Reflection: Oral presentation

Dear reader,

I am here to reflect on my past oral presentations that I have performed over a period of three months. I must first be honest with you, that I had not memorized any script or main points for my presentations. I have been through much rigorous thought to have realized that I do not have much capability in memorizing text that do not form proper and interesting plots. So how do I go about getting my presentations up and running? How do I manage to perform with merely less than an hour for preparation? That is what I aim to share with you in this post. 

Indeed, this may not be the best technique for everyone, but it worked pretty well for me thus far and I believe, if I were able to cordon off an area for some peaceful conceptualization in my head, I would have done much better in everything else (speed, tone, posture). The technique is simple and can be applied to an array of presentation types (formal, informal, etc). 

To use this technique, you should perform the following:

1. Using a blank sheet of paper, draw or write the contents you have for your project. This can be done by drawing a flowchart, a couple of diagrams, or even just plain text (if that appeals to you). The aim of this step is to get those sandcastles in the air mapped onto paper so that they do not disappear when you are thinking further ahead.

2. Connect the dots. Now that you have got all the content back on Earth, the next thing to do would be to weave those thoughts together. This is the most important step in preparing for your presentation within a short amount of time (without the use of a script); you need to tell a story. Perhaps not all audiences would agree with me, but I feel that the one thing that captivates me the most in public speaking would be the ability of story-telling. Your presentation can be fluent, but the thing that makes the utmost impression would be a story that the audience can relate to.

3. Create your presentation conscientiously. You can choose to use various platforms for slide fabrication. A presentation made with Prezi will provide great visual appeal only if the context is appropriate. Most would prefer the widely used Microsoft Powerpoint, but it really does not matter much. What is most important is your ability to rationalize that Prezi or Powerpoint slides are meant as your presentation aids; you can use it as a cue for you to turn the page for the audience. These presentation aids help you relate the story in a more visual form, surely then, they can be used as visual aids to help you recall the story that you want to relate. Plan well and use your presentation slides to your advantage.

4. Observe your audience and be spontaneous. There are moments when your audience would express empathy or delight upon hearing your story. Use this opportunity to elaborate a little more on the details of that particular chapter. Try to keep it to a personal level, because in order to feel for a certain plot, one must relate the experience to his or her own. After which, you can then escalate it to your main points which are most likely to be in the macroscopic aspect.

With that, I have evaluated the methods that I had used for my oral presentations. I believe that in many of my presentations, I tend to be rather anxious. But as I had mentioned previously, if I were to be given the freedom to cordon off a tiny section of my mind for intense conceptualization, I believe I will be able to do much better. I do try to calm myself down during the presentations by injecting a little humor, which actually do work at times too.

Thank you for reading this post.

Joey WK

P.S. If life-hacking is your thing, do leave a comment below.