Matteo Rocha-Chaves - SPC 2608 Presentations Blog

     During the first two weeks of our class, we were instructed to work with our groups and each cover specific sections from our class book, Public Speaking: The Evolving Art. The book goes over the importance and fundamentals of public speaking as a whole, as well as how to deliver speeches and all its different types. For the presentations itself, each group was given their own chapters to cover and each member had their own topics to cover. 

    Staring off was Group 1, in charge of chapters 1-3 & 5. Group 1's members consisted of Alejandra Gonzalez, Aura Mathews, Carnell Davis, Cynthia Chang, David Valverde, Destiny Johnson, and Emily Gotay. Group 1's presentations introduced us to tips and ways to master presentations, as well as great advice as to how people may develop the confidence needed to present in front of an audience, something a lot of people struggle with. The presentation slides were all neat and straight to the point, allowing the audience to easily follow along with what the speaker is presenting. The presentation also included some nice transitions, animations, and visuals overall that does a good job attracting the audience. I also appreciated the way each member presented their own slides as it made the presentation interactive and fun to listen to. I liked the emphasis on attitude and respect during a presentation as I find it one of the most important elements of a presentation. A rude audience makes for a bad presentation, and the respect should go both ways to ensure the best out of both parties.

    Following Group 1's presentation came Group 2's. Group 2, in charge of chapters 4, 6, & 8 consisted of Gabriella Saez, Gabriella Ruiz, Gabriel Uloa, Isabel Espinosa, Gersis Diaz, and Gloria Oikelome. In the same fashion as Group 1, Group 2 made each slide simple yet visually appealing. They included graphs and pictures that went hand in hand with their individual topics. Their presentation, titled Public Speaking: Getting Ready for Success, covered the basics of brainstorming and selecting topics ideas, as well as providing tips for preparing to research the topic and the different parts of a speech. I enjoyed the presentation and found it to be very interesting while providing a deeper dive into their wonderful topics. I also appreciate that the slides weren't too text heavy but instead simple and condensed while ultimately conveying the information. Each of their ideas flowed together from the start to the very end. Ultimately, I believe they did a great job presenting each of their topics and came together to make a wonderful presentation.

    Next up is Group 3, in charge of chapters 9-12. Their group consists of Jamiah Head, Joselyn Gomez, Katryn Cheug, Kevin Aviles, Kylie Escobalis, and Luis Velasquez. Their presentation, titled Getting Ready [for] That Great Presentation, goes into the specifics of how to begin your speech, the different types of languages and presentation media available, how to deliver your speech effectively and its 4 different types of speech delivery. Each member of the group discussed one or more important parts regarding the delivery of a presentation. I personally loved the use of GIFs throughout the presentation as it adds so much more and you just don't see it often in school presentations. Speaking from personal experience, that in itself proves to be an incredible attention grabber as I was immediately hooked! However, as much as I liked the use of GIFs, I must say that a either a brief caption tagged along with  or how they correlated with the topic would've been great. That being said, I liked that Group 3's presentation was not only visually appealing but also presented in a brief yet informative manner.

    Finally came my group's presentation, Group 4, covering chapters 13-17. Our group consisted of myself, Aracelis Herrera, Nayelin Martinez, Rachel Martin, Santiago Tovar, and Sanya Ali. We spoke on the types and characteristics of informative speaking, a deeper dive into persuasion and persuasion speaking, understanding what makes up an argument, and the different types of occasion speeches. We also made good use of transitions and effects throughout the project, doing our best to captivate our audience. I was in charge of explaining what distance speaking is and how it correlates to not only media appearances but also any sort of radio and/or podcasts. I feel as if I should've made my section briefer, and use the information I provided as the information I present rather than being on the slide itself. Presenting wasn't too difficult as we had previously organized who presents what chapters and we just followed that order.  Each person made their slides as brief and clear as they could and I am delighted at the end result. Had I condensed the information from my slides, I believe we would've had an amazing presentation. That being said, I still firmly believe we did a great job with not only our slides visually but presenting key information from each of our slides too.

    Lastly, both of our class leaders, David Rojas and Nathalia Forero, each did a marvelous job introducing and concluding each group's topics and presentations. In terms of introductions, both did a wonderful job introducing the topics to the audience while keeping it fun yet interesting. It allowed myself, as well as the rest of the audience, to know what to expect in each group's presentations. You can tell they each informed themselves on every presentation and did a splendid job doing so. They both did a wonderful job jogging our memories with key information after the long presentations, as well as wrapping up and concluding every group's presentations in a concise and clear manner. It allowed the audience to better understand and review some of the most significant points made in each presentation. Their inputs were both useful and greatly appreciated. All in all, I believe they did a wonderful job as the designated class leaders and I hope to have them again for any upcoming assignments!