Ashley Leon- Post 1

  Ashley Leon – post 1 

 

Self assessment and take away 

 

Like many when giving a presentation, everytime I’ve had to present I’ve devoted all my planning into making clear points that would help remind me of what I want to say in my PowerPoint while presenting. I’ve always tried to make my presentation pleasing to the eye and rehearse my main points, so I know general ideas of topics I'd have to mention to just get an A. My main stress when presenting is my worry, I'll get a bad grade if I'm not extroverted or entertaining enough.                           




After working together with my group and seeing others present. I feel we all walked away in different ways we now view presenting. The chapters were highly informative and stretched a wide variety of areas where people struggle or can improve in. Reading the chapters really opened my eyes to how you plan and for how long can drastically change your performance and how receptive your audience will be. It taught me that it’s not just about getting the assignment done and checking every box I feel I need to for success. These chapters have given me great insight into which specific topics I needed more assistance in to better round out my overall presentation.  


I feel chapter 6 made the most sense to me because if you dont understand your topic or what it is you want to convey, throughout the entirety of what you present, you’re not only going to feel lost but so is your audience. You will sound disorganized, choppy, and likely have lots of repetition in your verbal summary to the class.   

When i study for tests, my favorite thing to do is pretend like I'm teaching the topic, it’s what helps me retain the most information. With that being said, I noticed I take this same approach when presenting. Which comes in handy for informative speeches. It’s not the best for persuading type of speeches, I feel like in the past I've just spewed out information that sounded “persuasive”. For me it was more of a list of boxes I had to check, where I listed all the information I prepared to sound persuasive. Now, I place more intention in including information and tone that will be receptive. Information that will engage my audience and make it more personal. 


Overall, my style when presenting has always been to make my speech sound as clear as possible. Not only did these chapters change the way I will forever form my presentations but so did hearing the way others chose to present using the same new knowledge I had access to in our first presentation.  

I feel that with the number of new resources given to us that we had to read through to deliver a presentation that proved we read, it made it impossible to not use the same newly learned skills in the presentation. It was heavily obvious that everyone used the skills that they learned from their chapters to present smoothly.  


As someone who’s always been very nervous when it comes to presenting, learning about structure has really helped me. Whenever I have to present, I always get really anxious because I start thinking too much. I worry I stutter too much, that my presentation may not be as good as others, that maybe even after a few hours of trying my best to make a good presentation-that I could still end up not getting a good grade. Learning about how to outline and plan has really helped bring me more peace and confidence. It’s put less of the pressure on how I feel like I'll sound because now I have a plan. I have more control when it’s my portion of the presentation now. It feels like now, how well I do will be based off the amount of work I put into my preparation instead of my ability to be confident and communicate well.  By identifying my purpose and topic, it's made what I’m supposed to be talking about way clearer. I know that when I review and edit, I can compare what I write right back to my topic and see if it’s drifting from the purpose of my presentation or not.  


I really enjoyed the fact that it was a group presentation as well. We all had a responsibility to do well and explain our topic, so it could flow well into your classmate's portion. I felt this responsibility greatly,especially since my classmate's portion before mine was the backbone of what I was going to have to touch upon. Towards the end of my portion, I felt I also needed to set up my points in a way that would flow. I had to make sure my information would give the audience a base knowledge of my conclusion. My classmate after me had my portion as an easy transition. I really enjoyed having to consider my classmates and do well, so they could shine with ease.  


Chapter five has helped me give tone to my purpose and topic; it’s given me a clear idea of how it’s supposed to sound and the pace of which my presentation should flow. Chapter seven has taught me that if I get good supporting ideas for my speech, I’ll never feel like I'm running out of things to talk too. Where a bit of my problem lies. I feel focused too much on my bullet points in my presentation to remember what I planned to say. I don’t stay conscious of my delivery or the appeal I must make to my audience.  

I really enjoyed hearing everyone present, I found myself relating to everyone who presented, and each person was able to teach the topics I read to a whole ‘nother level. Everyone was so creative in the direction they chose to go with the information they read, designed their slide, and overall communicated.  


In conclusion, this whole experience taught me a lot, and I will take all these new skills I’ve learned to further excel. I’m grateful to our professor for teaching us meaningful lessons to boost our overall performance, on any occasion or speech that may occur. I’m grateful to my classmates for always being eager to teach, inform, and help. I’m excited to take my newfound confidence and continue to hone my skills. I believe planning, organizing, and executing my vision will be a lot easier next time.  


 

 

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