Oral
Oral communication has been used since the beginnings of language. It is most widely used form of communication today. There are approximately 6,900 different languages in the world. Some are more commonly used than others and some are on the verge of extinction.
Despite this, oral communication has prevailed. Even today, when we meet new people or have the need to communicate face-to-face, we use oral communication rather than grabbing a piece of paper and writing out what we want to share. It is most widely used because it is the efficient out of all of the forms of communication.
Network Prezi Presentation
The Network Prezi Presentation was the first oral presentation we did in English 1102. As a result of this first presentation I learned a lot. One of my biggest lessons was that it is extremely difficult to coordinate a large group presentation. It is hard to assess whether every person in the group is on the same page.
An aspect of the presentation that was difficult was responding to the needs of the listening audience. In other words, keeping their attention. The Prezi itself was a visual aid that maintained the attention of our audience. This was one of the strengths of this presentation.
Another thing we were able to do well was that we tied back our evidence to our thesis after every point we made. In this way we repeated our thesis enough so that we effectively conveyed the purpose of our presentation.
Some aspects of the presentation we had difficulty with was timing and transitions. Although our presentation met the time requirements, we had slight awkward gaps in the presentation. This was due to the fact that one member was unable to present due to an injury. As a result of this, our transitions were out of place and we were unable to remember what the missing member was supposed to say.
In terms of the oral presentation, I did well in showing movement and using gestures. I also varied my tone of voice to convey excitement and emotion when appropriate.
However, my weakness in connecting to the audience was eye contact. I did not look around the room to connect to the audience. I generally looked over the audience into the distant.
If I was given the opportunity to redo this presentation, I would definitely work on my eye contact. Moreover, I would make sure that we rehearsed more thoroughly as a group so that we had clear and effective transitions.
JumpStart Project Presentation
The second oral presentation we gave was the JumpStart Project presentation. In this presentation we discussed the things we observed during our trip to one of JumpStart’s events and related them back to how and why we designed our project the way we did. The project was an activity that helped the kids of JumpStart learn more effectively, maintain interest, and still have fun.
I tried my best to avoid the mistakes that I had previously made in the Network Prezi Presentations, however, I did have more difficulty in the actual presentation. Although I had rehearsed and written out what I would say, I had difficulty finding the correct words to voice my ideas.
Despite this, my group had very good transitions and timing during this presentation. We as a group presented very well. In order to keep the audience interested in what we had to say, we used a powerpoint. The powerpoint and the actual activity board we had created greatly helped us keep the audience interested.
My strengths and weaknesses in the formal presentation category were the same as that of the Network Project Prezi. Although I did better at looking out onto my audience, I did not maintain eye contact as much as I had hoped to. I still continued to use my hands and body to help enhance what I was saying through gestures.
If I had the opportunity to give the presentation again, I would practice more beforehand. This would reduce the likeliness of me messing up with my words on the day of the actual presentation.
Here is a link to the JumpStart Project Presentation powerpoint.
“This I believe” Audio Essay
Through the “This I believe” audio essay I learned that there are many ways of saying a thought. Each way makes the sentence sound slightly different. Focusing on one word makes the entire thought different. I had to practice many times before I could actually record myself. If I fluctuated my voice on one part it sounded strange so I would rerecord myself.
The audio essay helped me learn how to convey emotion through my voice and tone. If I had the opportunity to do this before my two oral presentations, I would have used what I had learned in my oral presentations.
ALIZEH'S PORTFOLIO