“The Importance of Eye Contact During Presentations” on Slidegenius

https://www.slidegenius.com/blog/importance-eye-contact-presentations/

“How to speak so that people want to listen” on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIho2S0ZahI&t=149s

The first URL refers to a webpage that gives in-depth details about eye contact during presentations. It
talks about the importance of having good eye contact as well as the ways to attain it. For example, it
mentioned that having good eye contact with the audience can help establish connections between the
speaker and the listener. Moreover, it also shows that you are confident in conveying your message to
the audience, which I believe is very important in attaining trust from the listeners towards the content
of the presentation. The second URL shows a video in which Julian Treasure talks about making the
audience wanting to listen to you. The content in the video may be irrelevant to eye contact but the
speaker showed great eye contact with the audience. I would want to use this video as a real life
example for having a good eye contact during a presentation.

I have spent around 15 minutes in reading the webpage and another 10 minutes in watching the video.
While reading the webpage, I jotted down some important notes that I thought were going to be useful
for me in improving my eye contact ability. For example, the webpage mentioned that I should involve
everybody as much as possible. Attaining eye contact with the audience is a way to involve them during
the presentation. Therefore, it was suggested to gain eye contact towards everybody as much as
possible. However, this may not be possible to achieve in a large room, so a trick was taught where I
could divide the large room into smaller sections, and choose a friendly face to look at in each section.
This is a good way to make the audience feel that I am looking at them, and making them involve
throughout the presentation. While watching the video, I tried to identify and understand the way the
speaker looked towards the audience. In the video, he barely looked at the ground nor at the
presentation slides, which made me feel that he really wanted to connect with the listeners.

In future presentations, I will revise the notes that I have jotted down about having a good eye contact.
Then, I will need to understand the content of the presentation, as this will help reduce the amount of
times I will need to refer to the slides while presenting. After that, I will practice at home while taking a
video of myself and using the camera as an audience for me to look at. Finally, I will practice presenting
in front of my group mates, and try to attain eye contact with all of them equally. My plan should be
sufficient enough to improve my eye contact ability during presentations. All it takes is enough practice
to create a good habit in attaining good eye contact with the audience. My teacher can focus on the
amount of eye contact I give to the audience throughout the presentation. Moreover, he can also
evaluate if I tried to involve all the listeners with my eyes and not merely a single person.
“Make Body Language Your Superpower” on Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFLjudWTuGQ

“Gestures and Body Language” on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3ywrgCA-1I

The first URL consists of a video that explains different kinds of body language that can be used during a
presentation. There were four speakers explaining different topics, and the third speaker talked about
the right ways to use hand gestures. He demonstrated using different gestures to express the same
message, and differences between them can be observed. The second URL is a video on a more
descriptive approach in explaining different hand gestures that can be used during presentations. For
example, the speaker divided hand gestures into four categories, which are descriptive, emphatic,
suggestive and prompting.

I spent 15 minutes watching the first video. At 6:56, he explained three types of gestures, namely the
gift, show and chop. During the video, I tried the three different gestures together with him that he used
to convey different messages. Moreover, I jotted down some important notes that he mentioned. For
example, he said that we should never point fingers and try to avoid using hands with palms facing
down. This is because they will be less effective compared to the hands with palms facing up, and may
convey a negative impression to the audience. After the video, I tried implementing some of the
gestures taught onto my final year project introduction video. I repeated the phrases I used in the video
posted on the SA record, and adding the most appropriate hand gestures. For example, the part where I
named different existing methods to calculate the coefficient of friction, I used the gift gesture to
separate different methods. For the second video, I spent around 6 minutes on it. I listed down the four
categories of hand gestures he mentioned and when to use this. For example, prompting hand gestures
should be used if I want responses from the audience. He also mentioned an important point of
identifying the natural habits of using your hands during a presentation. Instead of doing those weird
hand gestures, I should use appropriate hand gestures to support the idea.

For future presentations, I plan to apply those hand gestures demonstrated in both videos in an
appropriate manner. By doing so, I will have to plan or have an idea of which gestures would be best for
different ideas to be conveyed in the presentations. I could have some exercises where I try to extend
my hands with palms facing up to the projector. This will help me get used to using my hands more
instead of putting them on idle. After that, I could video myself at home and watch it to see if I used the
right gestures and looked natural with them. I am confident with my success in improving my hand
gestures according both of the videos that I have watched. However, sometimes there may not be a
best hand gesture for a specific idea, so different people may have different impressions towards it. I
would want my instructor to focus on my hand gestures and see if they were used appropriately during
my final presentation.
“Make Body Language Your Superpower” on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFLjudWTuGQ
This is an instructional video on using the correct posture and stance during presentations. The
speaker demonstrated ways to attain the correct posture, and teaches the audience the best
places to stand without creating any distractions to the audience. For example, he showed that
it is not good to stand behind the table with different things on it, because it distracts the
audience from looking at the speaker. Moreover, the speaker convinced the audience how
important it is to have the right posture, as different postures convey different hidden messages
to the audience. For example, putting the hands on the hips may show over-powering to the
audience. This creates a negative impression to the audience. Therefore, having the right
posture will position me as the same level as the audience, and giving a good first impression.

I have spent around 15 minutes watching the video. I jotted down some important notes, such
as the way to attain the right posture, and finding the best positions to stand on the presenting
stage. In the middle of the video, at 5:20, I followed the instructions of the speaker on attaining
the right posture together with the audience. I did not think that posture and standing positions
would make a big difference during a presentation. After watching this video, I am more aware
on what to do in order to polish my presentation delivery in the future.

For future presentations, I will plan and analyze the best positions to stand during the
presentations. Moreover, I will take a video of myself practicing the presentation at home, and
see if my posture is appropriate for the presentation. For example, I will compare the way I
stand to the speaker in the example video. I am confident that I will achieve my goal of
improving this aspect of my presentation skills. I can always get opinions from my final year
project groupmates on my stance during presentation practices. I want my instructor to focus on
the standing positions I choose during presentations as well as having the right posture
throughout the presentation.

Comments:

According to my presentation, I realized that I did not give sufficient eye contact throughout the
presentation. Although, my body was facing the audience, my eyes were mainly looking at the screen.
Moreover, I also noticed that my hands were placed in a weird posture most of the time, which made
me cringe while watching the video. Finally, I noticed that I was rocking back and forth at some point
during the presentation which could reflect an informal standing gesture. For the demo video, he gave
more eye contact than what I did as well as showing good use of his hands during the presentation. In
addition, his stance and posture were more formal throughout the presentation when compared to
mine.

Regarding the visual aids used, both of our presentation slides had adequate amount of illustrations for
better understanding of the topic. However, I found the font size in his method of working section was
too small for me to read. But, I am impressed with the animations he used to illustrate the steps one by
one. I could get this idea for my future presentations in order to have a more dynamic presentation
slides.

In terms of content and language, we displayed sufficient amount of content considering the time given.
Moreover, the organizations of the content were appropriate which created smooth flow in our
presentations. Although, I found some terms in his slides that I do not fully understand after the whole
presentation. I believe it is important to determine the type of audience and provide adequate
explanation to technical vocabularies.