Something about presentation

 Before I take ALES 204, I was quite afraid of public speaking or presentation. The reason is simple for that, since English is not my first language and it may be awkward to pronounce something wrong. However, during the lecture time of ALES204, I have learned a lot about presentation skills and how to make an efficient PowerPoint. It is not only about the knowledge I have learned from the class, but also the confidence I have gained through the practice in lab section. 
      It was not easy to fully understand those presentation skills, if you don’t practice. During the lab section, we have practiced two times and it was actually a very exciting experience. In such a short time to prepare a speech that contains lots of information. I was trying to incorporate some of the skills we have learned during class, but it doesn’t works well for me. But, the encouragement I got from our TAs, I think is more valuable to me and that makes me feel better. Just as the name of my blog “All things are difficult before they are easy”, the starting period is always so frustrating and exhausting. Although only practice twice in the lab section, it has gained enough confidence I needed and which was proved to be very indispensable to my success in my presentation of other courses. 

Here are some tips I found which is very helpful when I was doing presentation.

1. Practice Delivery Out Loud. You need to speak out clearly and in a moderate speed. Also, mental rehearse can go something wrong, since what you say may not exactly what you want to say.
2. Try to Conduct Your Practice in a Situation Similar to the Real Speaking Venue. Whenever possible, conduct your practice in a situation that closely mirrors the real presentation. Research indicates that if your practice closely mirrors your real presentation, once you are in the actual presentation your brain will think you have done this before. Besides practice, the next most important ingredient in your success is experience.
3. Practice in Front of Real People. You can practice before your family or friends and listen to what they like and dislike, which you can improve when doing a real presentation.
4. The Mirror is Your Friend. It will allow you to see and hear your delivery live and make decisions about how to enhance your style.
5. Practice with Your Props. If you are using visual aids such as a PowerPoint slide show, make sure you practice with your slides. Since you need to incorporate more information to the slide, you need to know exactly which part or which information you need to expand.
6. Do it One More Time. Practice more can relief your stress and become more accurate on the control of time. 

Also, you can find more inforamtion about presentation skill or scientific wirting on Jeremy's blog