My Powerpoint is a work in progress to say the least. I went way to minimalist on the first try and was way too afraid to add words to slides. I needed to make it so the powerpoint was easy to follow along with my presentation, so I added a nice amount of flow charts and bullet points. The slide I am having trouble with is the sports ones compared to reality TV (I will probably figure this out tomorrow) without making it look cheesy/ not fitting the theme. I also still hate my second and third slide, but I do not think it can be changed to a more appealing one. The slides with graphs also need to be changed into prettier ones, which I plan on doing wednesday as this will take a few hours to reformat everything and play around with it.
I honestly feel my script is solid. I decided to change it to a combination of the results and the discussion instead of having them separately, which improved it so much and made is so much easier to follow and get the points for backing up conclusions with evidence. My biggest fear is time. I am over by like 4 minute at the moment. I need to go through again and cut and I believe as I keep reading through it and speaking it will all start to condense and bit and sections that need to be cut will stand out.
I plan to practice my presentation throughout the day. The issue I had last year with memorization is that I could repeat it after going over it over and over and over again for 2 hours, but would not be able to get it the next day because I would only be able to do it after directly reading it so many times. I think doing it at different times throughout the day will allow me to fully memorize the presentation and not have to rely on my script as much. I plan to practice in the morning. Once in the afternoon and multiple times in the evenings (especially this first week of memorization). I also first want to memorize the main points and the order my slides go in so worse case scenario and I forget my script I am still able to keep powering through the presentation. My dog is a very attentive listener so I plan to use her. Additionally, I will probably end up skyping with some other AP research kids to practice the presentation and make sure it sounds solid.
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Catherine,
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you are on a great path to research and presentation success. I too started off with super minimalist slides, so I understand the struggle in trying to fix the entire presentation. Try to use the powerpoint as an interactive tool that engages the audience, emphasizing key phrases and providing visual aids. Also, since this is an AP Research presentation, make sure to follow your own thought process and clearly guide the audience through the year-long research journey. In terms of practice, I think you have a really good plan. Maybe record yourself to see your own body language and improve that. In terms of memorizing the script, I would suggest trying to remember the key phrases on your slides and matching up aspects of your paper with slide clicks and then you can fill in the minor details if you do not remember the entire script. Great job so far!!
Catherine -- I definitely agree that your first try was a little bit on the "minimalist" side. I think that you've done well in expanding many of your slides and including key details, but I would love for you to do that even more, particularly with the final few slides.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of using your dog as an audience, but I think we'll need to have some human listeners as well, as I would like you to get more detailed feedback than a bark.
Also, let's not worry about the time -- we'll see how long it is during the practice and figure it out from there.
Catherine!!! I haven't been on your blog for a while but I can see that you have been busy at work with your presentation.
ReplyDeleteFirst, I agree that combining your results and discussion is a good move since it will most likely cut out some much needed time. Just remember that you don't need to include everything from your research paper -- just include what is essential and what corresponds to the rubric. I also definitely agree that you should not only memorize your presentation but also just learn what you are going to say on each slide just in case you forget. Remember, you have been working on this project all year so you are an expert. Also, I like the idea of practicing at several points throughout several days because sleeping on it will consolidate the script in your memory overnight. Then you can practice some more and then sleep on it again, and so forth and so forth. Keep up the great work!
Hey Catherine! I know the struggle of having minimalist slides because I did that too, but it's good that you've added more. I think your plan for practicing is really good. You definitely shouldn't just memorize you're entire script. Instead, memorizing the order and main points will be easier and help your presentation flow better because you won't be struggling to find the exact words. Skyping AP research kids is good, but I also think you should maybe present in person just to have a better feel. Good luck!
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