During one of the presentations that I did about one year ago gave me
the opportunity to reflect on my presentation style, verbal communication,
communication of ideas, and personal appearance. Seeing different aspects
of my presentation, I realize that I made several errors during my
presentation. Some of the significant mistakes that I made are given
In the presentation style, I now realize that I had not rehearsed
earlier how I should present my material; also I did not have a good
understanding of the material that I was suppose to present. I was
especially not sensitive to the needs of my audience. Therefore, during my
presentation, I was not so confident and did not look at the audience. I
rather spoke rapidly in an unclear manner and did not state my goal of the
Carnegie (1992) argues that the ability to communicate effectively
and finding the audience's co-operation is important in enhancing the
presentation style. However, this only comes with confidence and mastery
of the material, since it binds the audiences' attention. One of the main
ways through which the presenter obtains confidence and mastery of the
subject is though training and rehearsing. However, on reflecting I find
that I was not organized and was not confident. Moreover, I did not have a
structure that caught the audiences' attention.
I also realize that my communication skills were not clear. This
occurred because I was not sure how should I present my material. In
another words, I was not trained how to bring humor, and bits of new
information that could draw the audience's attention. I was not excited
when my name was called for the presentation. I was nervous and was afraid
of audience thinking that they could ask some questions. In fact, I simply
wanted to finish the presentation soon and return to my seat.
The other problem that I encountered was that I was not...