For this week, watch TWO of the last lectures that are posted on our youtube account. What weaknesses did you see? Which one was more effective? If you were in the audience seeing these talks for the first time, would you have found them engaging/inspiring/worth your time? As you discuss them, please refer to them by the first name of the speaker. No need to repost the actual videos, as long as I know who you’re talking about.
After watching a lot of the last lectures on YouTube there were two that really stood out to me. The first one was the presentation by Anthony about mascots. I feel that he was a very good presenter, he seemed very comfortable speaking in front of people and had a very positive and strong energy to his presentation. Although he is a really good speaker and I didn’t feel that the topic of his presentation as a last lecture was very engaging or inspiring but that may just be because I am not that interested in mascots. I did enjoy his use of Prezzi in his presentation. It is still very new to me and I find it more interesting than a PowerPoint presentation. There weren’t too many weaknesses in the presentation other than I wasn’t very interested in the actual topic.
The other presentation that I really enjoyed was Emma’s. I felt that she had a wonderful message that she was presenting. She not only offered up some original opinions and ideas about her topic but she also had some opinions and ideas from some predominant figures. She used her PowerPoint effectively as well as some other visual aids such as her shoes. I was in the audience for the presentation and was inspired by her presentation and felt that it was definitely worth while to listen and watch it again on YouTube. There really weren’t any weaknesses that I saw in the presentation and feel that she picked a wonderful subject and executed the presentation very well.
I feel that this class benefited me greatly as a presenter and I evolved from a bullet point orientated PowerPoint presenter into a more prepared and knowledgeable presenter.Before I was presenting in this class I would use the basic bullet point PowerPoint to give presentations and it was easier for me to not be as prepared because I could always peak back and look to see what I needed to talk about next.Most of my bullets were straight from a textbook or website as well so they weren’t really my personal opinion.
While taking this class I moved toward a more abstract PowerPoint presentation.I would only have a picture or a few words on each slide and this forced me to be more prepared and to offer up my personal opinions more because I wasn’t copy and pasting facts from the internet.I feel that this type of presenting is more effective and I am very appreciative of the Zen approach to presenting.I feel that using this approach engages your audience more and makes you seem more knowledgeable about what you are presenting about.
I think the most growth I had during this semester in this class is that I believe that it is the presenter’s responsibility to engage the audience.I remember the first or second week of class Ashley asked who the responsibility lied on.I felt that it was about 80% percent of the audience’s responsibility to pay attention to what is being presented and 20% of the presenter’s responsibility.I now feel that it is 90% of the presenter’s responsibility and I believe that the approaches and styles taught in this class make that responsibility a little easier.As a presenter it is important to engage your audience and bullet points and cheesy PowerPoint layouts don’t do that effectively, but I do feel that the Zen approach and making your slides original do help to engage, or at least it felt that way because of Ashley’s rule that everyone must clap as hard as they can after every presentation.
After everything I learned throughout the semester I still feel that there is a lot more than can be learned for me as a presenter.After watching my last lecture and going over some of the comments from the professor I realized that by taking the Zen approach and using very simple slides it is easy for me to get off track and not stay focused on what specifically I am trying to portray to my audience.It was a little tricky for me because I am so used to staying on track with bullet points and being very specific with my details that it was easy for me to get off track with all of the originality and simplicity that the Zen approach offers.
I feel that most of the presentations were beneficial in growing as a presenter.I really enjoyed the Pecha Kucha assignment because it was something very new and required me to really practice and prepare for the presentation.I wasn’t a big fan of the standalone presentation however, and it is evident from my grade.I prefer standing up and presenting rather than putting together something technologically.But my bad grade and poor execution of this project was probably due to my serious procrastination problem and the fact that I just got back from Spring Break and needed another vacation.All together though I am very thankful I took this class and really learned a lot about presenting and feel I truly grew as a presenter.
After you watch this video (and part 2 as well, if you want to track it down), put yourself in the position of the panel— what elements of the presentation made this presentation “crumble” (as the commentator asserted)? What would have to have been done differently for you to make these guys an offer? What elements did work to effectively persuade? Now put yourself in the position of the presenters— what would you have done differently if you had another chance? What did you do right?
From the panels perspective I would have like to seen more research or hear about more of the research the presenters have done on online food ordering. They didn’t really give the panel any information on who and how many people are using the internet to order their take out and I feel that this would have been an important piece of information to include in the presentation. The presenters also brought a chart into the presentation but didn’t seem to refer to it very often. If it is important enough to bring in front of the panel I feel like there should have been some reference to the chart during the presentation. In order for to make an offer to these guys I think there needed to be either a lot more research done on their part about online takeout ordering.
The presenters didn’t really do to much to persuade the pane. Their voices were dull and monotone and it seemed way to rehearsed. Their didn’t seem like there was any excitement from the presenters and if they are not excited then the potential investors will not get excited about the idea.
As the presenter I would have either done more research or spoke more about the research they had done that will make their website a success. They were throwing out numbers but no explanations on where they were getting those numbers. I would have also tried to loosing up and sound more enthusiastic about their product.
It’s a recording of a Pecha-Kucha from London PKN#1. While it’s the just the audio of the speaker, it’s nice to be able to see the slides so clearly.
After you watch it, comment on the effectiveness of the Pecha-Kucha format for this type of talk— how did the limitations on slides/time help or hurt him and the audience?
Second, brainstorm some of the challenges of giving a talk in this format (thinking more about your OWN presentations to come). Think beyond the surface answer (“timing is everything”), and try to anticipate specific challenges you might face. Finally, how might you go about answering these challenges— or, how will you make Pecha Kucha work for you instead of against you? Think strategically and specifically.
NOTE TO MY DAY CLASS: Since we have not started talking about Pecha Kucha yet, you may want to wait until after class Friday or Monday to respond to this prompt.
NOTE TO MY NIGHT CLASS: This guy is much better than the example I showed last night. I promise.
I felt that this Pecha Kucha presentation was very effective for this particular type of presentation. It was also a huge improvement from the Pecha Kucha we watched in class. I feel that the way the photos were put together really went well with the presenters message and the presentation flowed very well with the photographs and the stories that were being told. It hard to tell at some points that the speaker was changing stories and moving to a different slide, unlike the presentation we watched in class where it seemed as if the presenter was waiting for the slide to change before he began talking about that slide.
Some of the challenges that I feel I will face when doing my Pecha Kucha presentation will be finding the appropriate images to help stress what I am going to be saying in that 15 second block. I also think that it is going to be hard for me to keep a steady flow between my speaking and the pictures in the background. I’ve been told I speak very fast so it will be important for me to practice my timing and speaking numerous times before I give my presentation. Hopefully all the practice will end with a great presentation however.
I chose to use a presentation by Richard St. John called “Success is a continous journey” to represent the best presentation on the web. I chose the presentation for a number of reasons and out all the presentations I watched it was by far the best. It stood out to me because it took a somewhat cliche message that everyone has heard at some point and put an original and humorous spin on it. The overall message of the presentation is that money does can not buy happiness and that once you have money you still must work just as hard as you did to get to that point to continue to be happy.
I really enjoyed this presentation because Richard St. John used his past experiences as a successfull and wealthy business man to get his point across. He used his actual experiences to relate with his audience and to inform them about his troubles once he had money and what he did to become happy once again. Mr. St. John also used a good amount of humor during his presentation to illustrate his point. He jokingly used himself for examples of how money doesn’t buy happiness and what he had to do to be happy once again. I feel that it is important to use humor in a presentation because when done properly the audience will have a good reaction and will enjoy the presentation more. Mr. St. John did this in his presentation with his verbal jokes as well as some visual aids and these were the major element as to why I chose this video.
Other reasons for why I chose this presentation as the best are because of his stage presence, tone of voice and visual aids. The stage was set with the audience to his front and both left and right. Mr. St. John did an excellent job of using the stage to engage his entire audience and made sure no section of the audience felt left out. The tone of his voice made him sound confident in what he was talking about and this makes it easier for the audience to buy into and beleive what he is saying. Lastly, Mr. St. John used some very simple visual aids in his presentation and they went along well to help illustrate his point.
