THANK GOD,
College admissions are done, and now I don't have to worry about anything but research. That's still a lot to worry about though, so let me jump right in.
I'm going to be honest: I made a really bad presentation the first time. It was overly simplified, boring, and not really engaging. I hope I've fixed good a amount of that right now, but there's still a lot of improvement that needs to be done.
First and foremost, my slides were mostly pictures that were word associated with the title, not necessarily with exactly what I was speaking. Second, I barely had any words on my slides. That might be good for Seminar, but especially for a highly technical project like mine, it's almost completely unacceptable. Most of the people are going to have a hard time understanding what I'm saying anyways. Making the slides overly simplistic is going to confuse people. So, I've been adding a lot more animations and different slide formats to fix this problem. I've introduced some flow charts to make sure that the methods section is understood well, and I've included a lot more definitions in my literature review section.
In general, a research presentation is really different from a seminar presentation. A seminar presentation is basically a literature review section of the research presentation, but in my case, with much less technical information. That means in the Seminar presentation, I was able to get away with having lost of pictures and minimal words: because the subject matter didn't demand it as much. The purpose of Seminar was to introduce and explore an idea. The purpose of research is to introduce, explore, and discover something new, which requires a whole new level of understanding on the part of both the presenter and the audience. Because of that, it's important to ensure that the audience knows exactly what's going on, so that they can properly assess the quality of the research as well as the findings and conclusions. Therefore, having a lot of words is really important to make sure that the audience knows you know what your talking about and understands it too. This is especially true in really technical presentations like mine. If I don't explain what an IPO is in detail, the audience will never know what I'm going to be talking about later.
Because it is so essential that others understand my project and presentation, I'm going to mainly be presenting to my parents, and also my dogs, when my mom and dad are out of the house. It takes a lot of stress off. I'll roughly go through the script and make sure I touch on all of the points, and then film myself to make sure I'm not going too fast.
Signing Off,
Akash
College admissions are done, and now I don't have to worry about anything but research. That's still a lot to worry about though, so let me jump right in.
I'm going to be honest: I made a really bad presentation the first time. It was overly simplified, boring, and not really engaging. I hope I've fixed good a amount of that right now, but there's still a lot of improvement that needs to be done.
First and foremost, my slides were mostly pictures that were word associated with the title, not necessarily with exactly what I was speaking. Second, I barely had any words on my slides. That might be good for Seminar, but especially for a highly technical project like mine, it's almost completely unacceptable. Most of the people are going to have a hard time understanding what I'm saying anyways. Making the slides overly simplistic is going to confuse people. So, I've been adding a lot more animations and different slide formats to fix this problem. I've introduced some flow charts to make sure that the methods section is understood well, and I've included a lot more definitions in my literature review section.
In general, a research presentation is really different from a seminar presentation. A seminar presentation is basically a literature review section of the research presentation, but in my case, with much less technical information. That means in the Seminar presentation, I was able to get away with having lost of pictures and minimal words: because the subject matter didn't demand it as much. The purpose of Seminar was to introduce and explore an idea. The purpose of research is to introduce, explore, and discover something new, which requires a whole new level of understanding on the part of both the presenter and the audience. Because of that, it's important to ensure that the audience knows exactly what's going on, so that they can properly assess the quality of the research as well as the findings and conclusions. Therefore, having a lot of words is really important to make sure that the audience knows you know what your talking about and understands it too. This is especially true in really technical presentations like mine. If I don't explain what an IPO is in detail, the audience will never know what I'm going to be talking about later.
Because it is so essential that others understand my project and presentation, I'm going to mainly be presenting to my parents, and also my dogs, when my mom and dad are out of the house. It takes a lot of stress off. I'll roughly go through the script and make sure I touch on all of the points, and then film myself to make sure I'm not going too fast.
Signing Off,
Akash
Hey Akash! I agree that admissions decisions puts some weight off our shoulders. Also, I understand where you are coming from with your slides. My first attempt at my presentation was oversimplified as well. Although I never read your entire paper, I do remember reading the first half of it, and remember the technicality that you included. Because this paper is going to be difficult to understand for people without finance experience, you are really going to have to make sure that you make the most of your slides by illustrating what you are talking about. I know that word association images are the easier path, but I think it would help a lot if you really used your slides to expand upon what you are talking about. For your memorization techniques, I think that you have a good idea by filming yourself speak, but I would also suggest speaking in the mirror so you can see how you act in real time.
ReplyDeleteAkash YOU ROCKSTAR! GO LIONS YOU FREAKING CHAMP! I AM SO SO SO PROUD OF YOU AND DUDE!! LITERALLY PRINCETON AND COLUMBIA!! Remember when you were doubting if you would get into UNC? BOI YOU GO YOU GO YOU GO YOU GO!!!
ReplyDeleteAnyways, lol, I think you really understand what you need to do in terms of your slides. Lots of figures are definitely helpful because it gives your audience a different way to view the information that you are speaking. Visual aids always helps people understand things because it provides a different context to convey what you're talking about which is especially necessary in your paper! Bc math! and Finance! and Snapchat! all very complex topics.
Practicing with other people is a great idea and also I would recommend practicing like every other hour throughout the day or practicing in chunks with breaks in between where you do some other activity, so you can make sure it's all in your long term memory and not just in your short term memory. That's how I used to memorize piano pieces and this is kinda like that i think lol. So yea, just make sure that you really know your script, and i'm sure you will, you star! Go Akash!
Hey Akash! First and foremost, CONGRTULATIONS ON COLUMBIA AND PRINCETON YOU ARE AMAZING AND I CANT WAIT TO SEE WHAT YOU END UP DOING!!!!
ReplyDeleteI think its great that you were able to notice that your initial slides were not as great as they could be (since that's the first step towards improving)! I really like and agree with the distinctions you make between a seminar and research presentation. Also, I totally agree that with a technical presentation slides need to be more focused and clear. This is something that even I have to work on to ensure that the audience doesn't get lost. Your ideas of using things like flow charts is pretty brilliant and I think you really understand what you need to get done to make a successful presentation.
As for memorizing, I think you will be completely fine learning your part. I also think that presenting to other people is great! Furthermore, recording a video to see your speaking speed is a great idea (as you can sometimes start spreading during presentations). I would suggest also sending that video to a fellow peer who can tell you what they think about the speed and other factors, as it is sometimes hard to notice it just by yourself if you are used to it! Other than that, CONGRATULATIONS ONCE AGAIN! YOU MADE THAT (somewhat arrogant but completely hilarious) SNAPCHAT OF YOUR SAT PROUD :)
Hey Akash -- I do agree that your first attempt at a slideshow was lackluster to say the least. I think that you got a better idea, and your updated slides to seem improved, but truly, that's only half of the battle. I think something else that you immensely struggle with is talking to quickly and presenting with crazy eyes. I worry because with a topic as technical as yours, if you try to jam through too fast, you'll lose the entire audience. Thus, your idea to film yourself while presenting is a smart one.
ReplyDelete