Rachel Acosta - Reflection 1

    The First Presentations

       Dear Class,

     In this reflection, I will discuss each group's presentations, the group leader's discussions, and my own group presentation. I will discuss what worked well and what could be improved. By being able to witness each group, we can notice the different strategies and the unique ways to engage the listeners. I would start off by talking about my personal experience, and what I did to improve myself when it comes to presenting in front of the class.

    Reflecting on my own experiences, I've had the opportunity to take college courses during high school, which allowed me to prepare myself for times like these. One of the most important lessons I learned early on was the importance of avoiding the temptation to look down and read off my phone, notebook, or any other materials I may be using. My teachers in high school would explain that this would disengage your audience and create a disconnection between the speaker and listeners. Instead of overcrowding my slides with too much text, I focused on including key details and images that would help without overwhelming the audience with information, as well as making it confusing for the audience on where to look. This helped me a lot when preparing for our group presentation. I made sure that the slides were easy-to-understand information rather than paragraphs of text. This helped me and possibly most of my group members to be able to maintain eye contact with the audience while speaking. However, I still found myself occasionally looking down at my notes more than I should have. 

       The collaboration and effort contributed to my group were beneficial to the presentation for our grades. We used Canva to edit and enhance the visuals of the slides, which helped to engage our classmates. When it comes to PowerPoint presentations, I truly enjoy applying Canvas because it helps to make the presentation look more interesting and unique. Each one of the group members understood the chapters that they were assigned to and were able to summarize and list the key points. I truly emphasize, that "teamwork makes the dream work." is a true statement and can truly work out when each member contributes to their part. Overall, I believe my teammates and I did a good job summarizing the materials from the chapters and presenting them. Each one of the members contributed to their part and did their work. I was rather happy seeing each one of them do their slides in an organized way.

        However, there were some areas where we could improve. Particularly when it comes to eye contact and body language, like the other groups we also decided to read most of what we wanted to present just from the phone. This didn't help much with engaging the audience and our eye contact was also very limited. Something that I believe our teammates and I can improve on is finding a way to summarize the information without having to rely much on our notes. Another thing that we can improve is maintaining eye contact with the audience and making sure our body language doesn't indicate that we are nervous but confident to present. Of course, being nervous is a normal feeling that everyone feels when they have to present to an audience so that feeling will not go away. The best we can do is show that we are confident to present. One thing that made me especially proud of my group, is how everyone kept telling themselves "I got this." I feel as if this helped them feel more relaxed and more confident to present.

    To start off, Group #1 did an admirable job as the first group to present, which is never an easy task. The pressure of going first can often lead to nerves taking over, but the group handled the situation well. Their topic spoke about the basics of public speaking. One thing that I really liked about the first group was how those who had to divide chapters, the way they transitioned to the next person while presenting. For example, "And now my partner Rachel will finish the rest..." it's a smooth way to transition to the next person, without breaking the flow. However, Group #1 did rely on reading off their notes. This can cause the audience to lose interest in the speaker as they are not maintaining eye contact with the audience. One area they can improve is reducing their reliance on notes, and trying to maintain eye contact with the audience. Overall, group 1 did an excellent job especially when it came to handling the situation of being the first group to present.

    Group #2 had a well-organized presentation on crafting speeches and organizing ideas. They use a lot of visual aids, which could've been extremely helpful for some classmates who didn't quite understand some of the things listed. This had a good understanding of what their chapters or topics were about. They all seemed confident in what they were speaking about. What I really liked to see was that most of the group members used the notes only to pinpoint where they were and what information to speak about.

    Group #3 was by far one of my favorite presentations. They all came in formal attire, which elevated their presentation even more, making it feel as their dedicated and extremely confident. This group made good use of the visual aid and maintained the audience's attention with clear information. Not only did they come in formal attire, but they also maintained more eye contact with the audience and did not need to rely much on their notes. 

      There was a student who was absent one of the days he had to present with his group. However, this student was doing amazingly well. He did not need to look down at any notes, only take a glimpse at the slides to know where he was. What I loved about this presentation, was how he didn't use any notes and maintained eye contact with the audience. He would also engage with the audience, and his body language demonstrated he was confident in his information and public speaking skills. This captivated the audience to listen closely.

       The group leaders, they are the ones who made sure each group was on task and doing their assignment. The group leaders were three students who did not need to present any information. Rather, they had to pay attention and listen closely to the group's presentation. Once it was the group leaders' turn to discuss their opinions about the groups all together, they mentioned one thing in common,: reading their notes and not maintaining eye contact. In each group, there was a member or a few that only read off their notes and didn't maintain eye contact with the audience or even engage with the audience. In which, I completely agree, and still agree on the fact that we can all improve it.

        To conclude, I think we can all agree that each group did a great job on our first presentation assignment. Every group had strengths and areas for improvement, but overall, we all demonstrated a solid understanding of public speaking. We can all acknowledge our weaknesses and we can only improve them by practicing and taking time. This is our first presentation with many more to come, and I want to congratulate my group and everyone else for doing amazing.