Monday, November 23, 2015

Presentations’ Posting

In order to communicate effectively, there are several aspects to keep in mind when presenting in a listener-centered manner. Some of the typical presentation mistakes we discussed in class are: ignoring the audience, avoiding eye contact with the audience, not using professional fonts and design, not dressed appropriately, not being prepared, not knowing the purpose of the presentation or not knowing what to expect from the audience, not keeping up with the time limit, not repeating the main points, wrong body language, looking at the board, etc. One of the most critical guidelines that I follow is rehearsing the presentation prior to the delivery time. When practicing the presentation, we can address several of the typical presentation mistakes. For example, when I rehearse a presentation, I make sure I will know the content of the presentation so that I will not have to look at the visual aid (powerpoint) often. When I know the content really well, it will allow me to invite questions from the audience and answer them. One of the hardest guideline to follow is the reduction of filler words such as um, so, etc. Even with plenty of practice, sometimes filler words might come in unintentionally. This might also be part of nervousness to present. It is very important that we try to avoid all these typical mistakes in order to give a very effective presentation.

Monday, November 16, 2015

Blog Posting #10 Presentations

Part 1:
    Anderson's Chapter 20 reflects on creating and delivering listener centered oral presentations. The first part of the chapter focuses on defining the objectives of the presentation in a listener-centered manner by determining who the listeners are and what they expect. The chapter also emphasizes on selecting oral and visual media that is most appropriate for the presentation. This can be achieved by considering the audience, the topic and the purpose. The other part of the chapter focuses on strategies and guidelines that will help the listeners to understand and remember the main points that we made. It is important to identify the main points and create a simple structure built around the main points. In order to maintain the listener's attention, we should talk in a conversational style by expressing our selves clearly. There are also some non verbal strategies we can use to establish and maintain a personal connection with the audience such as maintaining eye contact. It is also appropriate to invite questions either during or after the presentation to ensure listener participation. To make effective team presentations it is critical to develop the presentation as a team and rehearse it together. Overall, this chapter explains how to prepare presentations that are helpful and informative to the listeners and how to deliver them properly.


Part 2:
    One of the recent presentations that I have witnessed is for one of my classes that described a topic and presented it as a website. Since it was a team presentation, the team should have rehearsed the presentation prior to it. In some of the groups, I witness lack of rehearsal. There were several filler words and hesitations that displayed improper practice. Another issue I saw was that one team wasn't aware of the structure of the presentation. There should be a logical coherence with a clear introduction and ending. They were missing the appropriate linkage in between. It is also critical to think about the purpose of the presentation and make sure the listeners is interested in that with the help of visual and graphic aids. It is important to keep the presentation short so that we don't lose the audience. When considering one of the presentations I have given, one problem I faced was nervousness. In order to take care of this issue, I have followed certain strategies such as relaxing before the presentation, talking to the audience before the presentation, etc. One of my strengths is my body language when I deliver the presentation. I make sure that there is a connection to the audience and invite any questions.


Part 3:
        Our group plan on breaking up the presentation into several parts such as summary of statement of work, summary of feasibility report, system prototype walk through, a conclusion and a reflection. The group should be able to decide who will talk about which section depending on which section they are most familiar with. I am planning to cover some parts of the feasibility report since I am most comfortable with that section. In order to showcase our prototype we will be using FluidUI. This will help with the screen transitions as well. One of the biggest idea I want our audience to take away will be the main points that we present such as how our application is different from the existing application and about the customized notifications.


Friday, November 6, 2015

WOVEN Communication’ Posting

WOVEN is used to represent different types of communications. WOVEN stands for
Written, Oral, Visual, Electronic, Non-verbal. The following is a list of communication genres along with the explanation of each type of communication:


  • Power Point Presentation: This genre includes W + O + V + E + N, all the acronyms. When the PowerPoint includes written text, it incorporates W, O is included since it is usually heard by a group of people. If there is any sort of graphics or diagrams involved, it includes V. Since it is presented on an electronic device and it is transmitted electronically, it includes E. In order to assist the audience in understanding the presentation, gestures can be used, which includes N. 

  • Video: This genre includes E+V+O+N. E because videos are viewed electronically. V and O will be used because Visuals are used to display the information that are being explained Orally. In some cases, it is critical to understand the Non-Verbal signals. 

  • Blogs: Blogs or websites includes the acronyms W+V+E. The text included in the blog is Written, the images in the blog posts that aids the readers are Visual. Since blogs require an electronic medium and internet connection, it uses Electronic as well. 

  • Essays: This genre includes W+V. In order for the reader to interpret the texts, W is involved. Visual communication is included because it involves interpreting the visuals such as charts in the documents. 

  • Speech: This includes O+N. O is involved because there is a speaker that communicates the information and a person or group of people hearing it. Non-verbal communication is used because of the incorporation of gestures, certain facial expressions, and tone when giving the speech. 

Monday, November 2, 2015

Chapter 10 Posting/Developing an effective style

Part 1:
            Chapter 10 demonstrates ways of how to sound confident in our communication, how to communicate effectively, how to convey the meaning of the communication clearly to the reader, and how to create a professional voice. One of the guidelines that I often use is "Find out what is expected." It demands us to predict how formal the subjects expect our communication should be, the style of the communication, personal style or impersonal style to distance ourselves. The subject's expectation of the style depends of several factors such the subject's personality, our personality, traditional customs in our field, employer's organization, our purpose, professional relationship with the subject, etc. I have found myself using this guideline the most when I am attending interviews. Before the interview, I do enough research to find the background information about the interviewers and the company. This information will usually give enough clues on what to expect. The tone is almost always very professional and the distance in communication will change accordingly. It is also important to avoid stereotypes. In most cases, we might not know the background of the person, let it be cultural, institutional, or any other categories of background. It is always better to convey a professional tone from the beginning. It can only help us and the subjects


Part 2:
             In my opinion, Sample 3 does a better job linking the objectives and Solution. It has taken into consideration each functional and non functional requirement objectives and linked the solution to it. Sample 3 even considers the subsections. Though Sample 2 provides a summary at first and then link objectives to solution, it is not as explicit as Sample 3. Sample 3 demonstrates the calculations of how they will approach the grading by linking the formulas correctly with their objectives. A fault that I found for Sample 2 was their lack of alternate solutions. Whereas, Sample 3 gives two separate formulas for performing their task. The Solution for Sample 3 addresses the scope very clearly and precisely. The details were highlighted in a very comprehensive manner. The sub sections and other steps further solidifies the issue that the team is trying to solve. Though both samples provide a system architecture diagram, Sample 3's diagram displays a flow of information visually which can help readers analyze the critical components of the system. In my opinion, Sample 2 has failed in handling its scenarios since it doesn't translate well. Even though Sample 2 addresses the issue redundantly, it still does a good job on addressing the details of the project.


Part 3: 
          I believe that Sample 2 has the most effective Resources section compared to the other two samples. One thing that struck the most is how it is organized into two separate tables. One for resources provided by the team and one for resources provided by the client. Breaking down the resources into two separate tables is useful for the reader as well as for the team. As opposed to that, samples 1 and 3 just include that in a text format, not necessarily grabbing a reader's attention.  Another component that I liked is inclusion of reason, source and cost. It makes it visually easier for a reader to analyze the section. The titles were emphasized for both resources(provided by clients and team). From what we have learned in Chapter 10, this displays professionalism and it is very effective in grabbing a reader's attention. My second choice would be Sample 1 but it is not as succinct as Sample 2. This sample has made my list because it includes two separate sections for the resources as well. One for hardware and software resources and one that's supplied with the help of GTPD. I also like the way they have formatted the section with the inclusion of appropriate spacing, and appropriate font sizes.