Individual Reflection
Individual reflection is the evaluation of one self's actions and behaviour during a particular event (Quinton & Smallbone, 2010: 127). Conventionally, it is person's thoughts about how he or she carried themselves during the performance. Through this process, people try to analyse how things unfolded as they genuinely think about what did or did not do and why (Quinton & Smallbone, 2010: 128). The purpose of an individual reflection is to identify what influenced our feelings, behaviours, and actions and improve on them (Husebø, O'Regan & Nestel, 2015: 371). Some of the most common types of reflection are an experiential and reading reflection (Nestel & Bearman, 2015: 351). In experiential reflection, we focus on what we have gone through whereas, in reading reflection, we think critically about what we are taught. When reflecting, an individual usually tries to find how to improve future actions (Nestel & Bearman, 2015: 354).
Reflection on Our Power Point Presentation
The professor gave us a topic to research in groups of three-four students, after which each group had to present their findings. Given that I wanted a good grade in that unit, it was paramount that I considered my group members carefully. The teacher also gave the condition that each member of a group had to participate in the presentation. Therefore, I took the initiative of looking for cooperative classmates who wanted a quality grade like me. In order to ensure that everyone was fully involved in the project, everyone was given an item to research on for a few days. Being their leader, I kept reminding them to work on it to avoid last-minute rushes. Indeed, it is a common knowledge that no one can do an excellent presentation on what they have not adequately researched on. Thus with the professor's condition in the back of our mind, everyone did their part, and we finally agreed to meet to compile our work and prepare for the big day, which was the day for presentations.
Preparing Our Group for the Presentation
Preparing our group for the presentation involved meeting thrice every week, with each member presenting their item before the others. Suddenly, trouble struck as two members in my team were not very cooperative, with late arrivals and absenteeism from meetings. It was frustrating; nonetheless, the other members went about their work correctly. During our mock presentation, I also noticed that another member was timid and nervous when presenting, but we worked on that until he was comfortable.
The Presentation Day
On the presentation day, as we watched other groups deliver their work, I was pretty confident about our chances of success. I knew that my group, despite some challenges, had done its best to score a good grade. Being their leader, I decided to be the one to introduce our project. I took it upon myself to encourage my scared members to toughen up since I felt we were ready. When our time came, however, things took a different turn. Usually, I am a confident person but being in front of so many people startled me a bit, but I was able to recover.
Importance of Confidence in Presentations
According to Bevan, Badge, Cann, Willmott & Scott. (2008: 7), for one to succeed in any eye-to-eye presentation, confidence is necessary. However, we only get confidence when we have adequately researched our item. It is the mastery of the content and fluency in the language that guarantees an excellent presentation (Bevan et al., 2008: 11). At first, I handled myself well, but then within a few minutes, it was in ruins. I started to be nervous and could not maintain eye contact with my audience, which is harmful in such projects. My problems began when a section of students began complaining that I was not audible. As stated by Muir, Ryan & Drury (2010), this reaction completely threw me out of my game, and I was trembling. As the presentation continued, it worsened for me because I could hardly pronounce even some well-known words, which led to loud complaints from the audience. Apparently, all the practice we had done was a waste of time owing to the kind of embarrassment that I had put myself through during the presentation. The study conducted by Boud, Keogh & Walker (2013) indicates that it is normal to be frustrated in such situations. Indeed, I felt disappointed in myself because my group and I expected an excellent presentation. The other members were now shaking visibly. All I could do was to read to the other students what they already saw in the slides since I was so afraid that I could not explain what I had prepared for my short notes.
Reactions of the Audience
Just as Johnson & SSH (2008) identified in their work, some members of my audience started poking fun with cheeky behaviours here and there, which ensured that there was no chance for me to get back to my original game plan. Unfortunately, when my other group members took over, it was the same as their leader, disastrous! It was so bad that the lecturer had to cut us short because we totally lost our audience and the hall was now very noisy. In line with the research conducted by Hulme & Forshaw (2009), I realised that as a leader, I failed myself as well as my colleagues. The big question is that how were they going to be okay if their leader was already scared? From the expectations that we had, it was a relatively poor performance. In any presentation, it is not easy to listen to boring speeches just like the one we delivered (Bailey & Garner, 2010: 191).
Conclusion
Importantly, by reflecting on that day, I learnt so much. Being self-confident is as essential as it is to master the content. I can reiterate that I failed that day because instead of presenting to the audience, I felt as if I was addressing myself. Stage fright is a critical issue that must be dealt with if one is to succeed. Through individual reflection, I learnt from my mistakes, and now, I believe that I am a better presenter.
References
Bailey, R. & Garner, M. (2010) Is the feedback in higher education assessment worth the paper it is written on? Teachers' reflections on their practices. Teaching in Higher Education. 15(2) pp.187-198.
Bevan, R., Badge, J., Cann, A., Willmott, C. & Scott, J. (2008) Seeing eye-to-eye? Staff and student views on feedback. Bioscience Education. 12(1) pp.1-15.
Boud, D., Keogh, R. and Walker, D., 2013. Reflection: Turning experience into learning. Routledge.
Hulme, J. & Forshaw, M. (2009) Effectiveness of feedback provision for undergraduate psychology students. Psychology Learning & Teaching. 8(1) pp.34-38.
Husebø, S.E., O'Regan, S. & Nestel, D. (2015) Reflective practice and its role in simulation. Clinical Simulation in Nursing. 11(8) pp.368-375.
Johnson, R. & SSH, Q.E.O. (2008) Feedback to students on their work and progress. Feedback.
Muir, M.M., Ryan, L.M. & Drury, H. (2010) September. Feedback in the Sciences: what is wanted and what is given. In Proceedings of The Australian Conference on Science and Mathematics Education (formerly UniServe Science Conference) (Vol. 16).
Nestel, D. & Bearman, M. (2015) Theory and simulation-based education: Definitions, worldviews and applications. Clinical Simulation in Nursing. 11(8) pp.349-354.
Quinton, S. & Smallbone, T. (2010) Feeding forward: using feedback to promote student reflection and learning–a teaching model. Innovations in Education and Teaching International. 47(1) pp.125-135.
