My Personal Reflection on The Presentations by Sherley Joseph

 “Public speaking” the two phrases that can either intimidate or inspire. When I first heard these two words together, I was afraid. As a person who grew up shy, speaking in front of others wasn’t something easy to overcome. But the presentations given over the past few weeks have shown me that it is a process. One that should not be taken lightly in order to have a good presentation. As a student in this class but also a project manager, I was able to see both the point of view of creating a speech but also supervising. Being a project manager allowed me to see and understand art of public speaking from another point of view, while allowing me to participate myself.

I was able to watch all four groups not only during their presentations but truly see the process everyone went through in the groups. The teamwork, creativity, research and confidence that went into each presentation was amazing. The first group presented on the “tips and tricks for a great presentation”. In their slides they emphasized how important it is to be prepared and understand what you are talking about. They spoke on confidence and how is essential to continuously practice a speech. While, mentioning how dressing appropriately plays a part in a presentation too. And amongst many of their great detailed points, they mentioned anxiety. One of the speakers explained the roots of it and things speakers can do to manage it such as using reframing techniques, mindfulness, and relaxation techniques. Not to mention they were also the first group to present and I believe they did a good job. My only critique is they took quite a long time to present. I do not blame them though because each of them presented very well and the audience was able to see that they were well prepared. I could see them taking long because of the pressure of being the first group to present. In a way, being the first has a sort of pressure on some people, which I understand. Nonetheless, it’s better to be prepared to some extent instead of having no preparation at all. Each slide was carefully curated to have just enough detail for the audience to keep track but not excessive information to where it would distract the audience from the speaker.

The second group covered the importance of being prepared for a presentation. They did amazingly well. Their presentation was not as long yet it was concise. They did a great job with summarizing the information from the book into their own words so that it was easy for the audience to understand. They explained the process of how to develop a speech. Step 1; establishing a good purpose. Step 2: brainstorming possible topics. Step 3:  evaluating a selecting the topic. Step 4: being specific. Step 5: phrase a thesis statement and Step 6:  building an outline. After giving clear steps and explaining them, they gave tips on researching and how it plays a major part in a presentation. I also seen firsthand the organization behind the scenes that happened with group two. They were all ready to work on their slides and were also very creative. They function smoothly as a team and structure outside of the presentation really helped them put the project together perfectly.

Onward to group number three. The part of the book, group number three was assigned focus on how to cater to the audience. Whether it’s a funny joke, video or picture, there has to be a way to keep you audience engaged is to connect your presentation to them. The group highlighted these different ways can include persuasive speech, attention grabbers and more. The techniques that they mentioned were also some that were easy to replicate. Overall, they showed the importance of getting the audiences attention, in order to get a point across.

Last but not least, group number 4. After seeing all the presentations, I believe they had great timing. They were concise but also presented with great depth. Their group covered the different types of speeches including informative and persuasive. they also spoke on understanding arguments and developing strategies to address them. The group further addressed special occasions and group presentations. In that section, they highlighted how to use public speaking and apply it to discussions, panels, team reports and more. They did a good job explaining the topics and how they were summarized was phenomenal. The group that went after this group was the project managers. I think our presentation was interesting. My project manager and I, were able to basically be apart of all the groups and see their process. We didn’t only supervise but we helped. Whatever resources were needed , we provided. We updated the group chat with current dates and answered any unfamiliar questions. Another  thing I will note is seeing confidence from my other classmates, really inspired me when I was presenting my portion of my presentation. At first, I was afraid, but I thought of everyone’s points from throughout the presentations and used it to make my speech.

In conclusion, I wanted to let the groups know that they did amazing.  Though there were a few bumps in the road, each presentation got better over time. All of their slides were customized to perfection. They didn’t just read words off a page, but they chose words that had meaning. Words that would give life to what they were saying. They also had wonderful attention grabbers and were still able to properly connect with the audience. I can’t wait to see what comes next this semester from all the groups. I also hope that everything we learn in this class will be tips we use in our future careers. I hope we all progress in the true art of understanding public speaking and the way can be used in our daily lives. That is exactly what these presentations taught by all us showed me.