As told previously I gave a presentation on Alexander the Great to my college history society, I titled it 'Alexander the great - why was he so great?' because it was a different format to my last presentation related to my topic - a lot less formal so I had to give a relaxed presentation to fit with what I was doing. On one hand this was beneficial to me as it meant I could relax more and give a more confident presentation, however as it was so informal it may not be ideal practice for my final presentation which will probably be quite a formal affair and based on my project and research rather than Alexander as a general topic. However I did observe that if I was relaxed when speaking people were more free with their questions and opinions which was really good as it even gave me some interesting ideas for my dissertation, particularly in the debate I placed at the end - What is it to be great and does Alexander deserve to be called this?. In this way my presentation was therefore very useful to me.
It was also good practice for speaking in front of people as I asked a couple of the audience what they thought and they mainly said things like it was really interesting/entertaining and I did a good job. However as I was the person speaking and asking these questions of people I know it is likely that they may not be being 100% honest - they might not want to hurt my feelings if I was complete rubbish! However I feel that the interesting questions and issues they raised demonstrated that they were engaged by my presentation which suggests that I did do quite well.
Personally I feel that it was a lot better than my first presentation related to my EPQ as I did make a conscious decision to speak loud and clearly, although this was limited by the fact that I had an awful cold which wasn't ideal, and make eye contact with the audience. Obviously the fact that I was ill deteriorated from the positives behind the way I presented but as the feedback I received was good it only suggests to me that when I am feeling well I will be able to give an even better one.
I will take from this experience, to help with my final presentation, the idea that for an audience to be engaged and interested in what you are saying you need to be too and for this I need to be relaxed. I believe the way to achieve this for my final presentation will simply be practice and knowing my material back to front so I feel confident in what I am saying. Although my presentation in this case was quite informal - as you can see from the pictures I used - I believe the relaxed mindset in which I gave it vastly contributed to my increased eye contact and projected voice - it is these things that I need to take to my next presentation to really make it a success.
Below: Screen shots of my presentation slides
It was also good practice for speaking in front of people as I asked a couple of the audience what they thought and they mainly said things like it was really interesting/entertaining and I did a good job. However as I was the person speaking and asking these questions of people I know it is likely that they may not be being 100% honest - they might not want to hurt my feelings if I was complete rubbish! However I feel that the interesting questions and issues they raised demonstrated that they were engaged by my presentation which suggests that I did do quite well.
Personally I feel that it was a lot better than my first presentation related to my EPQ as I did make a conscious decision to speak loud and clearly, although this was limited by the fact that I had an awful cold which wasn't ideal, and make eye contact with the audience. Obviously the fact that I was ill deteriorated from the positives behind the way I presented but as the feedback I received was good it only suggests to me that when I am feeling well I will be able to give an even better one.
I will take from this experience, to help with my final presentation, the idea that for an audience to be engaged and interested in what you are saying you need to be too and for this I need to be relaxed. I believe the way to achieve this for my final presentation will simply be practice and knowing my material back to front so I feel confident in what I am saying. Although my presentation in this case was quite informal - as you can see from the pictures I used - I believe the relaxed mindset in which I gave it vastly contributed to my increased eye contact and projected voice - it is these things that I need to take to my next presentation to really make it a success.
Below: Screen shots of my presentation slides