Post 3: My GT Experience

Hi everyone!

I hope everything has been well. Below are my thoughts on the GT.

Preparation:

First of all, I have to say that I had an AWESOME group for the GT. We were very cooperative and met up several times to rehearse. Content-wise, we spent a lot of time ensuring the data we presented on the actual day was concise and relevant. We wanted to make the presentation interesting and engaging for the class.

However, there was a problem with Dropbox the night before our actual presentation. The finalized slides went missing and as a result, I spent half the night touching up the slides again. In a way, I felt this disruption affected me greatly on the actual day.

Presentation:

Usually, I would say that I am an above average presenter and I can articulate my views reasonably well. However, on the actual day, I was an absolute wreck inside and despite my best attempts to hide it, it showed up in some parts of my presentation.

Right after the presentation, I knew that there were some parts where my voice was shaky and unclear. My assessment of my own presentation was confirmed after watching the video. In addition, the video revealed that I turned and referred to the slides too many times. According to Garr Reynolds, it is not wise to have your back faced towards your audience, which I did, unfortunately.

Feedback from my classmates was my volume was too soft and I mumbled, which made it difficult for them to catch what I was saying. Thankfully, this problem/issue was minimal and I had it somewhat under control - Throughout the whole time on the sidelines (I was the last presenter), I told myself to keep calm and slow down. The feedback I received from Brad was similar to my own assessment. He noticed that I was nervous but on a whole, I masked it well. I believe experience was vital here in maintaining my composure. Coming from the polytechnic, I have done numerous presentations and I am certain the experience helped.

Another issue that has been a perennial problem is the tone of my voice. I don’t know why but my voice becomes more serious and flat whenever I present. This is not good because I come across as monotone and boring. This is an issue that I take seriously because I received similar feedbacks from my peers and tutors.

Personally, the main takeaway from the GT for me is to try to present as naturally as possible. By this, I mean presenting the same way as I would normally speak. Almost everyone says I don’t have a monotone when I speak in class. In fact, Brad told me the same thing during the feedback session. I totally agree with them. The monotone issue only appears during presentations - it is like I switch into a “presentation-mode” whenever I present and this gives the impression that I am stern and unapproachable.

When I reflect back on my past presentations, I realized that the times when I was “myself” were during the Q&A session - people find me to be very convincing and persuasive here. I guess it could be the fact that I was addressing an individual’s query rather then the whole class. Well, I suppose the next big challenge for me is to bring this “naturalness” into the main presentation. I have been working very hard on this issue and hopefully it shows during the FOP.

Nonetheless, I am very happy with the overall GT experience. It has been a huge learning curve for me.