Communication Blog # 2
After reviewing our Leader as a Communicator Presentation, I think that the group did a great job and explaining storytelling as a leadership communication style. The group was able to cover the content in a clear and concise manner. Our transitions to the proceeding speaker were effective, but could have been done in a crisper manner. I believe this is a direct result of not having the necessary time to rehearse the presentation several times to ensure smooth transitions. I also believe that our inexperience presenting as a team effects our transitions. Over the course of the semester, our transitions as a group should improve (assuming we are able to keep the team together).
The strengths of the presentation are that the team presented the material with confidence and conviction. All the presenters knew the information that they were expected to present well. I believe that the presenters were able to portray storytelling techniques in a compelling fashion. I also think that the group had strong, confident body language and maintained eye contact through out the presentation.
If I could do anything differently, I would have the group rehearse the presentation more before going in front of the audience. I also think that individually we can improve as speakers. Over the course of the presentation, there were “um” moments and movements of too much body movement. However, overall the group delivered a strong presentation.
I feel that our group transitioned really well between the three group members. Initially we set the expectation of what we were going to talk about in our presentation. In addition, between the group members there was a smooth transition where the group member set up the next member by telling the audience what the second member will be speaking about.
The group’s body language was well and it was not as if all of the group members were nervous. The body language plays a big role in a presentation and although I feel it can be improved, I think that we all did a great job with our body language. As far as the eye contact with our audience, I do feel that we should have made more eye contact with the audience. We did, however, constantly scan the room but we were also looking at the PowerPoint which we should have done less of.
We were able to transition well between each other and set the presentation up initially to let the audience know what we would be talking about. In addition, the transition was very smooth and each member transitioned to the next member by informing the audience what the next member will be speaking about. As far as doing something differently, I would like to have practiced presenting together witht eh group to get a feel of how we did prior to actually presenting. Lastly, I would like to have focused more on looking at the audience as opposed to looking at the presentation itself and reading off of it.
Mr. Flugger,
I appreciate the candor of your comments and the points you make to improve/correct the oral aspects of the group presentation. Although the communication blog is not evaluated entirely on content alone, the major thrust is to give you a platform to discuss your concerns and comments.
Your comments on the structure of the presentation are comprehensive and thoughtful. While I appreciate your comments on the difficulty of coordinating the group, in a real time situation you would be expected to make it work.
Nice work!
Emmett Green