Reflection on learning in AEP

a) What are the most valuable things you learned about the process of preparing and delivering presentations? (2 or more):

There are two things I think that are most valuable in the precess of preparing and delivering presentations, which are thorough rehearsal, and use of visuals. First, I realized the importance of the thorough rehearsal when I finished the Presentation No.1 and 2. In the preparation process, I did not do a rehearsal of the presentation, but I had a vague idea of what to speak in the presentation, and I thought it would be enough. But when I delivered the presentation, I often lost my way and could not speak fluently. After I did a thorough rehearsal on Presentation No.3, I could memorize the whole structure and what to say in the presentation, so I could focus on other things such as body language and eye-contact while speaking. Second, I think use of visuals is important because it is hard to understand what the speaker wants to say just by listening to it, especially when the audience is non-native. And it is more likely to lose concentration without visuals. Visuals gets the attention of the audience and makes easier to understand the contents.

b) In what presentation skill areas do you feel you have made progress or improved your awareness? (2 or more)

I think I made progress in especially 2 presentation skills, which are use of visuals, and use of voice. First, I think I improved on using visuals since I realized the importance of visuals as I said before, and worked hard on it. I learned in the class that you should use visuals which are simple and easy to understand, and should not use a lot of visuals in one slide. I tried to apply those elements on my slides, and I think it became much better than before. Second, I tried to improve my use of voice after I watched my own presentation on the video. I did not know before I watched the video that I do not speak clearly. After that, on Presentation No.3, I tried to speak as clear as possible, and I improved a little bit. However, I still have the space to improve.

c) What points do you want to improve further in your future presentations? How can you improve those? (2 or more)

There are two points that I want to improve in the future presentation, which are body language, and emphasis.First, I want to improve my body language in the future presentation because I think body language is very important when delivering a presentation, and I was not that successful in that element. I think body language is important by the same reason of the importance of use of visuals: It is hard to understand what the speaker is trying to say just by listening. Body language gets the audience's attention and it pretty much determines the tension of the presentation. In this course, I became able to speak freely without the script and focus on the audience, but the body language was not sufficient. I would like to improve my body language and be able to deliver a presentation more actively. Second, I want to be able to make more emphasis on both voice and body language. As I said before, in this course, I became able to speak more freely without the script, but I could not think about emphasizing the important parts. From now I want to be more concise on the emphasis and be able to deliver a presentation with high and low tension.