GabrielaGutierrez Post1

    I want to start off this post by saying that everyone did a great job during this presentation, regardless of all the difficulties that arose. This was our first project of the semester, and a very important one at that. Although it was a bit stressful to get organized in such a short amount of time, it is my belief that everyone put forth their maximum effort in order to complete this assignment. This does not mean that there is no room for improvement. The first area in which I would like to criticize the class leaders. My group was very confused when they showed up at the last minute, saying that they would be doing the introduction and the conclusion of our presentation. To start off, the class leader who was supposed to introduce our presentation created a separate PowerPoint in order to present his part. I would have preferred him to send his part to our group; therefore, we could have included his part in our PowerPoint and there wouldn’t have been two separate PowerPoints. I believe that having two PowerPoints disrupted the flow of our group's overall presentation, which led to a nervous start from a few of our members. Not only was the flow of our project interrupted, but the overall aesthetics of both PowerPoints clashed with each other. In the future, I would prefer that the class leaders send us their parts ahead of time so that everyone is on the same page.

  In continuation of the critique I want to address the first group’s presentation. It was my understanding that this assignment was supposed to be presented in the span of forty-five to sixty minutes. However, this first group exceeded that limit by almost thirty minutes. I understand that it was the first presentation of the semester and some people were anxious about presenting, but things such as WiFi connections should be established ahead of time. There were technical difficulties that could have been prevented with proper preparation. One of the topics that was covered during these presentations was that if technical difficulties were to arise, one should have a backup plan so as not to disrupt the flow of the presentation. Due to these difficulties, group one’s speaking time was extended. Another thing that I would like to address is the number of videos that were played during the group’s turn. There were a lot of videos that went well over three minutes and, at some point, just became tedious to listen to. I believe that group one should have come to an agreement on how many videos would be included and the time limits for each video so as not to go over their allotted time. Yet because the group exceeded the maximum of sixty minutes, the second group’s presentation was cut short.

    Regardless of the hiccups at the beginning of our group’s presentation, it is my belief that we were the most put-together group. The class leader’s rocky introduction caused a bit of unnecessary confusion as to who would share the PowerPoint because it was already agreed upon who would be the one to share their screen. It is my belief that that confusion as well as the late start led some of our members to grow anxious, and this obviously affected the flow of the presentation. When a speaker has a confident attitude, it has a positive effect on the overall tone of the speech; however, if a speaker were to be nervous, it will surely lead to a stumbling of words and pauses while trying to speak to an audience. Furthermore, because of our late start, we had to cut the presentation short and begin again the following class. It is unprofessional to start something and then stop in the middle of it, this is because it has a negative effect on the audience. By pausing the presentation at the halfway point, the audience is likely to forget what was originally presented and lose interest in what is being said. We were presented with many difficulties along the way, but we managed to overcome them due to the fact that we had prepared for interruptions.

The last group’s overall presentation had too much of the same information. Group three was given the last few chapters of the book to distribute amongst almost ten other people, and I will commend them for their outstanding job. However, a majority of the slides repeated the same information, which quickly made me lose interest in the subject. It seemed as though they were rewriting the same things over and over again. The way in which they were presenting their information contributed to the overall tone of their presentation. Much of the material was read off the slides of the PowerPoint in a monotone manner. It is imperative that a speaker use a conversational tone and not read off the slides so as not to bore the audience. By using a much more lively attitude, the audience will feel the need to listen to the information that is being relayed to them. At one point, the topic of holding the listeners’ attention was brought up. I only wished that group three used the methods they were presenting to hold the class’s attention. It would have made for a much more interesting presentation than simply boring us with the same repetitive points they were making.

​​    To conclude the strong criticism I have given, I would like to make it clear that I offer this critique so as to not make the same mistake in future presentations. I am well aware that some things are out of our control and obstacles do present themselves; however, everyone should be prepared for instances such as those. Nonetheless, I believe that for our first presentation of the semester, the groups and class leaders did an excellent job, and I only wish that we learn from our mistakes. Not only from our own flaws but also from the mistakes that others have made, so that they can be prevented in the future.