Book Review Presentation Reflection

From looking at the slides, I figured that there were 4 main problems that should have been fixed, those being the effectiveness of my one last slide image, the messiness of my photo credits, the uncoordinated fonts used, and finally lacking a coordinated theme. Throughout the presentation, I noticed that I have been using 2 different types of imagery, that being graphic icons and photos. Especially during the summary section, I used quite a lot of them as I had to describe detailed scenes that could only be recreated through placing specific characters. During the feedback section, Mr. Paterson also pointed out that that was acceptable as there was a reason for using that style. However, through watching the video, I saw that the graphic imagery used in the one last thing slide did fit the content that I wanted to address, but unfortunately lacked in impact. The photo I chose was a drawing of a person thinking outside the box, which itself is self-explanatory as I had wanted to present the importance and the enjoyment from thinking outside the box. However, the image wasn't as strong as the other pictures with vivid color schemes, since it only had dull yellows the grays, and since this was the one last thing, I should have added a picture that can help increase the dopamine level. And so, I replaced it with a more attractive one that can leave a bigger influence on the audience. 

Another issue that I wasn't able to fix before the presentation was the structure of the photo credits. Mr. Paterson had reminded us to have photo credits that have similar length and alignment, but I wasn't able to pick that up when creating the slides, so now that I look back at it, some of the pictures had only the photographer while some had very long website links since I didn't differentiate the pictures that were CC0, and those that weren't. Moreover, for the ones that were CC0, I didn't clarify that they were to the audience by forgetting to add a sentence that ensured the root source of the images. For the ones that weren't CC0 which had their links, I acknowledged the some were activated while some weren't which looked messy overall. In addition, all of them weren't shortened and even if they were, they wouldn't have been customized links since I hadn't known that we had to do that prior to getting feedback from the teacher. Therefore, I should have organized and paid better attention to how I wrote my photo credits.

Something else that I didn't fix was the fact that I had accidentally used two different types of fonts, one being Times New Roman and the other from Canva. The reason why I ended up with this problem was that I had been making the first half of the slides in Canva because I was unaware that animations were included in google slides, so when I uploaded the Canva slides onto google slides, I wasn't able to find the matching font because those two engines have different varieties, and so, I was stuck with using fonts that were a tad bit different looking. At first glance, it may seem unnoticeable, but leaning in, it becomes quite obvious. I shouldn't have taken the risk of creating the slides in something other than google slides, and I would like to keep this moral as a reminder for future presentations.

Finally, I believe that I wasn't following the overall theme for some of the presentation slides. What I mean by this is that in the beginning, I made sure all the images had a cohesive dark color scheme by adjusting the saturation and brightness in the first half. However, during the end where I started becoming more worried about the speaking itself, I had violated the rules that I wanted to abide, by choosing some pictures that were vibrant in color, and so the more I scrolled down, I became confused about the theme of the book because they were that incohesive. I should have utilized my time wisely and initiated a quick-run through that focused on checking if there is a coordinated motif in design throughout. 

From looking at the video and the posture of my presentation, I was able to solidify a couple issues regarding oral speaking, gesture, eye contact, and movement. First up, something that was apparent and was also pointed out after the presentation, was the rapid speaking that I did throughout the whole duration. This is a problem that I had in past presentations as well, so I was very disappointed that it hadn't improved drastically. In order to slow the pace down, I should have included less information to allow for time to set composure. Moreover, I noticed a tendency of speaking even quicker after messing up a few lines. This can also be fixed if I practice more, which leads me to point out a habit that I hadn't realized before. Despite not writing a script and practicing without one, it seems like once I jumble up my words, I look up as if I am trying to remember the lines. Seeing me do this multiple times felt peculiarly strange as I thought those who memorized their lines would more likely look upwards. Perhaps this means that I had an insufficient amount of time before the actual take. Other than those major issues, I also found some of my movements unnatural and too swift as for example, although I had walked across the screen, I came back almost immediately, which in itself is ineffective as I wasn't able to engage with the other half of the audience. Another picky point was how my hand gestures were limited to only my right hand. It seems like most of my hand gestures was projected through my right hand doing the same hand motions consecutively, so I felt that it looked unnatural. I should have been more open and sincere with my gestures, in order to match the dark and heavy atmosphere of the book, and also to compose my speaking speed as well. 

Overall, by leaving both the slides and video on record, it was understandably so much easier to cherry-pick the problems that I faced. Moreover, since I could go back to them whenever, I was able to figure out in detail, about the issues that I wouldn't have noticed if it wasn't for the reflecting.