Selfassessment on an Oral Presentation

Self-assessment Memo

Chosen leader: Oprah Winfrey

Table of contents:

1.1 Self-assessment of presentation

2.1 Feedback from the group

3.1 Analysis of the presentation

3.1.2 The task

3.1.3 Nonverbal aspects

3.1.4 Verbal aspects

4.1 Personal goals

5.1 Self-improvement strategy

1.1 Self-assessment of presentation

Having a presentation the first day of school was both scary and exciting, but being challenged in different ways than what we are used to, is something I have been looking forward to. I had chosen to speak about talk-show host and personality Oprah Winfrey, who has been an inspiration to me reasoned her strong motivation and drive for what she believes in. After my presentation my thoughts were that it went okay, even tough I had been nervous and a bit stressed in advance. If I were to say my biggest strengths, it would be that my English is good, that I am perceived as sincere and for the most part speak clearly without a script. Speaking to low was my biggest weakness, and I also could have used my nonverbal communication better.

My prepared structure:

* Who is Oprah Winfrey and her achievements

* Oprah as a leader

* Why she inspires me

2.1 Feedback from the group

Getting feedback from the group right after my presentation was something I appreciated, because that allowed me to see if my review of myself matched up with the groups` perspective. When told about my strengths they mentioned that my outline and structure was in a naturally order and that I spoke clearly. Further on they said that my body language was calm and comfortable, and that I had a good pronunciation. Weaknesses that came up was the volume, that i should have spoken a bit louder, and that I could have tried to have more direct eye contact with different people in the room.

3.1 Analysis

3.1.2 The task

When it comes to the time perspective I was within the limit of 3 minutes, speaking for 2.08 minutes. Having 50 seconds to go, I know see that I could have had some more information about her work and achievements for example. While writing my presentation I had in mind that I wanted it to be short and precise, without putting on a dreary list of historical facts. However, it became more brief than expected. A probable reason is that my speed tends to increase when I am nervous, which I was, state to the reason it was a totally new environment. Taken the fact that nobody knew each other well, I think everyone was curious about how each person would perform, how people act in a more formal arena. Establishing credibility with the audience I feel I managed at a medium level, but I had a harder time getting a direct contact with the audience.

3.1.3 Nonverbal aspects

Looking at my presentation video on mute I discover both movements and gestures that I was aware of, and some I was not aware of. Nonverbal matters are by my opinion my weakest area during the presentation. My first thought when watching the video for the first time was my lack of eye contact and my unfocused sight, not having a stop point. Holding my hands together is something I do a lot, and I think I lack a more variety of movements. I think I have a pretty good posture, standing up straight and facing the audience.

My face has a positive expression most of the time and I tend to