Web2.0 Presentation and Blog

Before reading my Blog/Self-Critique, please watch my Web2.0 Presentation using the following link: Andrew's Web2.0 Presentation on WarringtonINsiders.com


Self-Critique of My Web2.0 Presentation:


While this critique is bound to be subjective since I'm reviewing my own presentation, I'm going to try my best be as neutral as I can in my review. ;)

All-in-all, I think I did a pretty good job of putting together a very informative presentation about WarringtonINsiders.com. Part of the reason why I chose this particular topic for my presentation was in the hope that it could be used beyond the class project context to help in the expansion of the website. When putting the presentation together, I could not decide on the best logical order in which to present the content. However, I think the approach of giving background information, followed by soliciting sponsorship was the logical approach to presenting this topic. The only thing I think I would consider changing about this is the very end. I debated which order I should present the sponsorship opportunities and the example of our stock market challenge sponsors, but I think the order I chose to present makes the most sense. I'm sure there are plenty of questions I did not anticipate in my presentation, though I did my best to be as detailed as possible given the raw stage of development the website is currently in.

As for whether or not I feel I grabbed the audience's attention, I'm a bit biased here due to my involvement with the website, but I feel that it's a very interesting idea and I would definitely listen to a presentation about it as a UF business student, especially had this been around when I was a freshman. One tool I used to emphasize the particular parts of the presentation that I felt were the most important toward conveying my message was the use of questions. Upon watching my presentation, you will see that I did not use them often, but when I did, they prefaced important parts of the presentation. As you might be able to tell through my sparing use of questions in my presentation, I tend to keep my points concise and focused solely on delivering the key points and answering questions before they are asked. However, with a new website and the content we plan on it containing, there are bound to be questions that others will pose that we may not foresee.That said, I feel like I was clear in my presentation of WarringtonINsiders.com and conveyed as much information as necessary for a general presentation of this nature.

I do not think I made very many, if any claims in the course of my presentation. However, if I did make any claims, I made sure to validate them, rather than leaving them as a potential unknown posing a point for questioning. Also, I checked and re-checked my presentation multiple times, in addition to having peers, such as my roommates, look over the presentation to make sure I avoided any inconsistencies, errors, or unbelievable claims.

One thing I cannot stand in presentations is clutter. I believe I did an excellent job of avoiding this by "utilizing the white space" as often as I could in my slides. At times when I thought my text and verbal presentation said enough about topics, I left space so the audience was able to focus on the points and information presented. There were a few times I did add some pictures to display what some aspects of the website look like, though I was sure to keep them to a minimum and use them as visuals aids to my points. By avoiding clutter, I was able to ensure readability for the audience as there was plenty of space available on my slides to allow me to increase font size when necessary. To assist with readability for my audience, I added animations to my slide so I was able to control in what order and at which time text was to appear on the slides. In adding animation, I was able to "say it and show it" simultaneously, so my audience could see the point and listen to the explanation. This was effective in my presentation because I made sure to put just enough text on the slides to convey my point, while allowing myself to further explain each point to avoid clutter and reading off of the slide.

Overall, I would say I learned a good deal about presentations and presenting from taking part in this project. There were some points I had learned over the years that were further emphasized in the material, as well as plenty of new points that I hadn't really paid attention to before. For instance, when presenting graphs of information, I never really though about monitoring how much content you displayed on the graphs and in which way you displayed it. Though, after watching some of the videos, I learned that graphs are very similar to text in that you have to avoid clutter to ensure readability. Another lesson I learned was the importances of having just enough text on your slides to convey your point. Otherwise, your audience is left trying to read the slides instead of paying attention to you. The points I just mentioned also happen to be what I feel will be the most useful to me in business in the not-so-distant future. Graduation is right around the corner and with that comes jobs and presentations in some manner or another. Utilizing the lessons learned in this segment of the course will be of great help, not only in finishing out my college career, but also as I begin my professional career.

Thanks for checking out my presentation and blog! I hope I provided some useful information.