Welcome to the Thunderdo...I mean, Symposium
So the Symposium Presentation seems to (needlessly) stress
students out. Maybe it’s because the assignment is in a different format than a
traditional essay, but let me tell you, the Symposium Presentation is
incredibly doable and can be a lot of fun. Take a deep breath with me.
Iiiinnnnn. Oooouuutttt. See? We’re all good here.
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| Feel free to use this during Finals Week |
The Symposium Presentation is similar to a PowerPoint
presentation or Prezi. (Although we’ll be using Adobe Spark this semester for
the first time. Prepare for a learning curve, but we’ll make it!) The two major
components of the Symposium Presentation are:
- Your Images+Citations
- and Your Text, both related to your specific Class in America Today research angle that you’ve been working with on your ARP.
You’ve already been collecting images throughout the
semester for this presentation. You’ll end up with 15 images—no more, no less—with
citations for those images included at the end of the presentation.
Along with your images, you will have 50-65 words of text—no
more, no less—accompanying each image. Try to not make the text just a list of
facts. You want to engage the audience and show how all your images help create
the larger picture of your Class in America Today Topic.
Some of you maybe choose to record your narration, so when a classmates views your Symposium Presentation, they’ll hear your recorded voice accompanying the images. Some of you may choose to load your text onto the presentation, so it will look more like a web page and there will be no sound. Whichever you choose is a-okay!
There will be more details on how to use Adobe Spark (I’m
learning the new program along with you, but ask questions if you have them,
and I can always forward them to our English Dept. tech guru if it’s beyond my
expertise).
A lot of students end up getting a lot out of the Symposium
Presentation because you are able to view and present feedback in a totally
different format. Sometimes it helps you see gaps or connections you would’ve
otherwise missed in the plain old written format.
Comment below answering one of these questions OR responding to two classmates.
Tell a short story about a presentation you've given. What went well? What went not so well?
Are you a fan of presentations or would you rather write a paper?
What do you enjoy in a presentation from the audience perspective?
Tell a short story about a presentation you've given. What went well? What went not so well?
Are you a fan of presentations or would you rather write a paper?
What do you enjoy in a presentation from the audience perspective?
I have never been too fond of presenting in front of other people, but this slight fear of mine reached its peak my senior year in my French 4 class. I was presenting on a small region in France and I felt woefully unprepared (whether that was true or not is unclear). What is important is that I felt unready for the presentation because if I feel like I know everything that I have prepared in my presentation, I will be fine; there will just be an exorbant amount of sweat on me when I finish. If I do not feel prepared for the presentation by any amount, my breathe tends to shorten and I get tunnel vision. For the presentation about the small French Region, I felt unprepared and I more or less fell apart. For the reasons I have mention, I much prefer either watching presentations, or not doing them at all.
ReplyDeleteI like presenting something in front of a class more than writing a paper. I remember in my AP U.S class we were put into groups and had to create a 45 minute lecture for the class and an activity. I had spent nearly 5 hours with my group making something creative for the class but right before the presentation I got really nervous that no one would understand anything we were saying or the activity is confusing. I ended up skipping lunch and just sitting quietly with my head down. Once the presentation started, I started to feel better. After the entire presentation was over my teacher came up to me and wouldn’t stop talking about how this was the best presentation he has ever seen in his career and was really proud of us. We ended up getting a 100, as everyone participated, we knew the content and we had everything planned out perfectly. After this, I had became a fan of presentations. I started to enjoy them more than writing papers and essays, as I could become more creative with them. I love to watch other presentations as well.
ReplyDeleteI gave a presentation about Esport last semester in my ESL 1902 class. I did well on prepare the presentation, as I almost remember all the words on my PPT and control the time of my presentation well. However, although I prepared it for a long time, I was still nervous when I started my presentation. But, after 1-2 minutes, the felling of nervous disappeared. All in all, I enjoyed that presentation.
ReplyDeleteYukun Zheng(Zheng.1608)
Honestly, I prefer writing a paper than giving a presentation. Though I have done several speeches and presentations before, I still would like to dodge those hard "rocks". Specifically, I have done a speech about dreams and goals to students in a small middle-school. I still clearly remember the feeling of standing right in front of almost a hundred of students who were hoping to acquire some precious knowledge or experience from me. Moreover, I spent huge amount of time and energy doing research and collecting materials for the speech because I knew I must not fail that speech under the stress of expectation and responsibility. At last, I finished the speech well and receive a lot of compliments; also, the sense of achievement and exciting feeling of giving speech show the charm of speech. Despite all of this, I still would like to write a paper slowly rather than giving presentations or speeches.
ReplyDeleteWhen it goes to presentation, it can be either fun or miserable. I've been given presentations from the middle school to the college. Some of them are bad while some of them are okay. I think the topic for the presentation that you are given to is crucial. When I was introducing some topic that I'm very interested in, I didn't feel stressful at all. In fact, I really enjoyed on presenting such topics. One reason is that I have decent knowledge related to the topic and I have the confidence to share these knowledge with my audience. At the same time, you have the passion to do such presentations that makes the whole procedure easier.
ReplyDeleteHenry Huang
Presentations can be stressful depending on what topic is being present. When I truly understand the topic presenting it in from of people is quite easy and I am relaxed. However, when I am unsure of the topic I am presenting on, I tend to get nervous. One of my best presentation was my senior graduation presentation. I was really easy because I was simply presenting on the career I was pursuing. Hence, I was able to calmly present because I was familiar on the topic.
ReplyDeleteMy last presentation is for the ESL1902 class and its about the job market whether we should let students to create their own majors. I am doing quite well that time. However, I still feel kind of nervous every time I presenting on the stage. I am actually not a big fan of presentation, presentation always makes nervous unless I am well-prepared. But presentation is a more direct way to convey messages to audiences, this is also the reason why I like presentation as an audience.
ReplyDeleteZherui Zheng
Personally, I actually do enjoy giving a presentation, and part of that is probably the Engineering and extroverted side of me coming out. For whatever reason, I do not have a problem with nerves when I present nor do I have an issue communicating my ideas to people. The only reason why I say that I like presentations more is that presentations can be done in groups whereas papers are generally speaking done individually, and I strive in an environment filled with people as opposed to being alone. I also am a fan of the spotlight from being a student athlete and from a former interest in Theater and Musicals specifically, so for me I honestly get energized when my name is called as opposed to I realize most people that get very nervous.
ReplyDeleteJacob Gordon
I'm not very good at speaking my words aloud and that makes presentations uncomfortable for me. The most nervous I've been for a presentation was during an English class in my first year of college, which was nearly two hours long. My professor really liked my material and told me she wanted me to present more during our next class, and since I couldn't decline, I ended up presenting for another two hours with another classmate. I was not only unprepared, but I was even more nervous than I was before, so that one didn't go so well. Honestly, I prefer papers because it's easier for me to write down what I think rather than say it.
ReplyDeleteI made presentation about the reason why students want to use the Internet in a sociology class. I remember I explain this topic in three ways. First, using the Internet is convenient way to study, and also can increase efficiency. Also, use of the Internet to study can allow students to gain the capacity of independence, and learn how to make choice by their self. Finally, I give that using the Internet to study can allow students to know the significance for the Internet, and learn some skills and methods about computer and some software in advance. This is my first presentation. I was so nervous, although this topic is simple and close to life. Fortunately, my classmates and teacher agree with my points. Hence, we have a great talking time interspersed in my presentation. I think that presentation is harder than writing, because the speaker need to get your point across to the audiences in a short amount of time and motivate the passion appropriately. However, I look forward to my next presentation and hope to present good effect to the audiences.
ReplyDeleteI made a presentation when I was in high school. I made a lot of preparations before the presentation and the content of the presentation is plenty. However, I still feel nervous when I speaking in front of my classmates. At that time, I feel that I am a stammer and just want to finish the presentation as soon as possible. I would like to be a paper writer because I am not good at speaking. If I were a audience, I would enjoy the presentation if the idea of the speaker is clear and easy to understand.
ReplyDeleteFeifan Wang
Back in my high school, I have give a lot of presentation, the results went well but the teamwork has went wrong few times. We had a lot of controversial thinking and can not cooperate with each other. I am not a fan of presentations. It is hard for me to present in front a lot of people. However, it is fun to watch from the audience perspective.
ReplyDeleteI've given a decent amount of presentations and I feel a lot more comfortable with them now. I think the fact that we don't actually have to give a live presentation will make things a lot less stressful. I've always found it hard in presentations to expand on what's written on the slide rather than just reading it.
ReplyDeleteI have given presentation several times before, the longest one is about why math is the most important subject. Most of the presentation went well, but I forgot some content on the speech draft near the end of the presentation, which make me quite nervous. The good thing was I handle it pretty well and finished the presentation properly. I actually like presentations more, because you can have more interaction with audiences and guide them visually using powerpoint. From the audience perspective, I enjoy presentation because I can "see" the idea speaker want to convey through their slideshow, which helps me understand their thoughts better.
ReplyDelete- Yang Jiang
I have never been a fan of giving a presentation. In fact, I think it is easier to write a paper not only for my speaking skills, but it seems that better ways of saying things comes out in writing an essay. In addition to, presentations can either be a long or short period of time allowed. In a paper, I feel like you can make your statement known in whatever length allowed. But if you have only a few minutes in a presentation, you may not include big details, and if you have a lot of time, you might run out of things to say. In all, for me, writing a paper is an easier way to express myself in comparison to a presentation.
ReplyDeleteI've given presentations before and I'm pretty confident that all of them went according to plan. The best ones that I have done are the ones I was passionate about and know a lot about. If given a topic to do a presentation on that I'm not passionate about it, I will most likely do a subpar to an average job on it. Not a catastrophe though. I usually prefer doing a presentation rather than typing a paper. I feel that speaking wise would convey more meaningful and thoughtful message/presentation to the audience rather than having them trying to find meaning or read about it on paper. I enjoy getting the satisfaction from learning something interesting when I'm part of the audience and how passionate the presenter is with their presentation topic.
ReplyDeleteI prefer doing presentations because I am more of a kinesthetic person who prefers action over reading/writing. I tend to be more interested in an assignment when it requires me to do a variety of things rather than writing on paper. What I like about presentations from an audience standpoint is that I'm more engaged and willing to learn as opposed to reading a long paper. Whenever I have to read a long paper writing, I get bored and I have no will to read it. Presentations contain a lot of elements that can keep the audiences engaged. Things like photos can really enlighten the mood.
ReplyDeleteI prefer giving presentations to writing papers because I feel like I am more focused on the content I am presenting rather than being distracted by things such as grammar mistakes or spellings. I also think that it allows me to visually see all the information I gathered more clearly rather than having important information surrounded by transition or fluff sentences.
ReplyDelete- Sara Kodish
I usually opt to write a paper over giving a presentation if that is an option because I am not a very good public speaker. Presentations make me anxious and I know that when I present I will usually stumble over my words and have trouble presenting my ideas. As an audience member, however, I enjoy listening to other people's presentations because I learn something knew and exciting and I can also learn presentation skills I can use in the feature from watching.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of presentation, and I would more choose to write a paper. This is because I believe words that i wrote would better present and describe the meaning that I want to explain. Presentation often distract my attention on other things, like preparing the personal emotion before present, and pay more attention on pronounce and audiences but not my topic. So most of the time I would rather to write a paper instead of do a presentation.
ReplyDeleteOne presentation that came first to my mind was the final for my World History class my sophomore year of high school. We were required to do a 25 minute presentation on a randomly selected decade, ranging from 1850-2010. We had to create a power point and talk in front of the class for 25 minutes!! Mostly, mine went well. I got 1860 (Abraham Lincoln is my favorite president, so I was excited), so I recited part of the Gettysburg Address in my presentation. I didn’t get the full 25 minutes because the bell rang to switch classes, but I still got full points for it! Overall, I am not a huge fan of presentations if it is in person. They make me extremely anxious and dizzy. D: So, I would rather write a paper. From the audience perspective, I do enjoy presentations. I enjoy hearing different opinions on things!
ReplyDelete-Miqaela Weller
I am a fan of presentations because it depending on the type of presentation it can be fun. I would say group presentation is fun because you get to work with people and collaborate on everyone’s viewpoint to make it better. Also, it really shows what the students learned on that specific topic to share it with the class. Then the single person presentation, I feel are a little stressful, but I definitely would rather do a presentation than a paper because it builds the public speaking and allows us to not be afraid to speak up and show our peers what we have learned. The reason I believe this is that all of us will have to be able to communicate with someone and efficiently to get what we want no matter what your major is and if you cannot convince your employer to choose you over the other people applying you will never get the job.
ReplyDeleteDepending on the topic, I sometimes am or am not a fan of presentations and sometimes might choose to write a paper instead. Sometimes presentations can be really fun. But sometimes I'd rather write just the paper because then I don't have to worry about the visual aspects of my prensentation or how to make my presentation appealing for my audience through humor or pictures or other aspects I could incorporate.
ReplyDelete-Indira Guha
I generally do not enjoy presentations, but I have been forced to do enough of them that they do not bother me that much anymore. I remember in an engineering class in high school, I had to give a twenty minute presentation, which is longer than I had ever done before. Although I was nervous beforehand, all the practice of doing presentations in other classes made this one a lot easier and I did fine on the presentation. Generally when I present, I am very nervous to begin with so at the start of my presentation, I tend to speak a lot quicker without thinking through what I am saying as much. However, as time passes during each presentation, I settle down and begin to think clearly through my thoughts and I become much less nervous.
ReplyDeleteOne of the best presentations I've ever given was for my senior project back in highschool. It was pretty easy, since I'd spent so much time learning about my topic that it came to me easily. I feel like most of the time I underprepare for presentations, but it was much easier since I'd been working on it all year and had a very clear understanding of what I did and what I wanted to tell present. It also helped that I knew who I was presenting to very well, so I didn't really care if I messed up. This eased most of the pressure off and helped me get through it.
ReplyDelete- Brad Knez
I used to do a presentation during the 1902 writing class. It was a group of 3 students and we needed to give a 10 minutes presentation of the paper we were working on. Eventually, it was just a so so presentation and I do not think its a perfect one. However generally, I seldom enjoy the presentation in english because I am afraid that my pronounceation might disturb audience since english is not my first language. I believe a good presentation need a comprehensive preparation. Once I prepare the most I think, I will be very confident and willing to show my ideas to others.
ReplyDelete--Duoyuan Wang
I definitely have a presentation story to share that isn't so fun, and perhaps the reason I am opposed to presenting today. Growing up, I was a big fan of public speaking. Throughout elementary school I participated in public speaking competitions and did very well in them. In fact, I was especially good at public speaking in french. This was a challenge for me being both a kid, and having french as my second language, but I did well with it. However, in the fifth grade, things took a turn for the worst as I got up for my first presentation in the qualifying rounds for regionals which i had won the year prior. The only twist this time was that instead of having parents and employees fill the audience, this year it was students and classmates. I don't know why this changed things for me, but all of a sudden when I got up on that stage, I could barely get the words out and started balling. It was one of the most humiliating things and I will forever be terrified of it happening again.
ReplyDeleteKristin Stremlaw
Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of presentations. Its a good way of sharing your results without having to read a several page paper. I do find this to be an interesting approach and I am excited to try it out. I am worried about this Adobe Spark application though. Is it free? Will Youtube tutorials be something I need to look up? Hopefully it is as easy as power points which is personally what I would have preferred.
ReplyDelete-Victor Caraballo
Personally, I am not a big fan of presentation. Not only because presentation can be stressful but also I believe that writing a paper is a better way for individual to express the idea. Comparing to writing a paper, presentation always makes me nervous and sometimes I can't explain the topic well because I am not comfortable to speak in front of people.
ReplyDeleteI don't really have a preference between presentations or papers. I did debate all throughout high school so I'm comfortable talking in front of people. However, I'm definitely more confident with my written word than my spoken word. Also having a paper gives the reader the opportunity to reread something if they don't understand it whereas for a presentation, if the audience misses what you said that information is lost. Additionally, since readers can reread parts of a paper, you can get away with using more advanced vocabulary whereas for presentations you have to make it easy to listen to.
ReplyDelete--Parker Spielvogel
personally, I prefer to write an essay instead of do a presentation. I'm shy to speak in public and I am afraid that so many people notice me. I remember once I did a presentation in front of my classmates when I was 15, I couldn't say any word at the first few minutes, I flushed and breathless, even if I knew my classmates are all friendly to me. After I grow up, presentation becomes more easier for me, I am trying to become more outgoing by talking with strangers, but it's too hard to feel easy to do a presentation, I need to practice many times and remember all of my speech draft. So I am more willing to write an essay.
ReplyDeleteActually, I prefer writing a paper than presentation, no matter what language I use. It is not because the presentation is stressful, instead, it is because I would like to give specific and complex perspectives with sufficient evidences and arguments when I want to describe a concept or introduce something. However, it is hard for a presentation to contain so much textual information that may make audience sleepy and I don't think images can replace textual description all the time. Presentation is better for brief introduction and highlight some important things. Another reason is that I don't think good powerpoint represents good job. Maybe someone spend most of time making PPT rather than working on assignments.
ReplyDelete------Yuhao Chen
I am definitely more fond of giving a presentation to an audience as opposed to writing a paper. Talking is a skill that I have developed through numerous life experiences, and I am extremely confident in my ability to get in front of a group of people and present an idea. I feel like there is intrinsic value to giving a presentation as you directly engage with your intended audience, you can actively gauge how they are responding, and adjust fire accordingly. As much as I enjoy presentations however, I feel the qualities I enjoy are somewhat lost in this assignment due to the conditions in which they are to be performed.
ReplyDeleteI made a presentation for my EDULT 1902. It went well because I had practiced a lot before it. My speech went fluently and all the information were presented well organized. I talked about our topics with my group members. Everyone did an excellent job whether on their speeches and transitions to next member. But the most awkward part for me is asking for the feedback of peers. Though I knew There might be no one answering my question, I had to do so. And the truth is no one answered before the teacher told them to do so. That could be my most embarrassed time in that class.
ReplyDeleteAlexa Marshall
ReplyDeleteIn 5th grade, I had the most memorable experience of my life. It was embarrassing and tragic to say the least. It has changed the way I present today. Because of this experience, I no longer have any confidence to speak in front of a crowd. What happened was I had to write a story about my favorite things. I completely got the prompt wrong and did something entirely different. I read this boy's paper that sat next to me and his was perfect. I realized right before I got called up to present that I did my paper wrong. Standing in front of the class, I read my first paragraph. Realizing that it sounded so stupid out loud, I began to cry in front of 35 kids. I cried while just standing there reading my paper and my teacher had to stop me. This is what went wrong. My teacher took me to the back classroom closet and had me read my paper to just him. This was very nice of him and he made things feel like they went better than they did. When I came out of the classroom, everyone clapped and I was obviously very embarrassed. I then realized I had affected the whole classroom. Everyone that went up to present after me started crying or had a really shaky voice. I have never been the same after this. Looking back at this though, I can laugh and see how my young self was so naive.
I have given presentation back in school and in the college in which I was there before OSU. What I love about giving presentation is using images to explain my text. Lat time when I gave my presentation, I was appreciated about the data and concepts which I was explaining. The teacher and other students in my class liked how my images and text were explaining my topic easily and nicely. What wen't wrong in that presentation was my speech. I being somebody who is afraid of talking when many people are around me, wasn't able to speak fluently. Although I knew what to speak and I had solid data to prove my point, I was so afraid that my hands actually went numb. This is what happens to me when I give my presentation in front of somebody, but if I have to record my voice, or record a video I am okay with that.
ReplyDeleteIn high school French, particularly my junior year, we would have to constantly give presentations. I remember this one presentation that I gave about a movie we had watched in class that had to be given ALL in French. So I thought that would be the hardest part- making sure everything was pronounced well and such. However, what proved to be worse was when I pretty much had a really important part of the plot really messed up. So that was pretty embarrassing. However, the notecards that I had with my notes on them were great and super helpful- even though they didn't necessarily have the right information on them (oops).
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to writing or presenting, I would much rather write a paper on it if it is a topic that I am not as interesting in. However, if the topic was something that I was passionate about I would definitely rather give a presentation about it so I can convey more emotion to the audience.
From the perspective of an audience member, I enjoy being able to analyze the style of a performance or a presentation. By analyzing, I see what aspects of the presentation went very well and what did not. Doing this helps be improve myself from the mistakes and successes of others. And I feel the same way as a presenter. I would want the audience to analyze anything I put out and learn from it so that they see what I did wrong and right and fix themselves accordingly.
ReplyDeletePersonally I would rather do presentations than write a paper. My career focuses on consulting industry so presentation skills are basic requirement. Doing presentation can be stressful which depends on the content and topic. However, I like the stronger connections between the presenter and the listeners which a simple paper is not able to realize. While doing presentations, every eye contact, gesture and facial expression are all great feedbacks. These interactions make information delivered more effective and direct.
ReplyDeleteOne of my previous presenting experiences is in the ESL writing class I took last semester. The good thing is that it is a real-time presenting and I talked quite fluently. However, I met some difficulty on making the slide using in the presentation. I didn’t conclude my opinions very well so that it looks like I just put all the things I would speak to the slides. But generally, I think I did a good presentation.
ReplyDeleteI used to have a presentation about Baji(a special kind of dolphin in China). To be honestly, I didn't have a good job. I was really nervous. However, I believed that I got a great argument in my presentation because my classmates are interesting in Baji and feel really sad about what they suffered.
ReplyDeleteI feel confident presenting in front of others. The more interested I am in my topic the better well spoken I am. With that being said, the more interested my audience seems to be with my topic, the more likely I can easily and excitedly go above my presentation time goal and provide and recall information much better while being even more informative than I planned to be. I would say I am a 7 out of 10 in terms of feelin comfortable presenting, but a paper allows me to clean up all my information and formulate my thoughts better.
ReplyDeleteI would much rather write a paper than give a presentation which I think most people would agree with. I always did okay with my presentations but you aways get super nervous and jittery. I hated that teachers would always make us do presentations as if it was a necessity for life. Not everyone needs to be good at public speaking. I am an outgoing, social person and I am comfortable speaking in a group or to other people. But when it comes to being in front of an audience presenting information, I absolutely hate it. I like that in a paper you can redo it and edit it over and over before turning it in. You can review and edit a presentation but once its given, you cannot change anything.
ReplyDelete