Thu 27 Nov

Today we spent the first hour in the Learning Resource Centre on the second floor (208). People were working on various pieces of work (essays, reports, presentations and general research).

After the break we went back to 419.

I reminded everyone about the deadline for the written pieces (11 Dec). We will get a chance next week to work on those as I have booked spaced in 208 for the whole class.

I also asked students to spend some time putting together a plan for their presentation. You need to produce a plan as part of your portfolio of work for Communication. I gave out a sheet which gave some guidance on what the plan should cover. As I said, this should not take long, but it is a worthwhile, indeed vital, process. A presentation needs to be planned. Again, purpose and structure are very important when thinking about how a presentation comes together. I've asked people to bring in a plan for their presentation next week.

Just another point on presentations. You may know that you need to do two for Communication. At the moment I'm only interested in you doing one. We'll probably start doing these right after Christmas. I'd like to hold off on the second one for a while to give you a chance to reflect on your first presentations.

We finished off the class today with some corrections on the analysis of presentation assessments (Franco Moretti and Susan Greenfield). Some may question the point of these assessments. But remember the purpose of looking at any presentation (good or bad) critically is to identify, and learn from, the strengths and weaknesses of others.

As Franco Moretti says "that's all folks" ...

Second assessment for Oral Presentation Skills

Today we had a go at the second assessment for Oral Presentation Skills. Again we were analysing a presentation. This week's presentation by Susan Greenfield on the brain was a bit more engaging than last week's.

I'll give you some feedback on how you got on next week.

Next week we will be in the learning resource centre in Room 208 from 0900 - 1000. This is to give people a chance to work on essays and/or presentations. I'll leave a note on the door to remind people where we are. Just go directly there.

I also asked people to be prepared to tell me the topic and purpose of their essays and presentation.

If you have any queries, get in touch.

First assessment for Oral Presentation Skills

Today we did the first assessment for the unit Oral Presentation Skills (OPS). We watched and analysed a presentation by a marketing and advertising executive. Everyone appeared to complete the questions. I will give you feedback on these next week.

Next week we will attempt a very similar, assessment for OPS. Using the same questions we will analyse and evaluate another presentation.

As we look at these presentations we should reflect on their strengths and weaknesses - doing so should help us improve our own presentation techniques.

Again, if anyone has any questions or concerns about the essays or presentations, please get in contact with me.

Thursday 6th November - Presentations

Today we stopped talking about presentations for a bit and, instead, just had a go at doing one. Everyone had to do a two-minute talk on a topic picked out of a hat (without the hat).

Well done to everyone who took part in this activity. As I said, if people can get up and talk for (at least) a couple of minutes about a topic without any preparation, then the thought of getting up to talk for just a few minutes more with preparation shouldn't be so bad.

Some people commented about being very nervous. Two points on this: First, you will not have come across as nervous as you felt. Honestly, I didn't get that impression with anyone. Secondly, being nervous is natural and, to a certain degree, can even be useful when giving a presentation - think about the opposite: being too relaxed. Of course, we need to find a balance. Anyway, I'd like you to share your thoughts about getting up today and giving a presentation. How did people feel about doing this? Any lessons learned?

We also looked at some examples of presentations from the DVD. Many of the points that we identified previously about producing writing pieces come up with presentations: the importance of a sense of purpose; beginnings and endings; overall structure and flow of ideas/points; linking points; language style; and knowledge of content.

We also considered issues to do with body language and body positioning; visual aids (see previous post) and the use of voice.

As well as these specific issues, the two general points to consider for your own presentations are: planning and practice.

Next week we'll start to analyse the first of two presentations that you are required to look at as part of the Oral Presentation Skills unit.

As I said at the end, if anyone has any questions about essays and/or presentations, please get in touch.

PowerPoint

PowerPoint is a very useful tool for helping to structure a presentation. However, some people can get a bit carried away with it - the purpose of their talk can become obscured by a badly-designed PowerPoint slide-show. Does anyone have any experience of this? I know Dieca is covering PowerPoint with you. We'll discuss it as well.

In the meantime here's a funny, but instructive link to youtube entitled "How NOT to use PowerPoint" (It's not great quality video and I think that you'll only be able to access it from outside the college):

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=cagxPlVqrtM