Sticky Idea

I stated in the previous entry about how much shorter the actual speech seems when performing it live than during practice.  Again I should reiterate that and state that when I practiced, the speech was at least 7 minutes.  I had to actually take out one slide and lots of the key points.  In reality, this presentation was only around 5 minutes.  So from these two past presentations, I've come to the conclusion that when I'm actually up presenting, I tend to speak a bit faster than I normally would.

I thought the content of the presentation was rich and the takeaway message was something easily applicable in today's society.  The slides were simple and I personally thought the best part about them was using the red text when talking about the transcript of Malcolm X's speech.  Some found it to be distracting, but I thought I didn't linger on too much on one particular set of highlighted words.

Some improvements I've recognized was the reduced, sudden movements of my arm after using the clicker.  On a related note, the clicker did not bother me at all during this presentation.  I also realized that I did not say "pretty much" once during my presentation!  However, there were many "uhh"s, "umm"s, and unnecessary "but"s here and there.  The "umm"s especially stood out in this speech.

In this presentation, I decided to use notecards with pictures of the slides on them.  I thought it helped me out more, but as people stated, I did get a little too dependent on them.  Mark and Julie both stated that I should prepare more and not let the notecards take control of my presentation.  For future presentations, I should use the notecards with only pictures of the slides because for this speech, I had lots of text on the back each notecard, which made it look I was depending on it more.

One other thought to mention was that my biography/background info on Malcolm X was quite lengthy.  I probably should have cut out a few facts, but I didn't think it took away from the presentation that much.

On a side note, I got a good laugh when Lauren and Haris said I was "mocking" his speech.  I never meant to show that I was "mocking" his speech; it was more on the grounds of using his structure to deliver my message. 

Presentation Zen

First thing I want to note in this presentation was how much shorter it actually was than when I was practicing it.  I had a solid run of 5 to 6 minutes while practicing and was surprised to not hear the knock at the 4:30 mark since I finished around 4:15.  While I was presenting on my last slide, I realized David did not knock yet, hence my horrible finish ("That's it").  Perhaps, I ought to include a few more slides next time and practice pacing myself more.  I could have used one additional slide just to explain "the art of being completely present" instead of using the first/title slide to do so.  Brian and others stated in the feedback that I probably could have used more prep time.  I was really disappointed to having such a poor finish after having such a strong start.  My introductory question/start was engaging and surprised the audience as to who the man in the slide was.  Shame it wasn't Ashton Kutcher. 

Unfortunately, I still retained some of the quirks from my baseline speech.  I realize just how violent or quick my arm moves after using the clicker.  I should use a more relaxed approach and movement to using the clicker and not let that control me.  In addition, it was mentioned in my grade report that I should get a better understanding of how to use it.  I feel as though I make it look so much more difficult to use it than it actually is.  I did, however, cut down a lot on my usage of "pretty much."  There were still some "um"s here and there.

Moreover, I should use index cards with pictures of the slides on them instead of folding up a looseleaf  sheet.  As Mo mentioned in the feedback, it definitely does make a lot of noise and is distracting.  Also, there were times especially towards the end in which I felt I was reading off the sheet more and letting that outline my presentation.  It should be a supplemental aid, not an outline.

A positive aspect to mention can be the slides I used.  "Presentation Zen" definitely restructured my view of looking at a PowerPoint presentation.  While preparing for the slideshow, I did not use the default template that was provided with the title textbox and the textbox with bullet points.  I managed to get a good grasp of the concepts of the types of slides to use as mentioned in Reynolds' book.

I'll have to admit that it was pretty ironic that I wasn't completely present in the second half of my presentation (after the 3 F's).  Again, this just probably goes back to practicing more and more.

The main things to take away from watching this video are to practice more, be more confident, use better notecards, and relax more.

Reflection on Baseline Speech

It's definitely awesome that this baseline speech was not graded.  There were more negatives than positives with this presentation.  Some positive aspects of this speech were that it was informative and well-organized.  I did bring up valid points on both sides of the argument.
 
However, the delivery of the speech was subpar.  It was quite evident after watching this footage that I need to talk to the audience and not to the screen.  I should be having a conversation with the audience and not reading some report.

I also didn't realize just how much I turned back to state what was said on the screen.  When I was preparing for this speech, I did not look back to read the content.  This probably means I ought to prepare harder and focus more during the actual presentation.  For the future, I should try to use less text and speak towards my audience. 

There were other quirks that need to be addressed.  I used the phrase "pretty much", "like", and "umm" way too many times, making it sound very unprofessional.  Both of my arms, especially the left arm, kept flailing back and forth.  My shoulders need to be squared towards the audience.  My posture should be better.  Viewers can tell from my posture that I was not 100% confident.  I need to work on a better, upright posture.  Confidence is key to a great presentation.  Perhaps, I could use the podium to help me for future presentations.  I could start there and introduce a few slides and then gradually move away from it.  This could take some practice as well. 

Another thing to look out for in the future is to make sure I know how to properly use the laser pointer.  When I attempted to use it, I made awkward gestures trying to get it to work.  Next time, if it doesn't work, I should do my best to simply move on or point to whatever region of interest.

It's mind-boggling how much help watching this video has given me.  When you're up there, you don't realize any of these little details.