Overview of Presentations--Amber

Student is bored with unentertaining, stressful learning techniques.

Presenting information rather than having students read a textbook and memorize key points for tests can be a useful tool, made relatively easy with the technology in the current age. In our SPC 2608 class, rather than reading the textbook and being graded on our memory skills after long, dreadful hours of reading, we each read a section of the textbook and highlighted key points in a presentation. This made the learning process very hands on, and entertaining, as well as teaching group skills as we worked with each other to coordinate our slides and properly split the assigned chapters.

To start off, Group 1 presented on chapters 1-4, which highlighted the essential skills and tips needed to give a relaxed, confident speech that keeps the audience engaged. One thing that stood out to me in group one's presentation was the large quantity of images involved. Using images kept the audience entertained and engaged as they observed the images, relating them to the speaker's points as they presented. Group 1 also made a group effort and tied together topics and ideas from one chapter to the next, which provided a sense of unity and showed the organizational skills used.

Group 2 presented chapters 5-9, which explained how to gather information to use towards your presentations and supporting your findings with reliable sources, along with using body language, tone of voice and eye contact to communicate emotion through your speech. One way that Group 2 incorporated an example of proper speaking devices was through a video of Barrack Obama, our 44th president, giving a speech using these engaging techniques. Showing a video of somebody actually using these methods of expressing your point provided the audience with a visual aid, which can help get a point across further than explaining something. Personally, seeing the video helped for the techniques to resonate with me more than if it had solely been explained verbally.

Group 3 presented on chapters 10-12 and the appendix, which gave information on different forms of presenting, including informational and persuasive, as well on what special occasions may require. One part of Group 3's presentation that stood out to me was the correlation between the group's effort as a whole tying back to the topic of how group presentations are useful and can prove to have many advantages. One student in particular used a video from an anime to show how working together can be important. Using a video from an anime not only caught the eye of the audience, but used a popular form of media to aid the audience in remembering the important information

Each group did especially well, with exceptional work from all. Analyzing the group effort and commitment to the assignment to provide relative, key points was extremely easy, being as the class collectively did very well. Using this approach to learning the information and as a grade proved to have a much more positive impact on the students as was very interactive. All in all, this presentation ran very smoothly and is definitely recommended to all.

Our Public Speaking Journey

    Throughout the duration of this semester, we as a class have explored a handful of presentations including a variety of informational topics. From the first presentation, in which we had to teach chapters of a book to our class to recording a presentation in under a minute each for a virtual symposium, we have all grown in our communication levels, as seen through our work. Every group has improved in different ways, but as a whole, we have all grown in our public speaking skills to a significant level from where we began in January.

While our first presentation was pretty good overall, I have seen a level of confidence grow in the students in this class. While presenting, the tone of voice and lack of resistance in turning on cameras and microphones shows that we have all become more comfortable and shows a level of pride in our work. The second presentation we all participated in was an informational on covid-19. Each group had an assigned topic, and I feel that each groups subtopics were well thought out and thoroughly discussed. The use of statistics and new, relevant information in each presentation allowed the audience to become fully aware of all the effects of this virus. Along with this, each group was very straight forward and never veered off track into a persuasive or argumentative format.

In our informative speeches with our individually chosen topics, I enjoyed seeing where each groups interests landed. We had these three topics: How music affects people psychologically and physically, Advances in space exploration, and How social media affects people. Each group chose their topics and subtopics, and you could really see how each group researched and presented their topics with enthusiasm. I think on the professor's part, giving student's the chance to choose topics was a great way to allow new ideas to come to light, as well as giving each group the opportunity to research something fun and interesting for themselves. I feel that the freedom to choose topics allowed the class to become excited to research their interests, while also allowing the rest of the class to learn about something that could be new to them.

Our most recent presentation was participating in a virtual symposium on coronavirus, which stemmed from our original presentation. For the restraint of time and surplus of information form all three groups, I think we all did exceptionally well in crunching the time and compacting our information into a 24 minute speech. The way we all came together to resolve the recording issue and worked hard to shorten our speeches and waste no time showed a functional class with great teamwork skills. This presentation may be considered our best work due to the commitment exhibited along with the group effort to get it done. 

As a whole, our class has become a more open and communicative environment as time has progressed, and what we have learned thus far can be taken into our further education and possibly our careers. While we still have more to learn and more time to grow, the extent to which we've come thus far is something we should all be proud of and something we can all use in the real world.