6_SernaR

Dear Professor Kim, If you were to ask me what is something I dread about my classes, I would have to answer presentations and speaking in front of the class. Four years have past since my enrollment here at Cal Poly and countless presentations after and I am still terrified of them. Going in to each presentation and coming out of one I have come to recognize my weaknesses which I could work on to grow and develop as a better presenter and speaker. One of my weaknesses is my inability to control my nerves, while I have managed to progress and control my nerves better than in the past I still see an area of much improvement. I let the pressure of knowing the focus of the room is on me and let my confidence slowly begin to dwindle down. As the nerves keep building I find myself stumbling over words, loosing my train of thought and forgetting what I was speaking about. Also when I present I have a difficult time maintaining an equal amount of eye contact with my audience. I feel as though I either keep eye contact with one person I feel comfortable with like a friend in the class or just the professor as opposed to making the effort to connect to all of my audience. Another weakness of mine would be my lack of creativity, and ending with a lackluster presentation. I feel as though in ensuring that you succeeded in accomplishing the points you are trying to convey, it is a must to take that extra step. To do so I feel it should be done in a creative manner in which makes the whole presentation memorable and not dull. As I have come to understand and develop a list of weaknesses which I possess in presenting, I have also recognized that these are all qualities which I can work on and grow as a stronger presenter. In battling my nerves, I feel as though it would help me to relax and take deep breaths. As well as putting in more time towards rehearsing the presentation that way I grow more and more confident about what I will be speaking on. Once I have kept this confidence I can then move towards keeping better eye contact with my audience. I feel as though I will not be as intimidated with making eye contact with the audience if I practice the technique of looking past a person, this way it appears as though I am looking at them but that intimidation I feel won’t be as intense. In the process of developing a creative presentation, I feel as though more time and research needs to be devoted to the presentation. I find myself focusing too much on the material but in focusing on that matter forgetting about the delivery. To build a creative, memorable presentation I feel as though I would need to recognize my audience and the methods which I could use to grab there attention the most. I must recognize the tone of the class as it varies from what I would present in a classroom setting, as opposed to my workplace setting. In acknowledging my areas of improvement in presenting, I hope to be able to go forth on my methods of improving my weaknesses in hopes that my solutions will push me to be the better presenter I yearn to be. Best regards, Rebecca Serna