Gabriela Bofill- Reflection #1

        I would first of all like to appreciate the help form our presentation manager Valentina. She was helping us at all times preparing a meeting on zoom so we could all practice our times for the presentation and making sure that we were on top of our parts.

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      I think my group did pretty well, although I do think we could have improved by speaking more while facing the audience instead of standing on a tablet or a piece of paper. I would like to start by talking about what I learned thanks to the research that group 3 did. For me, in Chapter 9, I learned a lot about the beginning and end of a presentation. How important the first impression is, and how it is basically the way to attract the audience's information from the beginning. How the first impression affects and how the first vices of many things become what we will remember. Also how to use the recessive effect to establish the connection between the audience and the presenter at the end of the presentation.Then talking about how to develop a good introduction I learned how attention getters are used in order to maintain interest in your presentation. Examples of what you can do are asking questions to the audience, creating a story, or describing images about what you are talking about. Also, how implementing stories in the plot of the presentation helps to develop what it meant at the body of the presentation and refer to it at the end of the speech to tie it up. Lastly, in developing a conclusion is when we get the last chance to re-inform the audience's attention by highlighting the important information and main points. Helps too when it comes to providing closure, most of the time we will hear “Ok, that it” , “ I’m done” it’s most of the time because speakers don’t know how to have a good closure. Better strategies can be ending with a statement, using a quotation, making a dramatic statement or as simply as thanking the audience for the attention.

    

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Continuing with my group's presentation, Chapter 10. The different types of languages. I learned how language revives ideas and gives you more creativity. How an adequate language and vocabulary can help me to facilitate my audience's understanding and clarity of my presentation. We all have different methods of interpretation and many audiences interpret differently.There is also culture and language. How words and phrases in your culture can mean something totally different to other people in order to understand you because of the difference in interpretation instilled by their cultures. Spoken language differs from written language because it is dynamic, immediate, informal, irreversible and based on narrative, while written language is static, distant, formal, revisable and capable of describing multiple facts. When we make a presentation or give a speech to an audience, we use spoken language. Once we have the audience's attention, we adapt our language in context, use inclusive language and personalize it to create the bond with the audience, in this way we have a visual language and we establish strength with the public.

        Related to chapter 11. It explained how information media is used for presentations, how to get emotional reactions from the audience, clarify points of view and at the same time discuss them with the public, it is also used to support arguments. Of course, to make the information easier to digest, we should try to keep the information as basic as possible. We can use images, emphasize the important points of the presentation, or simply be more specific and show what we need to say. 

        In chapter 12 I recalled how a speech  can bring together your plans. The methods that speakers use are impromptu, extemporaneous, manuscript, and memorized. Culture and gender also inference in the delivery of speech, but with a good presentation a speaker can manage different times of situation and audiences regardless of cultural background or gender. With this said a speaker has to manage the voice, tone, body language, and interaction with the audience. Part of presenting is the research previously done, a good preparation is key to reinforce your points and a solid base for your speech. 

The Impact of Technology on Communication

        In group one presentation they went over how speech changes with time. The incorporation of technology plays a major role in almost every aspect of our lives, even when it comes to oral presentations. For example, you will use the Internet to research and organize your speech. Preparing visual presentations and adding elements helps the audience understand them. Speaking remotely has become a common form of human communication, including making speeches such as when using Zoom or Teams for virtual meetings. They also talked about how to use the fear of speaking in public as an advantage, how the stress helps you motivate yourself for your speech. Some tricks that can be done for relaxing and preparing yourself for the speech can be practicing relaxation techniques, decreasing your nervousness, using reframing and others. Also how public speaking helps improve listening skills. The six listening skills, hearing, understanding, interpreting, evaluating, remembering, and responding. As a good speaker and listener you have to be kind, respect differences of opinions and beliefs, avoid interruptions and other more. Always show interest and pay attention, give feedback, respond appropriately and do not be judgmental.

        
Group  2 presentation was a basic but fun one. They show us ways to determine our general purpose for our presentation. How we have to connect with the audience and appropriately enhance audience beliefs. Also we have to reinforce and modify our presentation to persuade the audience, and demonstrate that we have the information needed. Examples that could help are considering your own interests, use available resources and consider the time that you have and the audience too. When it comes to the research for our presentation we have to ensure that sources are validated and credible, and look for those credentials. Also, they talked about the different types of evidence, the fact and inference statements. An important thing is the organization of the speech. We start with the opening, body, transition, and conclusion of the speech.

        Group 4 presentation I liked. The power point was colorful and had the preside amount of information but not too much.  They started to talk about the importance of an informative speech, how it had to be meaningful, accurate, complete , limited, and had to have a complete information speaker. Informative speeches are for objects and places, after this comes the topic, thesis statement and specific purpose. They talked about the information patterns, the chronological, topical, spatial and narrative patterns. Adding to their presentation was persuasion strategies like the ethos: that is credibility, the pathos (emotional appeal) and logos( logical reasoning). We also learned about distance speaking that is telephone meetings, video conferences and graphical online presentation. Best occasion can be toast, tributes, eulogies, speeches of acceptance and introduction. As a public speaker you have to be able to handle our audience, that's why we have to engage with the audience, sometimes we will have a difficult audience, and also handle Q&A. 

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         Definitely enjoyed all the presentations and am pretty grateful for the knowledge that I get to gather from them. All the presentations were different but at the same time I have to say that all of them have the same intention. Which was to prepare us to be not just a good speaker but to properly prepare our audience to understand us in the most respectful way.

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