Now that ES2007 has drawn to an end, I'd admit that I've never regret taking it. Experiencing a project module for the first time has helped me realize the importance of communication skills, team-work and simply being confident. Working with peers much older than me is intimidating at first, but knowing them better really open things up and I've learnt to work and connect with them. A definite eye-opener for future project modules.
Looking back at our group presentation, I felt that all of us performed well, transitioning from each speaker fluently and having equal opportunities to answer questions. And though we lacked the resources to have ample practice (why must tutorial rooms be locked on weekends!?), we still managed to pull through as a whole. One thing I felt we could have improve though was having more connection between the audience and us. L ike addressing each audience specifically and making them fee l important during our presentation.
And as our project says, "Practice Makes Perfect", I wouldn't say I perfected my oral presentation skills yet, but I did improve compared to my previous attempt. I made sure that I wasn't constantly shifting about and cutting down on those "ummm"s and "aaahhh"s would make my speech more fluent. Those distracting hand gestures I had previously had to go too. Honestly, I never knew that presentation skills have so many aspects to take note of.
However, my speech didn't go exactly fluent either. Because I memorised my script, I began faltering at the end of it, struggling to remember the last few lines. Looking at some of the other groups, I was impressed by their style of presenting. I felt I could have done better in placing more emphasis in important words or sentences, and having the right pauses.
Hopefully I'll be able to hone my presentation skills by the end of my 4 years, and I won't end up like this :P
A big thank you to Ms Goh, who has constantly guided us, and also the encouragements you gave me when I didn't start off the module so well. My group mates, Eric, Halim and Chaoyi who made this journey possible. This experience has been joyful and invaluable for me. see you guys around in school :)
