16 November 2015, the day our group had to give an oral presentation to the rest of the class. Even though we had the longest time to prepare and were presenting to a group of familiar faces, it was still terrifying as I was never very comfortable being the centre of everyone’s attention. On top of that, the videos of professional presenters shown in class we very intimidating and knowing that we were expected to perform at a similar level was terrifying.
Despite the repeated self-practice sessions I had in my room with me talking to myself in the mirror, I still had stage freight on the day of the presentation. I did manage to calm myself down a little by reminding myself that I was presenting to people that had been in the same situation I was in. During the presentation, I did notice that whenever I felt really nervous and forgot my lines, I would stare at the ceiling and lose eye contact with the audience. Something we have been constantly reminded not to do. I also forgot to use one of the slides which left me a little confused when I turned around to check which part of the presentation I was at. I felt so much relief when I saw the chart on the final slide. Because that meant that the end of the presentation was near. I felt my voice was loud enough to reach the audience at the back but I was not aware of where I was standing during the presentation as well as what kind of gestures I used during the presentation.
I was looking forward to constructive criticism during the feedback session as it would give me an idea on how to improve for my next presentation. But the class seemed really hesitant to give criticism that day.
Overall I felt that we managed to sell our idea fairly well and there will always be room for improvement. I believe presentations will be an inevitable and important part of our lives in the future, be it informal or formal. I will put in more effort to maintain eye contact and engage the audience in my next presentation as well as changing my mind set to calm myself down and be more confident.
My Effective Communication Journey 
Hi Dylan. I felt that you gave a clear and concise presentation that day and did better than the practice presentation that we have done in class. Do not be discouraged by your mistakes because you have plenty of time to improve on your presentation skills.
The way that I practice my presentation is to present to my friends. My advice to you is that you can find a group of friends as your audience for you to practice your presentation. Practicing alone in the room is very different from the real situation because there is no audience staring at you. By presenting to your friends, you can be better prepared to present to a large group of friends as the situation is fairly similar.
Good luck to you for your future presentation!
Cheers!
LikeLike
Hey Dylan!
Although there were times where you lost eye contact with the audience and or lost track which part of the slide you were presenting, I felt that you did a good job as you have made significant improvement as compared to our first rehearsal.
I can see that you have put in a lot of effort to perfect your presentation skills. I suggest that in future presentations, maybe you can try to calm yourself down and try not to panic when you have forgotten what you have written down on your script. All the best!
LikeLike