Final reflection on ES module

My greatest take away from the ES module would be the ability to pitch my presentations with confidence. Hence in this blog post, I will be giving introspection on oral presenting.

Having been in the faculty of engineering for seven semesters, I realised the apparent lack of opportunities for students to orally present their work. Furthermore, engineering students are not taught on effective communication which is the quintessential life skill in the working society. Thus, I bided for this module so as to improve my communication skills.

In retrospect, oral presentation had been one of my fears since I have few experiences with it. On the first trial peer teaching presentation, I had little knowledge on what makes an effective oral presentation. As such, prior to the presentation, I had gone through ES reading materials on non-verbal communications and I took mental note of them while presenting. However, the slides were not aesthetically prepared and my usual jitters took control of me, resulting in an anxious and nervous presentation. Despite so, the feedbacks given by Dr Radhika and my classmates were very helpful and encouraging.

The feedbacks given for my classmates’ presentations were also noted down and by incorporating the verbal and non-verbal skills learnt, I began to work on them for my 2^nd formal peer teaching presentation. Having learnt not to memorise scripts and to perform multiple rehearsal, it reduced the nervous jitters that used to dog my presentation and I was able to present my work confidently. Upon receiving another round of feedbacks, I realised I had improved. Nonetheless, I should not rest on my laurels but to continue to improve my speech and articulation which continues to be my weakest point.

Nearing the end of the course, I have learnt all the necessary skills in communicating effectively verbally and non-verbally. In addition, understanding and being able to execute teamwork during group presentation, and to cater the slides with the targeted audience in mind. Lastly, I learnt the importance of having an assertive presentation style as it portrays a strong sense of confidence to the audiences. These are all made possible through a feedback loop of gaining awareness through the lessons and feedbacks, and enhancing my oral presentation skills with practises. These has certainly boost my confidence and performance during interviews and other important presentations.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr Radhika and my classmates for the wonderful and enriching experience, and to implore nus students who chanced upon this blog post to take this module.  It is one of the most, if not the only enjoyable module that I have attended in NUS thus far. 

Reflection on Oral Presentation

source: http://www.auburn.edu/~burnsma/peopl96a.gif

Having done a formal proposal on the online integrated platform, my team and I had to put forth an oral presentation. As easy as it may sound, preparation of the oral presentation involves more work and analysis compared to the written proposal. It includes the meticulous selection of essential and appropriate contents to be presented based on the audience, synthesising the team’s effort while ensuring coherence and synergism, and portraying the effective communications skills I have learned thus far. During the team preparation and rehearsal, we had small hiccups but we managed to resolve the problem quickly and amicably which enhances our team cohesiveness.

The module culminates with the oral presentation, where most of the skills on professional communication that I was exposed to were learnt and used.  The need for an oral presentation is one of the advantages of the module as it closely simulates with what is required in the corporate world.  In addition, it was a good revision.

With regards to the delivery, I have practised what was being feedback to me on several past presentations and took note of all aspects of non-verbal communication. Fortunately, I am pleased with my performance in comparison to the past before I took this ES2007S module. Credits goes to Dr Radhika for her coaching and my classmates for the continuous feedbacks.  However, I realised my recurring mistake where I allowed my bad habit of not articulating clearly to perpetuate. Having been constantly reminded, I will strive to improve my pace and articulation in the future oral presentations to come.

Throughout this module, students were given the opportunity to present and many learning points on the dos and don’ts of presenting materials on the slides were gleaned from it. As such, I paid attention to the colours, placements of visuals, animation and arrangement of the materials.

Even though the entire process was time consuming, the end result was enriching and satisfying, it allows me to grow both personally and professionally.