Reflection 4 -- SEM 2 -- Adi Syachrin

How to Avoid Death by PPT (Immortality style)

by Adi Syachrin

(This essay will be my own personal reminder to how I will do my future presentations from now on so please don't hold too many expectations for formality 😪😪)

Presentations are a dime a dozen and there seems to be a continuous repeat of them that always occurs from your school days and even during your working hours. For several people, there is a certain type of anxiety that creeps in through your fingertips and crawls through your shoulders and down to the pits of your stomach every time the idea of a presentation is entertained. And it is perfectly understandable to have that sort of fear. As I finished my last and final presentation, Miss Disa commented on how I have made some improvements but some of my methods regress instead. Although this much is unavoidable since we only had three total presentations to do and there are only so much you can learn in that amount of time. Despite what I have learned in the past few weeks, my presentations are clearly not perfect, not that it has to be, but I still thrive on learning to better my skills. After all, it is an unavoidable test that can often make or break someone's life or career, giving all the more reason to practice and learn the proper way to undergo presentations effectively to communicate ideas across in the best way possible without seeming rushed or unprepared. The following are just some tips I learned from what Miss Disa has advised us on:

Firstly, there is the rather obvious need to practice your presentation. Whether it be a speech, a class review, a proposal of sorts, it is always advised to repeat and train your skills instead of an unrehearsed talk. Unless it was meant to be impromptu, a clean presentation will always yield the best sort of results and grades. Practicing your speech is important so you know what to expect while you're listing off your points and defending your topic, as well as lowering the chances of stumbling on your words and stuttering. This also helps with knowing your timing and ability to train your body language.

Secondly, having a clean and eye-catching presentation. For slide-based presentations, or PPT, it is advised to always make a presentation that can easily engage your audience. Of course this differs for the topic in question, but to somewhat guarantee some amount of engagement, it is important to include things such as descriptive pictures, themed slides that fit into the topic, as well as sufficient text. A wall of text is strongly advised against as the words on your slide are meant to support the points that you are presenting and are not supposed to be your on-set script. Make your slides something that is pleasing to look at.

Third, be creative! Don’t limit your presentations to simply standing and briefly explaining each slide and point based off of a repetitive script or que card. Of course, the main point is to talk and explain, but talking is rarely enough when you intend to engage, teach, or convince your audience. Combine your speech with body language, include a small quiz or game to playfully test the audience, play with your voice tones and use rhetorical questions; plenty of devices that can reel in the listeners. If you are presenting a product, bring the item itself and showcase the design, texture, etc. Convince the audience that your presentation is worthwhile and force them to listen to your ideas.

Of course, there are only so many ways that you can improve upon your presentation, making it fit better into your topic and your intention, these tips are merely the general ones. However, hopefully knowing and learning what to do will allow you to overcome that sickening anxiety in order to make better slides and have better presenting skills. Once again, since it’s likely that presentations will be a reoccurring task throughout your career, you will improve as you continue to practice and build on your skill. What matters most is consistency and the continued desire to explore the options and possibilities.

That's it. Thank you for reading!