation. You guys knew your content well. So don't be too hard on yourself!
:) kellyn
Like many of the others, I think you beat yourself up quite a bit in this reflection on the OP. Your content focus, as demonstrated in your research work throughout the process, was exemplary. I also think you did a very good job of getting your group to focus. The topic you three settled on was very pertinent and interesting. That came across in the proposal and the presentation. So in those areas, don't have any doubt.
ReplyDeleteThere were only a few areas in the presentation and in your own delivery that I felt, while reviewing the whole thing, might have been
done in a different way. For one, there was the way you projected.
Don't get me wrong on this. I didn't mean to give the impression that you are X, Y or Z, personality wise. It was only that your voice projection didn't seem as strong as it might have been as you spoke.
Part of that could be attributed to your dependence on the note card.
Part might have been your mood that day.
This is not to say that I expect you to change your personality or that I want perfection. As Shihhan mentions in her comment, this is all about learning. And learn you have!
On all fronts, thank you, See Chai, for the great effort, the sincerity and the good cheer!
Come on Mr. Soft-spoken! Don't be so negative! Nervousness and lack of confidence can be countered with practice. Lack of passion...you just have to play pretend in the future. There is no way to guarantee interesting projects. Previous incident...with time it will fade and not affect you any more.
ReplyDeleteYes. We had a good OP. Thank you for all the hard work! =)