First presentation

        first presentation   


 It was personal development class by Mr.Sanjeev  Udash in the Oxford lab.   When I had just found a computer and turned it on, the teacher entered the lab. He talked about our course works and how we had to do it. Then he gave us week one worksheet, asked us to choose a topic and get prepared to speak about it in front of the class.

As the time given was limited, without any delay I stared to prepare for the presentation. There were seventeen topics out of which I had to choose one. I quickly went through the worksheet and decided to speak on the topic number six which was about simplicity and elegance. I needed to explain how elegance and simplicity are not only useful concepts but also bad and dangerous practices. As I had just finished reading novel named Elegance by  Kathleen Tessaro,  I thought I could speak a lot about  the topic. I started to brainstorm my ideas, which I believe is the most important thing to do before presenting something. Then, I quickly went through Wikipedia and other few web pages. Examples are one of the best ways to explain things, so I thought of examples which would make my ideas even more clear. In a rough sheet of paper, I quickly jotted all the things I had prepared in order.

Students from the autumn semester performed better as they had done presentations several times before. Many of the students from my semester were nervous and did not have clear ideas. However, a boy from my class presented better than anyone. He was loud, clear, to the point and had perfect examples. A few students just elaborated the topic instead of giving ideas while a few were out of the topic. I even learned new things from a few of the presentations.

Then, It was my turn to present and I tried to make my views as clear as possible. I spoke about what simplicity is, how easy it is to understand simple things and I even gave example to describe the point. I also talked about what elegance is, how fun is it to use something that is elegant. Simple things may not be always fun to use while elegant things are not always easy for beginners to understand was also one of my main ideas. I even gave examples of how simplicity and elegance can be bad and dangerous.

The presentation did not go as good as I had expected. I was nervous and at some point my mind went blank. My voice was not as loud as it should have been. I could have talked longer, given better examples and asked for queries.

Though, the presentation did not go well it made me know my strengths and weakness. I am pretty good at generating ideas in short span of time, going through the web pages and finding relevant information. On the other hand I am not so good at speaking in front of the crowd.

Since, I need to do a lot more presentations I have to work on improving my presentation skills. I will watch YouTube videos on presenting things in a better way.   I have heard a lot about Steve Jobs’s presentation skills, so I will go through is presentations. I will try to brainstorm and research more. I will research on ways to increase confidence level and try not to be nervous in the days to come.