Final Reflections

Opportunities do not come in numbers and when they do, I want to make the best out of them. This was the driving force behind the decision to take ES2007S; to overcome the communication barriers. Looking back, I can see that the workload was really taxing, but I have no regrets after the enriching class experience..

Like previously mentioned, everyone came into the class with a different set of skills. The interaction between the group members was a vital part of the learning process. The comments from the class and Brad have helped me identify areas which required work on and has definitely been an important channel in improving my communication skills.

I had never felt comfortable in delivering presentations, and this was an aspect that I hoped to address through ES2007S. We were given many opportunities to deliver presentations during the course of the module, from the proposal to class activities.The course guidelines and feedback also gave me a clear idea of the essentials of a good presentations as well as an assessment of my strengths and weaknesses. Although I have not become a fantastic presenter, the many practices I've had allowed me to gain confidence and awareness of verbal and non-verbal cues in my delivery.

Throughout the course of the semester, working in groups was something that we had became accustomed to. Many thanks to Brad who had meticulously ensured that we were given a chance to work with different members of the class throughout the semester, and that certainly helped in fostering the class spirit. Many thanks to Brad, who meticulously ensured that we were given a chance to work with different members of the class throughout the semester; that certainly helped in fostering the class spirit. In addition, I can't forget members of the class who have made the whole experience fun and fruitful.

Reflections on Oral Presentation

For the past few weeks, it had been a challenge just to get enough sleep. My final year projects were really taking a toll on me and I am grateful to have Anna and Ram as my team mates for accommodating my schedule in planning meetings. Meetings were always concise and fruitful from the preparation work; it was truly a pleasant experience working with this team.

Public speaking was never my forte. Every time before I step forward to deliver a presentation, my hands turn cold, my heart races and unfortunately, this is still the case today. I could never rely on memorizing scripts, for the words often elude me when I'm in front of a crowd. Instead, I always try to calm myself with the belief that I'm amply prepared with the knowledge from working on the project, and thankfully it works to a certain extent.

For the oral presentation itself, I looked at the slides quite often, to ensure I wasn't missing out on any content. It would have been better if I had more practice to familiarized myself more with the slides, so that I could focus better on my eye contact with the audience instead. This lack of practice also showed in my speech, which I stumbled a little recalling some of the key information. My voice projection was something I needed to work on; often I started well but as the presentation goes on, I tend to slip off.

Now for the positives. I based my presentation on 2 key points, firstly to highlight the motivation for the proposal, secondly to emphasize how the proposed solution addresses the identified problems. I tried to portray a confident posture and tone of voice to convince the audience of the information presented and ultimately, accept the proposal. I was also more conscious of my hand gestures this time and tried not to swing the pointer around excessively. The slides were designed to contain only the vital information, such that the attention was not shifted from myself yet allowing the audience to follow the presentation. I tried to sustain eye contact with the individuals a little longer rather than shifting around too quickly, to engage the audience and ensure that they were following my presentation.

Overall, I feel that I delivered the key points successfully. It was a good practice for myself and after reviewing my own performance, I hope to identify more key areas that I should improve on and hopefully be more comfortable when delivering presentations.