Tuesday, January 25, 2011

My Second Presentation

https://w3.icu.ac.jp/people/payne/kanaf.html

This was my first Pecha-Kucha 20x20 project.
In my normal presentations I usually like to spend a long time on the important slides, and spend short times on slides with unimportant information like when I am showing specific examples.
So at first I felt that this type of presentation was not fit for me.
However as I prepared my presentation I noticed that there were topics that shows best in the Pecha-Kucha style, and topics that doesn't go well with the style.
At first I was planning to present about french animation and in the presentation I wanted to introduce a specific film that I really like. But through my preparation I figured that this topic does not fit the PK style, and so I decided to change my topic to Otaku.
I think presenting a film in the PK style is difficult because it is hard to explain the story in the 20x20 form, and plus you cannot show videos on PK presentations. Otaku seemed like a better topic because I had several things I wanted to argue about and they were all about the same size of content. I got 16 things I wanted to say and used the rest for introduction and conclusion.

I thought my voice level was in control, but my words got stuck in the first parts so I was in a hurry to make it for the next slide throughout the presentation. I didn't get the chance to practice in the morning before AE, so next time I'll try to rehearse it at least once on the day of the presentation. I also want to be able to have more confidence at the end of my presentation.

I realized that Pecha-Kucha style actually might be a good way to present, because once you get used to it you don't even have to look at the slide, just press the start button and go. To the audience, it might even look better than the normal PowerPoint because you look more professional.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Review of my first presentation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJVbXwFvaY4

1. Voice (Volume, rate, pausing, emphasis etc)
Reflection: I thought my voice was loud enough for the audience. I found out that I tend to have a lower voice whenever I am nervous. I seem under control but inside of me was a panic. I'm just glad that it didn't appear on my voice, body language, expression etc.
Goals: I had so much things that I wanted to say that I had to speak really fast. Next time I should reduce the amount of "um"s which I said several times without noticing. I should also make more changes on my voice tone, to make the important things more clear to the audience.

2. Body Language (Eye contact, gestures, posture etc)
Reflection: I think I was able to make appropreate eye contacts and gestures. I looked at the PC and the screen several times and I thought my speech would be even better without me looking at those at all.
Goals: Next time I should practice more so that I wouldn't have to look at the PC or the screen. I also had memos in my hand but realized that I don't have time to look at them. I also thought it would be better not to have notes especially when the speech is short.

3. Visuals (Images or text on slides, timing etc)
Reflection: I spent so much time and made about 15 slides but only got to use parts of it for my 3 minute speech. I am not sure if I was able to make full use of each screen, so I want a lot of reflections on my slides.
Goals: Making slides was fun but I thought I should have a sub-title for all of the slides because this time some of them had no words at all. I think a good slide can be understood by anyone just by looking at it without any explanation. Them my slides would have to be improved because some of my slides lack detail.

4. Preparation Process (Topic selection, notes, visuals creation, rehearsals etc)
Reflection: I chose a topic I am really interested in so preparing for the speech was fun. However I was so interested in it that there were so much things I had to say in the speech, and I failed to refer to all of them. Maybe this topic was not fit for a 3 minute speech. I had to reduce so much of the explanation so I think some of my speech was too simple. If I had more time I could have made more people interested in the comic.
Goals: From next time I want to get used to choosing topics that fits the length of the speech.

5. Any other reflections or goals?
I want to gain more skills to make better slides. For example I didn't know how to tilt an image. I also want direct comments of my speech from the teachers.
Is it okay for me to have slides without any words on it?