Presentations Day 3 (Sep. 14th)

Today was a continuation of watching classmates' presentations. Lesson by lesson, not only am I able to analyze peer's presentations more critically and in a way effective for myself but also becoming a better audience in general. I've noticed I have become more concentrated and put more effort into comprehending word for word of people's speech. In previous classes, I would zone out for a few seconds during a presentation but now I've grown to give full attention and attend the conversation or be as inclusive of a listener as I would be in a normal conversation. I saw students around my seat paying minimal attention and going off on a tangent amongst them which was disappointing and rude. We all know and have undergone the hardship of preparing for this 7-minute presentation and disregarding each other's efforts and time is discourteous I had always paid attention to everyone's presentation and especially when the teacher would give advice to us after presenting. And as I become more concentrated and pay closer attention, I've found each and every student is saying such fabulous things and giving great opinions or critiques. The messages are so well thought out and I could tell (and can assure you) that we all compensated on what to pack into our short presentations and so they are all so worth paying attention. 

On a brighter note, there were yet so many fascinating findings from today's class. The first speaker was a group member of mine back when we were practicing and his speech and slides were on another level compared to a few weeks ago. I've learned so many things and ways I could improve my own presentation, to the point I want to reapproach presenting in front of the class. First off, a significant difference in presentations that were good and mediocre was the posture, and how confidently you stood. Seeing people confident and passionate about what they were saying made me eager to keep up with the speaker and even provoked several thoughts/emotions just from the presentation. Another speaker had a great choice of facts. By this I mean, every fact, statistic, or information this speaker gave was very interesting and mind-blowing. For example, she said this book was rejected 21 times by an editor but still turned out to become an awarding piece of literature. I had not even thought about how many times my novel was checked or rewritten! The last speaker today was one of the most entertaining and my favorite out of the past few. Each of the sections of her slide was proportionate and well balanced. Her slides were very visual when explaining the characters of the book. She repeated the exact same slides a few times with copious oral explanation, so it was easy to imagine the plot and events of the novel. Moreover, it seriously made me want to read the book to myself. Of course, her explanation and engaging presentation were great but moreover, the book handled a controversial topic I personally have a great interest in. In the end, she added, even if we are not particularly interested in this topic, it is great if you feel that you have ever been a bystander of social issues. 

A few speakers today had similar patterns, one that came to my attention. They would introduce a flaw or a negative point of the presentation towards the beginning of the critique. Then they would use that same aspect or component, but change the perspective and include that as one of their supporting evidence for a positive critique. Some were very successful in persuading the audience to think from a positive perspective, so in a way, they scratched out their single negative critique by the end of their presentation. However, some speakers had such a strong and understandable negative point, that when they tried to flip it around and make it a positive factor of the book, I was not fully convinced. In my opinion, using this (apparently) popular technique is too risky and seems a little too calculated or deliberate, and too perfectly designed as a book review. (having an honest and stronger negative opinion keeps things real and makes the speaker more trustworthy)