Adriana Pineiro

 Over the past few classes, we have watched several presentations given by students in our class. Each presentation focused on a different topic, but together they helped us learn more about the subject and about how to present information effectively. Watching these presentations was a helpful experience because it showed us different speaking styles, why speeches are important and ways to communicate clearly in front of others, Aswell listening effectively to speeches. 

 

Of course, everyone's presentation is different, and others stood out more than others. One thing that did stand out to me was how some of the students spoke very confidently and clearly, while others it was noticeable that they were nervous but still shared good information. As well as how each student has a different approach to how they present which also made me self-reflect on how i could do better and take notes on how i would present the next time i have to. 

 

Now every group had a few chapters each to present about so let's break down each group and their presentations. Group one had chapters 1,2, 3, and 5.  My group presented how public speaking works, why public speaking matters, persuasion and credibility, the arts of public speaking ,building your confidence, why we get nervous during public speaking, components of listening , barriers to effectively listening, how to listen effectively, why listening is important, adapting to your audience and lastly why it is important to adapt to your audience. I personally think the members in my group had great information to share but some could've executed it or prepared a little bit better, for example a member in my group wasn't exactly in the right environment to do a presentation in that moment and was having some background noise which made it a little harder to understand them and stay focus on his presentation, but on the other hand i do think other than that small hiccup his presentation was successful. As for the other members in my group i am glad that they didn't feel the necessity to have to write much on their PowerPoint and be able to present without having to read off their slides. 

 

Moving on group 2, they had chapters 4,6,7, and 8 they presented how to get ready for a successful presentation, the purpose of a speech, process of brainstorming, evaluating ideas, doing research, relevance, narratives, using examples in speeches, ways of supporting your ideas, and overall how to have/do an organized speech. I think every student in this group was able to speak confidently in their presentations and had clear ideas in their PowerPoint. I like the fact that they provided a lot of examples to help the rest of the class understand the topic they were presenting and how even though two classmates had the same topic to present, they were able to share new information and not be repetitive. Some things i noticed when watching their presentation in where i think they could have improved was when a member of the group was visibly struggling to remember the information of their slides and started to be little repetitive with her presentation I think maybe if this student would have rehearsed her presentation it would have flowed a little more smoother. Another thing that stood out to me was how much information some members put in their slides, personally it's a little harder for me to focus on a presentation when there's a lot of information on a slides to which i feel  compelled to read rather than staying focused to the speaker and to what they're saying. 

 

Now group 3 had chapters 9,10,11 and 12 they presented primary effect, why a good conclusion matters, using language effectively, audience centered language, respectful language, integrating presentation media and how to deliver your speech. I think overall this group did a great job, i found it fairly easy to stay focused on their presentation, they used great visuals and graphs to visualize their information, and I liked the fact that they didn't have an overload of information with their videos , in total of their whole presentation they had a maximum of 2 videos which i think is just enough. In addition, the videos they personally picked out were short and simple which didn't take too much of their presentation time, which is not a bad thing in my opinion, but it also means the videos were straight the point and easy to understand. Which I think might be one of the mistakes my group might have made, i feel as though not only did we put a video on most slides, but some  of us in my group chose longer videos in which I got derailed or more distracted I should say from the topic. The only thing i would say this group could've done better was maybe practice beforehand what you're going to say, i noticed one of the students in this group was having trouble trying to speak smoothly. 

 

And finally, we have group 4. They had chapters 13,14,15,16 and 17. They presented different forms of speaking like informative speaking, persuasive speaking, distance speaking, media appearances, group presentations, and special occasion speech. I think out of all the presentations i have watched this past week if i had to pick my favorite i would choose this one. This group presentation had a lot of great visuals and most of them gave great examples of their information. I think what put this presentation over the top was how one the students couldn't be present for her slides she was still able to give a great presentation. I think all of them had a fair amount of confidence when presenting. 

 

After watching these presentations, it helped me understand public speaking better. Some students were confidents and others were nervous but i know everyone tried their best. After this assignment i realized that being nervous to present is completely normal but practice can help you surpass that and build confidence.