Reflective Blog 2: Presentation Feedback

Although, through my involvement in netball and working as an Ambassador, I speak in front of large groups of people on a regular basis, presentations always seem to make me nervous. Whether this is due to the fact it’s my own ideas, the pressurised nature of a presentation or the premeditation beforehand I honestly don’t know.  However, presentations pose a variety of problems and so it was a great opportunity to practise in front of a group of people and receive feedback. I based my presentation on working in PR with the aim to answer and address the question: ‘How my experiences to date, both work and study, relate to my future career plans?’

 

(title page from my presentation)

Firstly let’s consider my presentation itself. Being familiar and comfortable with Microsoft Office, I decided to use PowerPoint to present my presentation and I believe that this worked well. However, I went over my time limit and had to rush through information. For the future I need to try and cut out the amount of information, both on the slides and presenting, to try to leave the audience with a better understanding of what I am trying to say. To do this I may consult the career’s office to know what information is not vital to a job presentation.  Furthermore, I will try and use the rule of three and include an introductory slide to help me to narrow my focus and not lose sight of my main point. Despite this, I did receive positive feedback for my introduction and ‘good signposting of where the content would be’, alongside having a good basic structure. I used the STAR technique, which appeared to be highly effective. Furthermore, on one slide I listed desirable qualities for a job in PR (see slide image below) and pointed out my weakness regarding financial aspects. Despite this, I tried to keep it positive, identifying that this was something I was aware of and therefore would work harder at and then listed my strengths immediately afterwards. This was received well in the feedback as showing ‘excellent self-awareness’ and is definitely something to consider in the future. The individual slides were presented with a simple template layout with a blue swirl that was deemed professional and was easy to read from, as shown in the images above and below.

(slide number 7: PR qualities)

Finally consideration must be made to my presentation skills, regarding both voice and body language. Although I spoke with good volume and style, I spoke far too quickly. This is something I’ve been picked up on before and unfortunately due to the fast natural rhythm with which I speak normally. Despite this, it’s something I have to be aware of when presenting to a prospective employer, alongside with presentations in particular. The skill to present to people is particularly important when considering PR and so I need to practice my presentations in similar situations to get used to slowing down. Furthermore, I think having a lot less information to say and on my slides may help me slow down. For example in the image below you can see the range of examples I have for each desirable personal quality.

(slide 8: my personal qualities)

If I was to redo this slide in particular I would chose one example for each as shown below:

(new slide 8 after considering feedback)

Keeping the information shorter would allow me to expand on it without having a cluttered slide and overwhelming the audience with a variety of examples. However, I maintained the information on the second bullet point as during my feedback I was told that stating that I only missed one day showed that I was honest as I did not state that I had never missed any days of work at all.

 From watching other presentations I was able to see that a slide averages around a minute of talking. For a five minute presentation I had nine slides, eight of which were body slides and this could be a large factor as to why I sped up during my presentation. In the feedback the suggestion was made to film myself presenting so I can see both my speed and my use of the repetition of ‘all the rest of it’. Although I am self-conscious about watching myself back, I think it’s definitely something to consider in the future to help me become more aware of these aspects. I felt comfortable with my body language throughout the presentation and was told I had ‘confident, open body language’. Despite this, I need to ensure I do not remain completely stationary and use the space.

Ultimately I think my presentation went well and used PowerPoint as an effective visual aid. I used the clicker for easy transition between slides, alongside the laser pointer to futher highlight points. If I was to do the same presentation again, I would cut down the amount of information on my slides and try to focus in on a few main areas. Furthermore, I would definitely attempt to alter my pace of speech and be aware of using the phrase ‘all the rest of it’, although hopefully this would be removed along with the reduction of information. I would also try not to remain so stagnant and move around a little bit more. Despite this, I used humour within my presentation effectively and came across both friendly and professional.