As you prepare your outlines for your first presentations, what challenges are you encountering, given the limited amount of time to present? For those who have presented, did you find the time frame a difficult one? What sorts of decisions did you have to make to still include the important parts of your projects?
In what situations are using computer-mediated content helpful? When might using technology not be useful? Would this depend on the subject that you speak on?
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My main problem is, and has always been, speaking to long. Many of the notes I got mentioned this. They were not wrong. This is something I am going to strive to fix this semester.
ReplyDeleteI had cut stuff from my speech that I would have liked to include, but it still wasn't enough. However, I wasn't sure how much more I could cut, and still get my points across. The most important decision is surely trying to decide what is truly important for getting the information across.
I have found making my outline to be difficult since it has been three years since I have presented to an audience. I am unsure of how long and detailed of an outline that I need to write. I know what information I want to present, but I’m not sure how much detail to go into given the time limit. In addition, I plan on using the computer to show a demonstration of my topic and I’m unsure how long that will take. The time limit restricts what steps I include in my presentation on my favorite freeware program. I have to be concise about the presentation and make sure I get the most important information out rather than showing everything I know about each step of the program.
ReplyDeleteThe hardest part about writing my outline and preparing for my speech is the time limit. My topic contains a lot of information and it is difficult to pick out the most important parts. I rehearsed my presentation multiple times, and timed myself to make sure I am within the time limits. I am going to be providing the audience with a lot of information in a short amount of time, so I am worried that my presentation will be a little overwhelming. As long as I speak clearly and at a steady pace everything should be fine.
ReplyDeleteI have been thinking alot about my presentation and reading through it. It was actually really hard to think of a small enough topic that i know enough about for 2-3 minutes. In reality that is a pretty short amount of time. And when i wrote my outline it seemed kind of like i made it longer than it needed to be but when i timed it seemed ok. Although it is a short presentation and i know that it should be easy to make the time limit i sometimes speak to fast if i rehearse it too many times. And then i leave my self stranded i need to make little corrections and speak slowly on Monday.
ReplyDeleteThese are some great observations. We'll definitely spend some more time in class thinking about how we can write more effectively when preparing to present information.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was tough to keep within the time frame alotted. For my outline, I literally looked at the powerpoint that I created for the presentation and just elaborated on that a bit more. I can create an outline better after I have the presentation laid out. I had to make sure to hit the important topics and explain each one briefly.
ReplyDeleteMy main difficulty when creating the outline for my speech was staying detailed without being really extensive; because the time frame was so short, I found that I could easily run past the time limit if I went through each feature of the beer glass extensively. Other than that, I am very pleased with these short speeches, mainly because I am the type of person who can't "fluff" information well. I present the facts and that's about it...
ReplyDeleteGood point, Joe. I also find it hard to condense my thoughts into a shorter timeframe. Brevity is very hard for me as well.
ReplyDeleteI am much better at writing longer papers as opposed to shorter ones (for instance 1-3 pages takes me hours to compose). I think that many web trends have begun to value brief, condensed amounts of information presented, though-- I think certain technologies have paved the way for disseminating quick, rapid information. That is not to say that speech skills should mimic that, but it is interesting to think about.
When I was choosing my topic for the speech I was looking for something that would be beneficial to everyone in the class to be aware of. When I started preparing my information I quickly realized I had to narrow down my topic and make it more specific to fit into the given time of the speech. I think this change was actually beneficial because it was more specific to Purdue, rather than the entire education system in Indiana.
ReplyDeleteMy topic was a little difficult to come up with a computer aided presentation, but I also couldnt come up with a different physical visual aide. So my powerpoint was pretty bland and was only 2 slides because that was the only relevant information needed.
The main problem I had was coming up with a topic I was knowledgeable about but was simple enough to fit the time frame. Clearly, my topic didn't fit the time frame, as I went way over... Ooops. The time frame was difficult in that we were still requested to do preparations for it, but most people could talk for 2-3 minutes without any prep time at all. It felt like needing to create an outline made the topic take longer. I had to choose the parts of my topic that would be the most important to someone who had never bought their own airline tickets online before and had never seen someone do so, either.
ReplyDeleteThe only situation that comes to mind when technology would not be entirely helpful is when demonstrating a physical action or a verbal exchange. It would depend on the topic you're speaking about.
Obviously, computer-mediated content would be helpful when speaking on a topic that has to do with computer-related activities, such as using a website or subjects that deal with technology, such as the relation between IP addresses and their corresponding URL.
After presenting today I found that the time limit was the hardest part for me. Preparing the outline and speaking about my topic wasnt hard at all I didnt think. Having to cram a bunch of information into 3:30 wa somewhat difficult. I feel that having more time would be much easier to speak becaue you wouldn't have to cut parts and try to speed up the process.
ReplyDeleteAs far as using technology goes I dont feel you have to use it everytime you speak. Today in my presentation I did not use the computer because I decided to use an actual project for the visual aid. However, some of the preesntations using technology really enhanced the speech like the one with picture resolutions because it showed the pictures in detail.
Probably the hardest challenge that I encountered during the preparation of the outline was trying to incorporate what I felt was necessary to say about my topic within the time allocated. Based on the the time frame, I wanted to include the main concepts of CSS without going into too much detail.
ReplyDeleteThe situations I find computer-mediated content most useful is when I need help to convey a concept or idea visually. I can't image a topic that wouldn't be able to use some sorta of digital media content. Whether it's a power point, video, audio, or images, you can use just about anything to present a topic.
I think the most difficult thing for me in any presentation, or just life in general, is shutting up. I like to talk (alot sometimes) and it often gets me in trouble. For example, being in danger of running over time for a speech, or dominating a conversation. I definitely had to go back and take some things out of my original outline to get the time count down. As many of you probably noticed, I had alot of facts and figures that took up alot of time and space on my outline.
ReplyDeleteOn the topic of technology, I say that it is only helpful when it enhances the presentation, not when it becomes a distraction or a crutch. Often times, I feel that we are "Over PowerPointed" in class and that the presenter (or Professor for that matter) often simply reads off the slides for their presentation. It makes the communication often dry and redundant. I think recently, everyone who used PowerPoint, used it effectively, and those that had a large number of slides needed them to explain what was going on in their presentation. I especially like, simply, just pictures along with a presentation, because as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.
When I was preparing my outline, the main difficulty was to narrow the subject down sufficiently to fit it into a 2-3 minute speech (the time limit was one of the hardest things about the speech, I thought). This meant that I had to determine how many image file types I could reasonably manage to discuss in that time frame. I also perhaps needed to simplify certain term definitions on which I would otherwise have gone into greater detail.
ReplyDeleteAnother important objective was to lay out and explain the subject in a manner understandable to most people (in a past class I made a speech on simple game development, and was told that some material was not readily understandable to some of the audience members).
I think that using computer-based content can be useful in most formal speaking scenarios, since PowerPoint can generally provide good visual aid material and is not difficult for most people to use. However, if there is no opportunity to set up a projector and other needed equipment before a speech, it may be a better idea not to bother; perhaps one should then use an alternative such as handouts instead. There are also certain speech subjects, such as ones involving hand-drawn art, for which paper-based visual aids would be simpler and more appropriate. However, there are naturally also subjects for which use of computer-based content WOULD be an obvious choice for purposes of explanation or demonstration. I expect that most technical, computer-related speech subjects would fall into this category.
In hindsight I believe I would have chose a more simple topic than Industrial Vision systems. I had a lot of trouble trying to squeeze all my information into a 3 min speech. The way I like to learn about something new is to start from the basics, assume the audiance knows nothing, and buidl from there. I should have worked on the speech a little more to widdle out the non-necessary information.
ReplyDeleteComputer based content is pretty much a standard anymore in most formal enviroments. I have seen projectors that are small enough to be mistaken for cell phones and I think our culture is beginning to expect digital presentations. It might not be necessary if your topic is not overly abstract and you can present a scale model but in most cases that is not possible. I believe that all of us should get used to computer aid in all aspects of our lives. Computers have changed the world and I can not forsee our society ever giving them up.
I tend to go over on the time limit on my speeches. A lot of people speak faster when they are nervous, but I tend to speak slower.
ReplyDeleteSorry this one is a tad late.
ReplyDeleteWhen I prepared the outline for the presentation, I found that the biggest issue was keeping the speech within the time constraints. I had various amounts of information, just not enough time to share it.
I didn't find the time frame too difficult to work with while presenting, just while planning. I had a hard time deciding how much information to give on details that would elude the main points of the presentation.
Keeping the speech within the time-limit was definately a difficult task. Even though I had practiced my speech, I felt I overestimated how much I would be able to get into the two to three minutes. It also caused me to have to speak a lot faster, which may have made it harder for people to understand me. I will need to work on my explanations of things and not dwelling on a topic for too long.
ReplyDeleteMy biggest issue is the same as many others...time. I practiced my speech and fell into what I thought was a good rhythm. Though because I already knew the material being presented I would have been able to understand it at a high rate of flow. Then I found myself wanting to explain something a little better so I speed up a bit grossly overestimating the amount of time it took to explain them and went even faster. So shame on me there, definitely my focus of correction for next presentation.
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