Presentations are something most of us will be asked to do at some point in our personal or professional lives. You may present to just a few people you know, a new client, an entire company, or even the general public. No matter the size of the audience, there are several key details to consider in order to be prepare and lead an effective presentation.
This project includes three parts. Be sure to pay close attention to the directions in each part as they build upon each other.
Part 1: Write and record a 2-minute speech on any business topic that is important or of interest to you. It does not have to be on a topic from this course, but it must be a persuasive speech.
You will need to upload the video recording of your speech to a sharing platform such as YouTube or Zoom. This link will be needed in Part 3 of this project. The tutorial, YouTube Upload Instructions can guide you with your YouTube upload.
You will need to provide the link to the video in your reflection statement for Part 3 of this assignment.
Present your speech to an audience of one or more persons and ask them to evaluate you. Use this Speech Evaluation template to solicit their feedback. You may record the video and send the recorded version to the audience, or you may present the speech to a live audience as you record.
Before reading the input from your audience, self-evaluate by answering the same questions in the template based on how you feel you did.
Part 2: Write a two-page paper in which you reflect on and critique your experience in preparing, delivering, and evaluating the speech. Your paper should address the following:
What did you find difficult and/or easy about preparing your speech? What apprehension did you have (e.g. selecting a topic, preparation, delivery) and how did you overcome it?
What concepts or strategies from this course helped guide your presentation development efforts?
Share pertinent responses to the evaluation questions from both you and your audience. What areas did your self-feedback differ from that of your evaluators? Why do you think there was a difference?
Connect the feedback to concepts presented in this unit regarding giving presentations as you explain your areas of strength and areas needing improvement.
Conclude the strategies you can employ to improve your presentation skills.
Sample Solution
Preparing my speech was very difficult. I had to choose a topic that I felt passionate about and research it thoroughly so that all of the facts were accurate. Furthermore, I had to practice delivering my speech in order to be confident when presenting it. Although selecting a topic was challenging, once I settled on one, researching it and preparing what I would say became easier as the information began to come together. The most difficult part for me was practicing delivering the speech out loud so that I could feel comfortable with the whole presentation process. To overcome this apprehension, I practiced my speech multiple times until I felt ready and confident in my delivery and message.
Describe your experience while giving your presentation? What did you find easy or hard about delivering your speech?
My experience while giving my presentation was nerve-wracking yet also exciting at the same time. Knowing that people were actually listening and evaluating me made me even more aware of how important it is to make sure everything is done correctly and professionally – from preparation up until delivery. Even though this added some extra pressure, being able to speak on something meaningful made things easier for me since speaking about something you are familiar with can boost confidence significantly (at least for me). This helped take away some of the difficulty of delivering when speaking in front of an audience because now they were interested in what you have to say rather than just waiting for you finish talking.
How effective do you think your overall performance was? Include both quantitative data gathered from surveys/evaluations performed by other persons as well as qualitative data based on self-reflection/self-assessment evaluation techniques used by yourself prior to receiving feedback from others?
Sample Solution
Preparing my speech was very difficult. I had to choose a topic that I felt passionate about and research it thoroughly so that all of the facts were accurate. Furthermore, I had to practice delivering my speech in order to be confident when presenting it. Although selecting a topic was challenging, once I settled on one, researching it and preparing what I would say became easier as the information began to come together. The most difficult part for me was practicing delivering the speech out loud so that I could feel comfortable with the whole presentation process. To overcome this apprehension, I practiced my speech multiple times until I felt ready and confident in my delivery and message.
Describe your experience while giving your presentation? What did you find easy or hard about delivering your speech?
My experience while giving my presentation was nerve-wracking yet also exciting at the same time. Knowing that people were actually listening and evaluating me made me even more aware of how important it is to make sure everything is done correctly and professionally – from preparation up until delivery. Even though this added some extra pressure, being able to speak on something meaningful made things easier for me since speaking about something you are familiar with can boost confidence significantly (at least for me). This helped take away some of the difficulty of delivering when speaking in front of an audience because now they were interested in what you have to say rather than just waiting for you finish talking.
How effective do you think your overall performance was? Include both quantitative data gathered from surveys/evaluations performed by other persons as well as qualitative data based on self-reflection/self-assessment evaluation techniques used by yourself prior to receiving feedback from others?
