Oral Presentation.

The Preparation

Okay, my group decided to take on the topic of Solar Energy. A week before the actual presentation, I was discussing with my group mates about the presentation layout and we decided that it was best that I covered the last recommended solution as well as the conclusion, after all, I was more familiar with the ‘recommendations’ part of my group’s proposal.

These are some of the things that I did prior to the presentation:

Firstly, I needed to imagine myself in the classroom filled with government officials and people of high status. That was difficult because I’ve never actually talk to anyone that holds similar portfolios that my assumed audiences had. But nevertheless, it was useful as it reminded myself to speak more formally and dress more appropriately.

Secondly, just as Prof. Radhika suggested, I penned down my ideas on a piece of paper. It helped me a lot because at one glance, I could immediate remove the ideas that were repetitive and unimportant. And after I had my ideas all sorted out, I drafted out my script for the presentation. I still remember the video that our tutor showed to us during class which assured us it was a must to prepare. With this in mind, I decided to run through the script whenever I had the time. In fact, most of my verbal preparation was executed on-the-go. For example, I would practice when I was travelling on the bus/train to and fro school. I thought it would be good to practice in places such as these where distractions are present so that on the day itself, no matter the distractions, I would not stumble.

Lastly, because it was a very technical subject, I told myself that I had to know the details like the back of my hand – from the structure of the schemes, to the feasibility of the scheme, to the costs involved down to the very last figure. Thus I spent one night to research thoroughly on the topic, making sure I was confident of everything that I was going to say. The facts had to be sound, convincing, and appealing to the officials. Therefore, most of my information was more inclined toward details that are relevant to government officials. For example, in my presentation I included the cost savings that the government could earn, the macroscopic goals that Singapore as country could achieve, as well as the feasibility of administering the scheme. In fact, I excluded the information about the cost savings that residents themselves could benefit from because I wanted to be concise and relevant to the expected audience. In addition, besides wanting to impress the allegedly ‘officials’, my other motivation that encourages me to understand more about the topic was due to the fact that two of my classmates (You know who you are!) are currently pursuing their studies in the field of ‘Environmental Engineering’ – I didn’t want my arguments to be unfounded and flawed especially when this is their area of expertise.

The Execution

In my presentation, there were a few things that I thought I should improve on. Firstly, I was more nervous than before. Although it doesn’t seem like that on the outside, I was really really nervous. In fact, for those of you who have noticed, my right hand was literally shaking. Was it because I didn’t prepare enough? No, it wasn’t. Perhaps it was because I had more expectations of myself than the one at ‘peer teaching’. I need to calm down more and tell myself that I have a presentation that’s well prepared and worth presenting – there’s nothing I should fear.

In addition, I thought that I should be more aware of how my slides changes. I remember that I was talking about the 3^rd point of my conclusion and after I was done, I was a little shocked that the 3^rd point on my slide didn’t appear on the screen. I honestly can’t remember whether it was my forgetfulness or the intermittent response of the clicker. Nevertheless, I should have been more aware of the visual aids I’m using.

I thought my preparation on the ‘facts’ turned out well. I could answer the questions posed by the audience confidently because I know they’re all substantiated. It was good that I’ve prepared and I think this is what I would do for my future presentations as well.

Gathered from the class, I believe one of my strengths in presenting is knowing how and where to pause. I guess it’s something I should keep on practicing so that I won’t lose that skill.

In sum, I thought that I didn’t perform as well as the one at the ‘peer teaching’ session because I was pretty nervous. However, it was a good practice to prepare us for the real presentations that lie ahead of us. The practices in the course definitely helped me to understand my strengths and weaknesses better! (:

Carpe Diem!