Friday, May 22, 2009
now and then

Finally my seminar's over and the results out.

I was reflecting on it and i realised that this is my first major group project and presentation in Uni. One that actually forms a major component of the unit grades anyway. I had an American and a Swedish exchange student in my group along with two locals, and a French guy for a tutor. It was quite a good experience working with others whose views and way of doing things differ from what i'm used to. Sure it was hard to communicate certain ideas at times because we all have different levels of understanding and experience.

The countless presentations in poly has made it second nature to me. When it comes to getting a powerpoint presentation done, I'd know exactly what the dos and don'ts are. Public speaking is also not a problem. Sure sometimes the nerves get in the way but more often than not, it's kept under control. Professionalism, needless to say, is part of the course itself. All of these were expected of me and naturally, I expect to see all that as well in any presentation.

The critic in me is hard to suppress, particularly when it comes to the details of presentations. It's quite astonishing to find that the standard of presentations here is vastly different from what it is back home. I could imagine FJ and Poh Bee's jaws drop if they had a chance to see the presentations yesterday... and perhaps fail them immediately (on presentaion alone, ignoring the contents). Colours were all over the place making fonts hard to see, no consistency throughout the presentation and in some cases so obviously done by different people, wordy points, pictures that makes no sense but were there because it's "pretty", some people were mumbling, lack of eye contact... i could go on.

Most shocking bit of them all? The entire class got a minimum of a Distinction (7.1/10). Seriously, do they not have expectations and standards when it comes to presentations? Also, our class was the only batch that got a grade range of D-HighD. The highest mark for the previous batch was apparently (7/10) which only one group attained. I really wonder how bad they were.

After sitting through all the presentations, I was sure it was a free toss for Joyce's group and my group to take up the top 2 spots. Sure enough... we did, taking up the two High Distinctions in the class. Those who made comments about asians not being able to do as well in presentations have a lot to be ashamed about. Joyce's group was asian-dominated with 5 out of 8 members being asians. i shall not go on about the naive individuals making ignorant comments (only a handful.. most aussies are nice people).

Anyway, what really prompted me to write this entry was the reminiscing of my very first group presentations in poly. The one that pretty much threw two girls who didn't exactly get along with me all that well right in my face and said "Nah! You have no choice but to get along!". We had conflicting ideas and we argued. The other two put together with us were so quiet and timid, they would just watch as sparks flew between the three of us. Eventually, we learnt. We realised that our differences could work to our advantage, constantly bringing new ideas to the table. By the end of it, Priya was an expert at expressing my thoughts and finishing my sentences, and Jasmine widened my scope of thought adding new perspectives to things. We didn't just get along, we forged a bond. The beginnings of what's to be a wonderful friendship.

The other two? By the end of it, they have been transformed. We gave them a complete make-over (presentation skills-wise). They slowly gained the courage to chipped in in the midst of our sparks. It was a show of fireworks by the end. (ha.) They became such confident individuals for the final presentation, from what was softspoken mumbling and lots of fidgeting. We were so proud of them.

Both first major presentations but both so vastly different, emotions and experience. Nonetheless, I have enjoyed both.