Reflections on Oral Presentation

Amazing. That was the feeling that we got when we pulled it off. Nasir, Sudarsan and I could not have hoped for a better presentation. We not only managed to pull off the presentation in a clear and succinct manner but we also could answer the questions posted to us during the question and answer session. Weeks of preparation for our report paid off.

I thought that it was very important that we had been given enough time by Mdm Fazilah to work on our report. Out of our tutor's initiative, she decided to postpone the dateline for our proposal. It was genius. The additional time to work on our report helped a lot! Once we had concretized our report, the preparation for oral presentation drifted in easily. All of us clearly knew our purpose statement and worked hand-in-hand towards the purpose of our proposal. At the same time, it was a big blessing that Gwendolyne, Clara, Xin Yi and Hong Wei agreed to change their presentation timeslot with ours. So we managed to get a later timeslot. I still remember the look of horror on Nasir and Sudarsan's faces when i picked the earliest timeslot for the oral presentation. Frankly speaking, we were at the peak of our assignments and submissions at that time and probably couldn't have done it as well if it wasn't for the exchange of timeslots! 

Back to the topic of our presentation, I feel that it is very important to mention again that we were given enough time for our proposal. Nasir, Sudarsan and I made sure that we did adequate research, surveys and interview. As such, all we needed to do for our presentation was to input information from our proposal. It was that easy! Oh yes, not to mention, there was also the excellent lesson on presentation skills that Mdm Fazilah conducted. I think we managed to employ a large part of the persuasive presentation tips; the emotional appeal method, the overview of our proposal method, and the usage of clear reasoning to explain our proposal. I have to say, i was afraid that we had gone overboard. To my pleasant surprise, Mdm Fazilah mentioned that it wasn't overboard and that we pulled the presentation off nicely! 

One of the strengths of our presentation is that we were able to take questions in a cool and calm manner and answer them using logical reasoning. For our weakness, i realized that I could have given more opportunity for Nasir and Sudarsan to answer questions so that it could be seen that there was greater team cohesiveness in our ‘question and answer’ session. I also realize that I have a tendency to be slightly dominant. Therefore, to Nasir and Sudarsan, I apologize! I hope I wasn’t overbearing! 

All in all, the final presentation was an amazing experience and it would be one that I would cherish for a very, very long time!