With my group's final presentation just recently concluded, surprisingly, I found that presenting a set of slides to an audience never felt so less intimidating. Having the audience take the role of a person involved in the proposal doubled the challenge of the presentation by demanding that we be acutely aware of the audience throughout the delivery of the presentation. With the feedback given by Ms Goh, we re-angled our presentation to suit our audience, almost totally revamping all our slides in the process. Personally, I thought our presentation, displayed a marked improvement in audience awareness as compared to our very first set of slides, and it is this awareness which I felt was the strength of the presentation.
We drew simple mindmaps and brainstormed for the possible concerns or questions that OSA and OED might have, and subsequently tried to address them in our presentation. Specific references to Mr Seah, whom we had interviewed, and to OSA and OED separately were done all with the intention of showing audience awareness. This is certainly one important presentation skill which I hope to extend to any presentations I might need to do in the future, in school or in the workplace.
Having said that, one area which I felt we could improve on was the fielding of questions from the audience. The questions came thick and fast, and seeing my fellow group members' hesitation in answering them, and that most of the questions were concerned with my portion of the presentation, I answered a majority of the questions. But on retrospect, I should have allowed Kent, since he is the team leader, to direct the questions to either ZhangJiao or Jerina or even answer them himself, while I could substantiate their points if needed. This should improve the effectiveness of our "question and answer" portion of the presentation, and is certainly another presentation skill that I would like to take note of.
With the peer teaching presentations before the mid term break, and almost 5 weeks of hard work culminating in the final presentation, I felt I have profited from this module in a number of ways. Chief amongst them is learning to pose appropriate thought-provoking questions to blog posts or group discussions. Often, I observe members of a group tend to submit to "group thinking", meaning to simply accept a person's suggestion without evaluating it. By playing the devil's advocate, and ask key questions pertaining to the suggestion, we can then all be forced to re-think one's agreement, and can thus lead to an even better idea.
Secondly, is learning to be receptive of viewpoints contrary to what I hold. Often, I find myself getting a little defensive of my own suggestions, and refuse to accept any ideas dissimilar to mine. But I found that through the blog posts and work on the proposal, I had ample opportunities to practice doing otherwise, and I unexpectedly found that a greatly gratifying experience. Learning to accept and see from another's point of view, actually allowed me to understand the strengths and weaknesses of my viewpoint even better, and should it prove not viable, accept the other viewpoint.
Albeit having picked up a number of skills from the course, one area which I aim to improve in is in adopting good turn taking strategies in group discussions. I think sometimes I get a little carried away with my suggestions, and prevented others from suggesting otherwise. To address this, i think a good approach would be to ask the other members for their opinions at various points in the discussion, and subsequently encourage everyone to speak their minds. This should give everyone a fair chance to express their opinions, and be greatly beneficial to the group's discussion.
In all, this module had been a fantastic journey, equipping us with practical communication skills that we could apply in the work place. Possessing excellent communication skills are quintessential skills for almost all occupations, and as an aspiring engineer, I think the skills I picked up should put me in good stead for my future job.
Finally, I would really like to thank Ms Goh for giving such insightful feedback, without it, I am certain I would not have learnt as much as I have now, and not forgetting all my classmates, if you are reading this post, a BIG thank you for making this an enjoyable 13 weeks!
Below are 2 interesting cartoons I thought I could share with you:
Why communication is so important
Every presenter's nightmare!
Lastly a video you could watch when you're next preparing for a presentation:
Hi Ho Zong,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the video, cartoons and reflection with me. It has been a great pleasure to work with you on the research proposal project. You have broadened my perspectives and thoughts throughout the project. I share the same sentiments that the mind mapping technique aids in better addressing the needs of the audience so that the message can be delivered across effectively.
Similar as my reflection on the final presentation, I pointed out that the Q&A session could have been better if I have taken the lead to direct the questions to Zhang Jiao and Jerina so that every member has the equal chance to answer. Nevertheless, this is something that we learn along the way and we just have to be mindful that such incident will not repeat itself in our future group presentation. Generally, I felt that you have answered your part well. Good job!
I agree with you that you can be defensive at times and not very receptive to different opinions when working together. However, I think it can be good sometimes as it makes me think harder and analyze further so as to convince you with my idea. Quoting from a book "How to handle Group Discussions", 1 of the tips is to be responsive to ideas from other people and seem to be very receptive and open-minded but don't allow others to change your own viewpoint.
Lastly, I think you have always been a role model as a confident and firm speaker as observed during the mock interview and presentation, which I am trying to improve on. With that, let me end you with a quote "Success is not a destination, it's a journey", I wish you all the best and hope you will continue to explore new knowledge in your learning journey.
Cheers
Kent
Hi Ho Zong
ReplyDeleteYour group’s presentation was certainly engaging. I think the use of the video in the presentation was rather effective to illustrate the demand for more space in school. I think that your group has certainly sold your concept of the sky garden well despite some technical difficulties in the implementation. I do agree that your group can improve on the Q and A session to demonstrate your group’s dynamic. In addition, your group could have come closer to the audience during that session to engage us better.
Next, I think by appointing a facilitator during the team discussion will ensure that everyone has a fair chance in giving their options. Perhaps you can this adopt next time for your future group discussion.
Lastly, I have no doubts that you will bring the skills that you have learnt from this module and I wish you all the best for your final examinations.
With regards,
Kar Liang
Hi Ho Zong,
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for sharing the hilarious video. Perhaps, and ironically, it is the only presentation out there that displays the worst aspects of typical presentations and still be very successful in getting its message across.
I definitely agree that the difficulty of the second presentation was compounded by the fact that fellow classmates had to role-play defined appointments set by the various teams. But I guess challenges one to think through the whole point of making a presentation. Your team’s decision to revamp your slides was wise indeed simply based on the final result, which I feel, is a very successful presentation.
For the fielding of questions from the audience, your suggestion of Kent as the team leader to direct the questions is a good one. It allows for a fairer distribution of opportunity for the respective members of your team. Alternatively, as suggested to Kent on his blog, there could perhaps have been a pre-assigned theme of questions for each team member to answer. For example, “Ho Zong could perhaps have specialized in the architectural science of the rooftop garden while Zhang Jiao could perhaps have specialized in the budgetary concerns of the proposal.”
It is indeed difficult to accept the opinion of the other. Perhaps through practice, like working on proposals for instance, it will allow for opportunities for one to be more receptive of differing viewpoints.
It is a pity that I did not have the opportunity to work with you this semester. Nonetheless, it has been great having you as a classmate and listening of your various viewpoints. All the best in your future endeavours and see you around school!
Regards,
Halim
Hi Ho Zong,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your reflections. It had been great working alongside you for this presentation. I have learnt a lot from your analytical thinking and definitely as a confident and articulate presenter.
When outlining the content of our presentation, you had always enforced on making every point relevant to the audience and to focus on specific aspects of our presentation, in order to get the message across. I thought that was really helpful. The execution of our Q&A segment and distribution of the questions for all to answer is definitely a learning point!
I do agree that this course has encouraged us to pose appropriate thought-provoking questions in blog posts or group discussions. It was an interesting point you raised about succumbing to group thinking. If we do not seek to critically examine the point that was made, we limit ourselves to the narrow perception of issues. Group thinking can occur when members wish to maintain unanimity. In this case, an awareness of effective conflict resolution techniques should encourage the members to appraise alternative courses of action without encountering interpersonal conflicts.
To be more accepting of alternative viewpoints, we can practise good listening skills. By listening to the other person stating his viewpoints, we can examine our own understanding by restating what the other person is saying and getting it verified. With better understanding of what is being shared, we are also in a better position to evaluate our own opinions and have an objective discussion.
Thanks for sharing so much as a senior! See you around in school!
Regards,
Jerina
Hi Ho Zong,
ReplyDeleteReading this post is very enriching. The post has addressed a number of interesting topics regarding professional communication within a team and they are indeed thought-provoking.
Group thinking can be prominent when a meeting requires a lot of creativity from all participants. Sometimes under time constraints, participants are not able to do a thorough preparation and hence it is difficult for them to raise different opinions. Nevertheless, preparation is still very important even with time constraints. This can require a lot of background research at the start, but as knowledge and experience accumulate, the time can be shortened. We will then be more comfortable to approach a topic from different angles.
Regarding the turn taking strategy, I am reminded of the role of a facilitator in a discussion. Generally this role can be more challenging than roles of other participants, because the person must direct the discussion towards its goal while actively participating in the discussion. Here is a link to a discussion on facilitator, hope it can help. http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/edumat/hreduseries/hrhandbook/part2B.html
Last but not least, I find the team's presentation possessed a good team dynamic (although every one could get more equal opportunity to speak during the Q & A session). Each speaker maintained the flow of the presentation with a clear organization in his / her part. Besides this, thank you for sharing the use of mind maps and other tools.
Again thanks for this good post. Wish you all the best in the exam and keep in touch.
regards,
Chaoyi
Hi Ho Zong
ReplyDeleteI feel that you have done very well for the presentations in the peer teaching and the research proposal. You demonstrated yourself to be a confident speaker and were well aware of the techniques in making a good presentation. The slides prepared by your group, especially for your part, are very pleasant as the animations used relate very well with the focus of your points. They slides really captured my attention and made me more interested in what your group has to present.
Aside from that, sketches were passed down during the presentation to illustrate the concept plans your group have in mind. These sketches were passed down at the right moment when your group was about to present the floor plan, which further reinforced the presentation and increased its impact.
However, I do agree with you that the Q&A session can be done in a better way. Perhaps you could have started answering the questions and subsequently divert them to Zhang Jiao or Jerina for them to further elaborate on the details. This should make the team look more well prepared for the Q&A overall.
Nevertheless, I still feel that your group has done very well in delivering the proposal to us. Thank you for the nice presentation and all the best for your exams.
Regards
Chung
Hello Ho Zong,
ReplyDeleteI would have to admit that I was pretty impressed by your presentation as I could notice your efforts in remembering the right pauses, the emphasis in important words and having effective use of slides. The drawings from your group were equally great.
But I would agree with everyone else that the Q&A could be better. I'm sure you answered the questions promptly to avoid any long hesitations among your group mates, and unknowingly gave them less opportunities to answer them. But as everyone has said again, diverting questions to them would be a good suggestion.
On the part of changing your group's slide to suit a more persuasive speech, our group has similarly committed the same mistake. We actually realized that persuasive speeches are something way different from informative speeches. And we too also changed our slides quite a lot.
Anyway, it was great working with you and KL for the peer teaching group. I've really learnt a lot from you guys. Good luck for exams, and have a great time at your paint-a-house activity this summer break. :) Seeya around!
Cheers,
Jia Ai
Hi all,
ReplyDeleteThank you for all of your positive feedback regarding our final presentation. From all of your feedback, I gather that one important aspect of a presentation is the visual imagery employed in the presentation.
Having appropriate animations and the attractive drawings provided by Jerina served to capture your attention, and more importantly, to give our main points the much needed impact. After all, a picture paints a thousand words. To discover in detail how you could incorporate visual aids in a presentation, you could follow the weblink provided below.
Another common point that was raised was the role active listening plays in group discussions. Some points listed in the web site linked below, as well from our tutorial on active listening include focusing on the speaker, respond appropriately, and subsequently gather feedback from other members, before arriving at a group consensus. I think with practice, hopefully even in my final year, as was suggested by Halim, should allow me to critically evaluate myself in this aspect, and improve upon it.
Aside from the part on the Question and Answer segment of the presentation, which I think was discussed in great detail with many excellent suggestions given by all of you, as per Ms Goh's feedback, I realized that my post lacked a critical evaluation of my oral presentation group, which I thought I should share below:
I think overall, my group presented a markedly improved presentation as compared to before our mock presentation. The element of persuasive was much more evident for the final presentation. ZhangJiao showed a marked improvement in volume and confidence of his presentation, though it would be ideal if he could make it plain his enthusiasm he had for TheLoft@YIH. Kent displayed poise in his presentation, though his pacing up and down could be a little distracting, and if could be lessened, should focus the audience's attention on his presentation. While Jerina delivered a well articulated presentation, appropriate pauses for emphasis and a slower pace should do wonders in enhancing the effectiveness of her presentation.
On a different note, interestingly, I thought the stressful events that preceded this change revealed a good deal of our individual working styles. While we discussed animatedly on how we could restructure our presentation, ZhangJiao was noticeably reserved. Language barriers could be one reason, which I think we could have circumvented if we could check with him on a regular basis if he understood what we have discussed thus far, and thereafter seek his opinions.
Kent did a great job leading the group in discussions, and if coupled with a good means of demonstrating his ideas to the rest of the group as was discussed by my comments to his blog post, would paint him as a credible and highly effective team leader and communicator. In comparison, Jerina possessed a knack for creative ideas, and had no problems communicating her ideas to us. Personally, I think if she could analyse critically information presented to her, and pick out flaws in these ideas before tapping on her creativity to plug these flaws, she can certainly prove to be a valuable member of any discussion group. If we could all work on these suggestions, including for myself as was discussed in the latest post, we could hopefully metamorphose into more effective communicators in the near future and beyond.
In the meantime, best of luck for your finals!
Cheers,
Ho Zong
Weblinks:
1)http://www.osha.gov/doc/outreachtraining/htmlfiles/traintec.html
2)http://powertochange.com/students/people/listen/