Post 4: My FOP experience

Hi everyone, the semester is coming to close, so just hang in there!

Today’s post will be my reflection on the FOP.

Preparation:

As mentioned in my earlier post, I worked very hard for this FOP on several issues namely, my voice, my body language and the slides.

The voice and body language were explained in my earlier post so I will not elaborate. In short, I just wanted to be as natural as possible and deliver my presentation in a powerful and persuasive manner especially the conclusion part. I wanted to end the presentation with a BANG!!!

As for my slides, I referred mainly to the Garr Reynolds site (It is a very useful and insightful website, so I recommend everyone to take a look at it -http://www.garrreynolds.com/Presentation/index.html). In addition, I watched some videos on Tedtalk for ideas and inspiration too. Following Garr Reynolds’ advice, I kept my slides to the minimal and showed only the very important stuff. I wanted the focus to be on ME, the presenter.  The thought of presenting without slides did occur to me but I felt some visual aid would be better.

In a way, I had to be the star of the show (presentation). And if for some reasons, the slides could not work on that day, it would not have mattered one bit. Throughout my preparation, I kept telling myself that if this were a real show, people would pay to watch me and not the slides. Although I know that this is a very good approach for presentations, I struggled with the concept. This being my first attempt, I was constantly worried whether I could pull it off or not. Eventually, I reasoned out with myself that since this approach is used by some of the most successful speakers around, I am on the right path and regardless of the result of the FOP; I am going to use this approach for future presentations.

Just a little more background as to why I had doubts over the above approach is because, prior to this module, I always thought that the slides were as important as the speaker. But now I truly understand that “people don’t buy your ideas, people buy you”. This is a quote from Eric Feng, one of the best presenters I have ever seen.

Presentation:

After analyzing the situation (FOP issue D), I personally feel that NUS has been sitting on this issue for too long a time, hence, I believe the best way to convince them to take action is be truthful, objective and passionate.

Truthful in the sense that I needed NUS to understand the seriousness of the problem and there should be no sugarcoating of it. Objective wise, I wanted to show NUS how my recommendations will benefit NUS and lastly, impress NUS with my passion. I want NUS to feel and know that I am equally driven and motivated, as they are to tackle this issue.

Well, feedback from the class was mixed, the guys and Brad liked it and they said they could feel my passion. On the other hand, the girls thought I was too fierce and stern, they commented that it was like I was intimidating them to choose my recommendations over the other three presenters.

Personally, I thought I did quite well for the FOP. I felt more natural and confident this time. In fact, unlike the GT, I was actually eager to get in front of the class to present. I attribute this eagerness to two reasons:

1)   Confidence in my own work.

Firstly, you really need to know your stuff - I could recite my whole report word for word. (Ok, I am exaggerating here, but you get my point). The next step after “internalizing” my work was to convince myself that my ideas are the best! This is because if I don’t believe in my work, it will show in my presentation and the audience will sense it. I truly believe whatever I recommended will work and should be implemented even though feedback from the class suggests otherwise.

2)   Preparation

I filmed myself presenting multiple times. Each time I reviewed those videos, I constantly asked myself whether the things I said were relevant and what kind of impact it will have on the audience. It was through endless amendments before I finalized on the content and the best way to bring the message across to the audience.

Nonetheless, after reviewing the video, I noticed some stumbles but the more problematic issues such as my voice and going into a “presentation-mode” did not appear. Overall, I am pleased with the way I presented. However, this is not the end; I will continue to improve on my presentation skills for I am sure these skills will one day come in handy when I am out there in the cut-throat corporate world. It could be the difference that results in me clinching the deal over someone else.