"If you cant make it good, atleast make it look good" - Bill Gates
We all have had multiple instances in our lives where we had to go in front of a handful or room full amount of people to present a topic that was either related to ourselves, education, or maybe even a part of our wild thoughts. No matter how we plan on doing it we must always ensure that everyone’s interested and listening. During my first week of my Bachelors', I had to give a presentation introducing myself to a group of people, showing them who I am. Overall, it was overwhelming presenting in front of a group that I barely knew.
Initially, I wasn’t prepared at all; I was meant to be ready for the presentation a day ago but I was really lazy to put my efforts into making one because I know myself better, I know that I can pull it off last minute. While students kept presenting, I was busy making my slides getting ready for my turn to come. During the presentation, I was feeling a rollercoaster of emotions from fright to feeling intrigued to being all confident. I had to pull myself together and make the audience believe as if I was ready months ago. The feeling of accomplishment when the class applauds and the look in their eyes for more is the motivation that keeps me going.
Looking back at the positives, I was able to gradually get confident enough as I started speaking more and more about myself, which made the presentation more attentive. I believe I was able to capture the audience’s attention instantly as I began with a personal story that many found to be relatable. The slides were astounding and were able to catch the audience’s attention in a matter of seconds. On the negatives, I wasn’t able to properly articulate my thoughts since I think faster than I speak, this made me stutter a lot, this was also a result of not rehearsing beforehand.
According to Paul J. Zak (n.d), “stories that are personal and emotionally compelling engage more of the brain, and thus are better remembered, than simply stating a set of facts” this relates with me because when I gave an insight to my view on driving alone to relieve stress, most of the audience agreed to it as it was relatable and hence, there was an increase in the engagement between me and the audience. The aesthetics and visual aids are the ‘icing on the cake' for any presentation, and my slides were able to grab onto the audience’s attention due to this very reason; as it is also a fact that 90% of the information conveyed to the brain are visuals (Sibley, 2017). Articulating my thoughts and voicing them out has always been a problem for me, this sometimes makes me lose control of the situation as my brain does not have much time to navigate through my ideas (Guthrie Jensen Consultants, n.d).
To conclude, presentations have always been a keen interest of mine as I enjoy the building and designing of slides along with communicating with the audience. In the future, I would come prepared earlier on itself, from making the presentation and getting the designing done a day before the submission, to keeping one whole day of practice so that it can help me build my presentation skills.
For me to perform better while presenting, I will start watching stimulating TedxTalks such as ‘How to sound smart in your TedTalk’ and ‘How to talk so that people want to listen’ which focus on how to be an amazing presenter by sounding smart or by keeping the attention of the audience which is something that I will need to develop and this will inspire me to do even better. Noting down the top tips provided by well-known public speakers in a journal and utilizing them for future presentations will be helpful as I will be able to understand which works well for me and getting the audience’s feedback on various methods will allow me to identify my strengths and weaknesses, hence leading to a positive outcome.
Looking for inspiring videos to help you excel at presenting? Here's some videos for you:
How to present to keep your audience’s attention | Mark Robinson | TEDxEindhoven
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmEiZadVNWY
How to sound smart in your TEDx Talk | Will Stephen | TEDxNewYork
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8S0FDjFBj8o
References:
Guthrie Jensie Consultants, n.d. 6 Tips to Think Fast and Talk Smart During a Presentation. [Online] Available at: https://guthriejensen.com/blog/tips-to-think-fast-and-talk-smart-presentation/ [Accessed 31 January 2022].
Life Hack , n.d. Bill Gates Quotes. [Online] Available at: https://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/cant-make-good-least-make-look-good-bill-gates.html [Accessed 2 February 2022].
Sibley, A., 2017. 19 Reasons You Should Include Visual Content in Your Marketing [Data].[Online] Available at: https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33423/19-reasons-you-should-include-visual-content-in-your-marketing-data.aspx [Accessed 1 February 2022].
Zak, P. J., 2013. How Stories Change the Brain. [Online] Available at: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_stories_change_brain [Accessed 31 January 2022].
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