Group Presentation Blog

    

Overview Of Our Group Presentations

By Jonathan Acosta

    During this project we all learned information that was taught to us by different groups. This blog will consist of a general overview of all the groups and their presentations.

    To begin, I want to congratulate all the groups and their members for doing a phenomenal job on their slides and presentations. It was an amazing experience to have as a class since we really got to know each other and to really see how each and every one of us have a different way of elaborating and expressing ourselves during our presentations towards an audience. This was my first college project, and it was a fantastic learning opportunity. Even though this class is online, we still found ways to work as a team during and after class to be able to have a wonderful explanation and presentation to our fellow classmates. This group project really taught me multiple things that I would have never imagined. Essentially, it made me step out of my comfort zone to cooperate and communicate with my team members, which was a big step for me because I usually prefer to just work independently, as opposed to in a team or with a partner. Since I prefer to work independently, I usually do not venture out and communicate with others, but this project really made me go out and try new things; it acted as an eye opener because everybody in my group was ready to help and were extremely nice to me. I’m glad to be a part of my group as I can call every single one of them my friends. This was truly a very successful learning experience, with each team explaining their chapters phenomenally. I am looking forward to this class and I hope that with time and lots of practice, I turn into an effective public speaker.

Group 1:

    Group 1 had an amazing presentation as they presented chapters 1-4. They really went out of their way to express and explain to us why public speaking is so significant. Something they spoke about that caught my attention was life skills, because if you really think about it, speech is something we use on a daily basis whenever communicating with a single person, a group, an audience, etc. Group 1 explained how public speaking is so essential and necessary in our daily lives. For instance, our jobs and careers will require us to speak to our peers, which allows for learning experiences and knowledge, so undoubtedly, we are going to have to learn how to talk to other people. They also did a terrific job when explaining how you should plan your presentations, how to select what topic you're going to talk about and knowing your audience. My fellow classmate Amanda Morales had an effective and detailed explanation of how to prepare for a presentation. She gave us tips as to how to gather materials, how to give compelling and powerful speeches, and remaining mindful of things that we should consider and some things we should avoid during presentations. Her explanation really helped me on the day of my presentation because I was aware on how to efficiently prepare for it, not only that but I took everything she said into consideration during my preparation process, which undoubtedly made my presentation better and more dynamic. I really liked how my classmate Ashley Montero talked about targeting the audience. She explained that we need to understand and see what exactly our audience wants to hear. She brought up an excellent example when she said the realize the audience age. For instance, you would not want to talk to elementary students about politics because it is something they might not understand or something that simply does not interest them. Later on in the presentation, they explained and elaborated on speech appropriateness which I was taught this in High School, but it proved very accurate and helped me refresh on this topic in ways further than I knew before. My classmate Bruno Villacrez spoke on how your presentation must be appropriate enough for the audience and occasion that you are presenting at keeping in mind who is listening and your surroundings during delivery. I really appreciate the topics that this group went over since it really made me understand the topics more in-depth with enough clarification on each and every point. I congratulate the great job that Group 1 did!

Group 2:

    Group 2, which was my group did an amazing job in our chapters 5-9 "Selecting and Arranging Content". My group partner Jennie Rodriguez did an amazing job in explaining the benefits of research and finding sources. She explained which sources should be used in our speeches and which to stay away from. For example, she mentioned that specific websites like Wikipedia, who allow for anyone to edit or add information too, are unreliable and could lead to faulty information in your presentation making your speech incorrect or weakening the overall argument. As a public speaker, you should always have sources and evidence that are reliable and factual, always making sure your audience is being given accurate information and never being misled, especially with the ethical factor of it all. I really appreciated my group leader David Rodriguez as he was always checking up on us and making sure we were always on task and made sure all our doubts were clarified. I also really liked what my group member Elizabeth Brancho elaborated on, where she explained in detail all the benefits one can have just by organizing and outlining. Elizabeth went into detail how being organized not only helps you in your speech, but it helps the actual speaker feel more confident and comfortable on what exactly they plan on talking about if they organize with bullet points, graphic organizers, etc. A concept that stood out to me was the significance of word choice and how some words carry different connotations, which is important to stay aware of whenever speaking publicly. Also, how hand gestures and body language are essential in engaging with others because typically, that nonverbal communication introduces you before you introduce yourself verbally. My group did a phenomenal job presenting their topics. I really enjoyed elaborating and brainstorming with my group and I would be glad to work with them once again.

    Group 3:

    Last but not least, Group 3 had a very well-rounded presentation, thoroughly explaining "Types of Presentations". They emphasized the different types of presentations that can be given out, such as informative presentations, persuasive presentation, and lastly special occasion presentations. They proved the significance of each type of presentation and how important it is to keep in mind all the aspects such as audience, emotional appeals, ethical appeals, etc. My classmate Joshua Picado also mentioned some good examples to have in your presentations such as visual aids that can provide effective engagement with your audience. He also pointed out what things to stay away from such as jumping from topic to topic, failing to include visual aids and having a messy presentation. Karen Valdes pinpoints how using reasoning is obviously essential in making arguments whether they are from cause and effect, analogy, or generalization and how you should always hold true premises in order to have a cogent argument. Formality is also an extremely important aspect to keep in mind when speechmaking because you want to make sure your speech sounds sophisticated and you do this by using effective linguistic characteristics.