Presentation Evaluation
Our team gave a group presentation regarding the comparison of Amazon and Alibaba. After considering my performance as it relates to the grading criteria, I would say that my strongest area was my design or my message, and my weakest area was my presentation style. This is because my research was complete, and my message was clear, but our delivery had certain flaws which could be addressed. I think, in terms of the team as a whole, I would say our presentation style was strongest, or our message, but our design was weakest.
Presentation Message generally complete, but citation was lacking
The criteria for the message states that most key data be present, or most of the questions answered, was cited orally on the slides, and that a strong, clear and memorable opening be used to grab the listener’s attention. With regard to our presentation specifically, All the key data was definitely present, and questions answered. The slides served as a meaningful visual representation of the key data, without being overbearing or overly wordy, while we orally presented information that was relevant to our larger purpose. However we had a weak opening, because the speaker was very quiet, and because she did not create a hook to engage the audience, from the beginning. However, that aside, the message as a whole was complete, well presented, and offered a meaningful conclusion, which makes me rank our message, overall, quite high. I think it is important to note that the last speaker did a great job of creating an analogy between the two companies and apples and oranges that created a clear visual for the listener to understand why the two brands are not really comparable in the business arena. I think the message as a whole might have been better if we had coordinated our parts more, and used this analogy both in the introduction and in the conclusion. It would have made a good hook, and it would have created a line of continuity throughout the presentation, by bringing it full circle. What I am most disappointed in, when reviewing the presentation, is that no one really cites their sources at all. We did not use phrases like “according to” or “as found in” when presenting facts to demonstrate our research and to give credit to the original authors of our data. This is a major validity and reliability problem.
Organization was Good, but perhaps not entirely clear
This was a group project, and perhaps because we each did our own research the presentation did not feel as organized or as unified as it could have. We should have done a better job, in terms of organization, of building in transitions between sets of information, and speakers, in order to improve the clarity of the presentation. The grading criteria more specifically states that the rhetorical structure must be appropriate, and so much maintain a main idea and present information in a logical way. Overall, the information was clearly presented, and moved from one item to the next in a logically flow. However, I think we could have, as mentioned, improved our transition, and made the purpose of our research more clear, in order to improve the organization of the presentation, and more importantly the usefulness of the information to our audience. As previously mentioned, one way to do that would have been to carry the metaphor of the apples and oranges all the way through the presentation.
Design elements added color and interest
In my previous presentations I had noted that my presentation met the minimum for design, but that I realized that I was underutilizing the PowerPoint programs capabilities, and creating something that was not very visually interesting for my audience. This time, I think my team definitely did a better job with design. In terms of meeting basic requirements, the presentation was clean, clear of errors, and represented the key information in a visual way. However, this slide show relied less on bullet points, and text that simply repeated what we were orally presenting, and instead created slides with color, and visual appeal, and which served as a real visual aid to the presentation. The use of charts, graphs and images that reinforced the comparison that we were making gave the audience a much clearer picture of how the companies compared than our words alone. Because the presentation was not plain white with only text, it was much more effective than a basic presentation, and much more visually pleasing as well.
Areas to Improve
If I could select two areas where we most need to improve I would specifically focus on ensuring that we engaged the audience better. This would mean having a strong hook, and planned methods for engaging the audience. It might also mean having a more dynamic speaker go first so that the audience started more engaged. I would also improve the citation so to avoid academic dishonesty, and to give credit where credit is due. Making changes in both of these areas would significantly improve our presentation overall.
