Finally, there is a chance to surface and gasp for a breath of fresh air. The week had not been easy, and I am proud to survive. What made me more proud was the presentation, which I felt was my best one so far. It was quite a joy to work with wonderful people who can think on their feet. They are definitely a boon to have on the same side for a presentation.
In hindsight, I felt the team on the whole delivered on the purpose of the proposal. For my segment, I was gratified that the introduction of the team and team members were successfully executed. I was so glad that the water binging helped to maintain a functional throat after the drink-and-mug regime(i.e. drink lots of coffee to stay awake and study for the night). A clear voice is an essential tool in a presentation, but I had overlooked the importance of others, such as stance and facial expression.
I felt that while I was stating my points clearly, I could have interacted or engaged with my audience more, like my team mates did. I did not feel that I maintained positive facial expressions, which could have helped me connect with the audience better by seeming more amiable. Perhaps I had let too much of my severe personality show, and it made me seem more distant. Well, in self-consolation, my perfomance would be probably not be out of place with a bunch of serious and sombre audience. Or perhaps it was not that bad when I was not entertaining(channelling Chimamanda Adichie). Then again, I guess I am not a good judge, especially of myself. So please, guys(and gals), pull no punches!
Cheers!
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oh WeeBoon.. do you really think you did that badly? :) haha..
ReplyDeleteI thought it was ok actually. You were confident when you spoke. Calmly laying out your plan of attack. It made following what your group mates had to say later easier to follow. You has addresses the audience directly, but since you didn’t tell us who we were it was a little confusing for me when your team said that we had academic mentors. Your position was firm and you were always (mostly) facing the audience when you spoke. Hand gestures that you used were appropriately in synced with what you were saying. It provided a sort of window to a little emotion which made the connection between the audience and yourself easier to establish and maintain.
You were clear in your speech. Words were well articulated and the volume at which you spoke was neither too loud nor too soft. I think your presentation was at the appropriate level. You addressed the audience respectfully and tactfully. Because you did not tell us who we were I simply assumed we were the NUS excellence unit. The level of professionalism you portrayed to this excellence unit was one which was to be expected from someone presenting a proposal. It was well done.
The presentation as a whole, with regards to your part, was clear and concise. You had the relevant data to substantiate whatever you had to propose and that made it easier to accept. The transition between you and your team mates was also smooth and there wasn’t any breaks in points. This made the presentation comprehensive. In all it was a job well done.
About the addition as a module. Even though I think it’s a good idea. I think adding an extra module into the different curriculums that run throughout the entire NUS would face more problems than you have originally anticipated.
Firstly, not all the courses run for the same length of time (3,4 and 5 year).
Secondly, some courses already have their students packed it would be near impossible to get everyone to do an extra module.
Thirdly, if it doesn’t count towards the grades, would there be any incentive at all for students to put effort into the module. It’s not like its a pre-requisite for anything else.
Lastly, having MCs awarded to this may actually affect what students take to fulfill their MC requirements to graduate. Example, student taking it at the last year to have a relaxing time therefore defeating the purpose (I assume its bonding and getting to know each other).
It was a good shot anyway. It was believable, needs a little more research but believable, and it was engaging. No stones were left unturned. Good job. Hope i didn’t punch you too hard.. haha... :)
Thanks, Wee Boon, for this reflection, though I agree with Daniel in thinking that you are overly critical. I've already given you detailed feedback in the formal assessment. Let me finalize this review by stating that I found that you made improvement over the previous and that I didn't find your delivery too stiff at all.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck in future presentations!
Thanks Brad and Daniel!
ReplyDeleteI guess I was just being neurotic. Perhaps my mum's parenting rubbed off on me. She somehow seemed to have had very high expections all the time, and I always seem to fall short even when I finally get a distinction or recognition. Or maybe I took too much of a leaf from Merovingian's book(the matrix frenchman who sees cost when another sees chance, and believes in consequences, not coincidences).
In recollection of the presentation day, I probably did not charm the crowd like Jonathan did. When he came on, he became the centre of the stage and the audience seemed more engaged. Hence, then, I got worried that I was too serious and boring for the audience. In retrospect, and after the affirmation, I guess different presenters have different styles, and a different purpose for their roles within the same presentation. Like mine to was mainly to convey an piece of information, while Jonathan's was to promote the the plan.
@Daniel: I do agree that there could be problems in trying to fit a compulsory module within a structured syllabus, and the variations between the courses only makes it more difficult. However, this may not be hard to overcome with proper syllabus planning. One prime example would be SP1202 Communicating with the Academy, which was based on a similar pilot with the Department of Pharmacy, before its introduction to the Faculty of Science. These two modules too were added on, as complusory modules, and were successfully integrated into the respective syllabi.
Rendering the proposed module a non-credited module may indeed cause a lapse in student commitment. However, the compulsory S/U grade will show up in the transcipt, offering a moderate deterrence to poor attitude in the module. This option was chosen to balance between the commitment and stress inducement.
Finally, thanks again[for the wakeful punch ;) ]
Have a great weekend!
Cheers
Wee Boon
Hi Wee Boon,
ReplyDeleteFirstly, I must say that " pull no punches" is a bit of an oxymoron! It means to hold nothing back...but yet, if you "pull no punches", implies you hold everything back. (Haha) Okie, this is a side point! Not the real comment.
You had clear diction, and good voice projection. Although you stammered a bit initially, you seemed more comfortable and got more confident as the presentation went on. Your stance was upright, and you appeared confident. Perhaps the reason why you felt you had not engaged the audience enough was that you stood quite far away from the audience, partially in darkness, whilst Jonathan stood nearer to us. That made a difference.
We were a serious and sombre audience? We could be straining our eyes to see you. Wei Ping gave some useful tips in his comments, which I thought was really useful! He calls it the "Action-Reaction" analogy. We presenters should give to the audience the emotion we want them to have by showing it first.
Aside from presentation, i think you have a very structured and fluent thought process which I feel has allowed you to post the many interesting posts of yours. Perhaps nerves got the better of you during this presentation and you weren't able to present these thoughts of yours as fluently. Don't lose heart and press on! After all, this is a step to your learning journey! All the best!! :)
Hey weeboon,
ReplyDeleteI thought you were more calm and composed this time round! I remembered you had a trembling voice during peer teaching, but now your voice was much stronger and passionate.
I think a natural way to be more interesting to the audience is to enjoy your presentation and let go of any negative 'what ifs' thoughts, such as your audience not liking your presentation. From my personal experience, having too much anxiety or negative assumptions simply cripples your emotional state for any good performance. Naturally any form of anxiety would cause a dull voice, lower pitch and more rigid body language, and hence result in a dull and uninteresting presentation. It's just like a cycle of self-created negativity! So perhaps you should focus on feeling good about yourself and just enjoy yourself. A toastmaster speaker I met during my internship once taught me that he was able to speak so well because he simply let loose and have fun. When he is so passionate and having so much fun, his audiences naturally caught on his positivity and responded well!
My point is, trying to be over cautious itself is a form of self-destructive negativity from my personal experience. Personally I often had this experience of wanting to play on the safe side, by running through the worst possible 'what ifs' in my mind, reasoning to myself that by doing so, I'm actually preparing myself to deal with the worst. In trying to be over-cautious and making my own negative assumptions and negative self-talk, I am actually putting myself in overtly anxious and tense emotional state. The net result is often a cluttered and depressed mind and hence a handicapped performance on my part, and that itself is creating the negative outcome which I wanted to avoid in the first place!
ReplyDeleteWee boon, allow me to give a viewpoint that balances your overly harsh opinions of yourself on your oral presentation! :)
ReplyDeleteFirstly I think you have been an effective presenter. I agree with most of what Daniel commented about you earlier-clear articulation, effective gestures etc. but you needed to consider your audience a little more in addressing to their position as the excellence unit.
In addition, I would like to say you seemed truly enthusiastic about your presentation, as this is manifested in the tone of your voice, although at the later part of the presentation, the feasibility of implementing it as a module wasn't concrete enough in my opinion.
Unfortunately, I also sense that you were not in the best of health, but I can empathise with that because you seemed to put on your best. Because of the heavy workload and experience, I understand you may not have been able to put forth your best presentation, but I believe you have what it takes to be a very effective presenter.
Take heart and take care wee boon! =)
Thanks Wei Ping and You Sheng!
ReplyDelete@Wei Ping:
Your comment re-awoke me the to the importance of psyching up. I confess that I am, at heart, a cynic braised(yes braised!) with neurotism. So all the more I ought to work hard to counteract against the negativity in order to exude a aura postivity. Simply, I should learn to let go more, and be less uptight. While this had been something I had always tried to fight, but the progress had been slow. I promise I will continue to work on it and not give up. And dude, Thanks for the suggestion! =)
@You Sheng:
Hey dude, thanks for the concern. I guess the coffee regime and late nights took it toll. So I will try to take care of myself as much as possible. Further thanks for your confidence in me, I will keep up the good work and improve on the not so good aspects.
Regarding the module, may I ask which were parts that undermined the concreteness of the module implementation?
I feel that you presented yourself well during the presentation. I could feel your passion for the proposal. It might be due to the idea of being uniform with the whole team, I felt that you were not that "relax" as compared to the presentation you made for Wiki peer teaching. Nevertheless, it was clear for your part and I understand what you were trying to bring across. No matter what, take good care of your health! =)
ReplyDeleteThanks Stan!
ReplyDeleteConsistency is important to my team and me, so we did put in extra effort in that aspect. I'm glad it manifested =)
As for my health, I can promise to try my outmost best. But frankly, my health takes care of me more than the other way round. So I give thanks for being functional when the time calls for it.
I admit that I was more tense for the presentation, probably because of the content. The anxiety and nervousness showed, and I felt it impaired me more than the earlier peer teaching. Furthermore, for the peer teaching, it felt more like telling a friend a story, as opposed to a formal presentation. So that could probably account for the difference. In both cases, I do think I would need to work on psyching up, and weeding myself of negative emotions(just like Wei Ping said).
Once again, thanks Stan! =)