Speaking as part of a group is something PR practitioners have to deal with all the time, as the readings this week illustrate. The problem for me and I'm sure for many others is how to make an effective group presentation? I feel this was the major key point of the week’s readings. Good group presentations need attention to self, presentation and certainly content!
In presentations, there is so much you have to think about. Content, audience, where to stand, how to stand, how to talk, varying tone, keeping nerves under control and somehow keeping the audience engaged and actually getting your point across. The readings this week detailed a number of ways to deal with all these confronting aspects of presenting which will certainly be useful not just in this course or while we’re at uni, but in the rest of our lives as well.
I found the reading on the three commandments interesting in that it spelt out three fundamentals of which I can sometimes fall trap to – thou shalt not be arrogant, thou shalt not be boring and thou shalt not be confusing. Reading through the ‘symptoms’ if you will about bad presentations, I saw that I could at times be all three, arrogant, boring and confusing. It certainly made me think about my approach to presentations and how we are going to deliver the presentation on our issues management strategy.
Further field, it made me think about how presentations are vital parts of the communications field and how failure at this can result in failure of business, products, contracts, partnerships etc. When you think about how one of the most effective forms of communication can be face to face, you realise the true power of presentations and how essential they are. The checklists provided in these readings are ones which I will certainly use for all following presentations.
Allyson.
4 comments:
I agree and I will also be using the checklists for my group's presentation.
I think it was good that the readings also addressed these skills relevant to group presentations - particularly the importance of appearing as a cohesive unit, rather than a series of mini-speeches. This seems to be a common characteristic of many group presentations I have seen at uni.
Hi Allyson!
I completely agree that there are just so many things you must think about and achieve in order to present effectively and engage the audience. I liked how Melanie gave us these readings as I’ve found them useful not just to better understand course content and to help with assignments but also because it makes us more aware of what to expect when we head out into the world of being a public relations practitioner. I think this was particularly so this week. I like you point, “when you think about how one of the most effective forms of communication can be face to face, you realise the true power of presentations and how essential they are.” I suppose as much as we may hate them, well I know that I hate them because I get overcome by nerves, they really do serve a worthwhile purpose.
Megan
Likewise with the commandments Al
Boring, Confusing and Arrogant
However I think I especially typify the last one - arrogant.
Sod them all.
Truly a splendid blog. I can't fault any aspect of it and your comments on other blogs were insightful. Full marks!
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