subject: Mensur Boydas Lecture On Making Presentation [print this page] Mensur Boydas Mensur Boydas
Vahdi Boydas
The Critique
In the critique, there are six areas to evaluate the speech; eye contact, body language, voice qualities, command of material, visual aids, and content. There is also a marking on each area varying from one to five.
Eye Contact:
The speaker starts the speech having frequent eye contact until sometime then faces the audience but refers to slides occasionally as per say more than a couple times a minute. I mark the eye contact of the speech as three out of five because she turns her body to the screen and that might give the feeling of disregard to audience. She could improve the speech by not turning her body to the screen instead she could choose a spot where she could see the screen and the audience at the same time or using the (120 degree) stand as utilizing the half to screen and the other half to audience. She needs a little improvement in making more eye contacts with audience.
Body language:
The speaker stands on the same spot for the entire presentation, but uses her hands effectively. I mark the body language of the speech as four. Of course, there are areas that need improvement. She could move around the stage instead of being on the same spot all time. Moving around the stage appropriately shows confidence and can support delivering the message. In the middle of the presentation the speaker started to laugh which shocked the audience. She fixed the situation by saying "I thought it was so funny". She could improve by controlling her reactions and by moving around a little bit.
Voice Qualities:
The speaker has an adequate pace for the entire speech and speaks fairly clearly, but lacks sufficient variations in vocal intonation for emphasis. I mark her voice quality as three out of five. I give three because the speaker could not control her tone of voice. To give an example, the speaker did not change her tone where emphasizing needed and generally used one tone throughout the presentation. She could improve by utilizing different tone of voices wherever needed and change the voice tone where emphasis needed. When I give a presentation I will avoid using one tone of voice and speak with an adequate pace that shows how ready you are and confident about the material.
Command of Material:
The speaker throughout the presentation did a god job of managing the slides. I mark her command of material as four. The reason is that she knew what is coming next, but sometimes she reads from the material. She had a remote control with that she commanded to switch among the slides. She knew what she was talking about and used the material effectively. In my presentation I won"t use PowerPoint slides, but if I used I would avoid reading from the notes and would use a remote control that makes it a lot easier to switch the slides.
Visual Aids:
The speaker uses excellent slides that are easy to read, attractive, and directly related to the subject. I mark her visual aids as five, because the slides are so attractive and the speaker used materials from the local radio and a video about NASCAR that add value to the speech. I won"t use slides in my presentation, but if I used I would do the slides as how the speaker does. I would include a video to explain what I want to transfer to my audience.
Content:
The speaker merges an excellent content engaging with the subject and the information is relevant to the audience as the presentations are all about the audience. I mark her content as five out of five. The slides point out the details about the subject successfully and the statistics about the demographics give detailed information about the fans of the sport. The speaker is very successful in choosing the engaging information about the topic.
To sum up, the speaker performs pretty good, but with some problems. I would choose my content as the speaker did; including different kind of sources, utilizing effective visual aids, and successful command of material. I would have more eye contact with audience and control my actions in terms of body language.
