Reflections on oral presentation

Over the years as an undergraduate, I have always had a more cavalier approach to oral presentations. I did not like to memorise scripts and would always rely on my own improvisation on the spot with some reference to the slides prepared. During the module, my usual methodology with oral presentation did not fail me, though I must say there were many areas I could have improved upon. 

A few days before the proposal presentation, I was already thinking of how to deliver it. I was aware that I mustn’t fail my group mates, so I prepared some form of script which I followed loosely. During our practices, I had no problems delivering the presentation (partly due to the lack of assessment during practices!). I had already volunteered to present on the part where I was most familiar, this no doubt helped with the preparations of both the slides and the actual presentation. I made sure my slides weren’t cluttered with information, since I already had some experience with my honours presentation. 

During the actual presentation, I must admit I let my nerves get the better of me. Despite the practices and my familiarity of the subject, I was speaking faster than I should have. On hindsight, I realised I could have looked at my groupmates more, as they mentioned they were trying to slow me down via hand signals. I believe the key area I need to work on is my awareness of my surroundings during presentations, as I would get far too absorbed into the presentation and not noticed small actions or the body language of my audience which I could have used to correct myself mid delivery. 

Nevertheless, the presentation was still a good learning experience and I feel that this would only serve to strengthen my delivery in the future.