Allison Mao Week 13: Memories and Speech
The POAS presentation is no doubt quite a big event in our lives at the moment. Although going up in front of the class and presenting your figure involves so many factors, from public speaking skills to possessing a clear understanding of your person, one aspect of presenting that makes me extremely nervous is memorization.
Memorization has always been something tricky for me. For as long as I can remember, school has expected us to memorize various things, often because they would be important in the future. For instance, the character tests and Chinese school always got me struggling. I could not remember all the strokes of the various characters, and, when I did, I still sometimes ended up doubting myself and confusing one stroke with another. Over the years, my ability to memorize concepts did not get much better, and I still stress over deciphering between all the little details that I must retrieve from my long-term memory.
This most recent assignment, the POAS, heavily involves a good memory. Even though we are allowed to use notecards, I observed that many presenters simply ended up holding their cards in their hands and they often didn’t even end up looking at them. Perhaps having those cards in their hands was a reassurance that, if their memory failed them, at least they would have the notecards to help. When I tried presenting without notecards previously, I often ended up stuttering and messing up on my presentation completely, saying one fact first when I should have started by mentioning a different one, my face growing hot. It always amazed me when some other presenters seemed completely at ease in front of the scrutiny of so many classmates and the teacher. Since my presentation is on Thursday, I can only wait in anticipation and practice my lines over and over again.
Since there’s nothing I can do to speed up or delay the presentation time, I can only make sure I’m as prepared as I can before going up. I tried to research some methods to quell my anxiety, and, even though these were all tips I heard of before, they were still good reminders that I decided I must try to follow.
First of all, the speaker needs to understand the topic and plan ahead of time. I, like many others, am quite familiar with our POAS since we’re been researching since October. I wasn’t too worried about that and I knew I could write some notes to help myself in case I got lost. Practicing is also obviously an important aspect as it is hard to improve without practice. However, the last few tips I saw were harder to visualize: acknowledging worries and focusing on the material rather than the audience, along with embracing moments of silence. Those factors all seem easier said than done, but I will still try my best to utilize those tips.
Hi Allison! Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the concept of memorization and presentations since I enjoyed seeing a different perspective on the topic. Just like you, I also find memorizing to be something that is fairly “tricky,” but one thing I like about it is that rote memorization depends mostly on the amount of time spent memorizing the information, not my skill at it. However, as you said, the POAS presentations are not a task of rote memorization, but rather a task that must reflect our own knowledge of presentation skills and the person we are discussing. One strategy that helped me when I was practicing for my presentation was memorizing the order of ideas and transitions before trying to memorize all the details and specific words; doing it this way was more time efficient and allowed me to practice improvising in order to better prepare myself for the possibility that I go off-script during the real presentation. You mentioned that you noticed many presenters “ended up holding their cards in their hands,” and I think I was definitely one of those—your hypothesis that those notecards were for reassurance is correct (at least in my case), but I imagine that others may have had different reasons for keeping notecards with them. Although the tip to focus on the presentation’s material rather than the audience seems difficult to follow, I can personally attest to its effectiveness in reducing anxiety while presenting. Regardless of whether or not you actually followed that tip, good job on completing your presentation!
ReplyDeleteHi Allison,
ReplyDeleteYou have made great points about memory and how it can relate to speech and public speaking as it is relevant to all the POAS presentations from the past week. I have had very similar experiences when it comes to presenting in front of an entire class as I can get quite nervous and start stuttering, forgetting my lines, and just overall feel overwhelmed. While I tried my best not to be nervous during my presentation this time, I was still worried and was overthinking about the possibility of messing up under pressure. This has been the case for several of my presentations, whether it is a school project or an extracurricular, and I appreciate that you have directly addressed these issues through your blog. I also appreciate how you provided some practicing strategies that can be used to help improve speech and to not be nervous and I will definitely try these strategies for my next big presentation. This has been a major issue for many students and whenever I ask other people how they feel while presenting, they all basically say the same thing that they also make tons of mistakes under pressure. I would like to add that whenever I mess up mid sentence, I pause, then go off the script I planned beforehand in order to continue. Unfortunately, whenever I try this strategy, I get even more nervous as I do not feel comfortable presenting in a way I have not practiced. Lastly, thank you for sharing your ideas on this common issue and great job on your POAS presentation!
Hi Allison,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed how you incorporated something familiar to all of us APENG students - our POAS presentations. I can relate quite closely with you difficulty in memorization, because I often go through the same thing too. Memorizing anything has simply never worked for me. Reading long dense texts, writing long speeches, and memorizing them - whether it’s for a presentation or a test - has always been a wearisome and quite literally impossible task for me to do. As I explored this weakness and trouble I had, I found out that it wasn’t the fact that I didn’t have the skills to memorize something, it was mainly because I wasn’t doing it with the right motivation and drive. After realizing this, I’ve turned to the approach of not trying to memorize anything at all because it is in fact quite a rote process. Instead, I’ve tried to imbibe the essence of anything I need to learn or present. When I take in the crucial aspects of the information I need, it essentially becomes a part of me. Then remembering that and using it whenever I need to - whether to present or take a test - requires no additional efforts of blindly memorizing information without truly understanding. As you state in your blog, this aspect was relatively familiar to most of us since we were already so familiar with our people of American significance. Of course, this doesn’t ensure that a smooth and flawless presentation will flow through the moment we start speaking but it certainly is a big step forward. Your reflection on your presentation and your skills are extremely thoughtful and constructive, and I really appreciate you sharing your ideas on an issue of such relevance to all of us - it was truly insightful. Regardless, I think you did a great job on your POAS presentation!
Hello Allison! POAS presentations were quite a fright at first when I looked into the rubric. Just like yourself, I was quite concerned with my ability to get all the points and really reach a standard I thought would be effective. In my case, I made sure to look back into the POAS research paper we had written some time back and then use that energy to fuel what I would say. Of course, I used a script of sorts to help me guide my presentation. I found a great trick that helps me with memorizing is to have a guideline about what is going to be said but never actually writing word to word. For me, I am able to connect the dots while I speak though I think that comes with practice and naturally. Using index cards is quite useful too. Any time when feeling nervous or forgetting some detail, it is great to have a backup index card to make sure that the presentation is heading in the direction desired to fulfill the requirements. Though memorizing the complete presentation would be the best solution, this option is definitely viable. After completing my POAS Presentation on Tuesday, I was relieved. Knowing that I put in my best work and got a higher grade than I thought I would get, this experience helped me be confident and understand that anything is possible just with a little bit of hardwork and a bunch of repetition. Looking at all the other students in first period, I could tell how we all had our own specialty whether that be through hand gestures or through the way we walk. I found it quite intriguing and allowed each presentation to have its own style. The different individuals represented in the POAS presentations were one aspect, indeed. It is great reflecting on the experience I had with the POAS presentations. Thank you for sharing this opportunity with us with your creative blog!
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