Professional Development Report

Assessment Task 5: Professional development report

Formal Presentation

[Date of your last presentation]

[Time of your last presentation]

[Duration of your last presentation]

International Institute of Management & American College

Brief Overview of the Formal Presentation

Formal presentations are of great significance when it comes to professional development. I gave a presentation at my institute sometime back. This was supposed to be the final presentation of my term project for a course. I was required to draft the introduction. The task of drafting the introduction involved a brief explanation of the 5W’s and 1H of my research. These included the “who, what, when, where, why and how.” I was the first one to go so conveying most of the information in the introduction was my responsibility. As I progressed further with my presentation, I was also required to focus on the main body and the conclusion. I conveyed most of the significant information to my targeted audience through the main body. Whatever I wanted my audience to take away from my formal presentation was included in the main body. I ensured that all the points that I discussed in my presentation were discussed in the correct order of priority. A formal presentation is likely to address all the important points in the beginning, with information of low priority saved for the end. My formal presentation for a course also required an effective discussion of the argument through authentic evidences. Repetition was also involved at certain points to stress on the important points. Conclusion of the presentation was brought in line with the introduction, to review all the material discussed in the presentation.

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Skills Acquired through Formal Presentation

Formal presentations are a great way of acquiring skills considered significant in the corporate world. I have given several formal presentations in my academic career that made me develop time management skills. While giving out a formal presentation, it is important to be able to manage time. This is because other presenters might be waiting for their turn and there may be other presentations lined up. Hence, time management skills can be acquired through presentations after putting in considerable amount of time in practices. Formal presentations also enable the individuals to speak authoritatively. It is a skill cherished in the corporate world. Speaking becomes effective if formal presentations become more frequent. In addition, an individual giving formal presentations also gets the chance to refine their communication skills because presentations require conveying information to the audience. Effective speaking and communication are two of the most important elements of leadership skills. Formal presentations tend to prepare an individual for the corporate world by enhancing their leadership skills.

What did you like most about the professional development activity?

I loved to connect with my audience while giving a formal presentation. I saw how people actually paid attention while I spoke. It made me feel that my opinions and research mattered to many people. I felt valued and appreciated for all the effort I had put in to prepare the presentation. I felt connected to my audience. I shared some very important information with my audience during the presentation that was acknowledged. Since everything had been based on authentic evidences, the credibility of my presentation with all the information that I shared with those who were watching me present was acknowledged. Since I was presenting with someone, I loved how we collaborated and put in equal effort to prepare the presentation. When an individual is required to present with another individual or a group of individuals, things usually get messy because of disagreements and other coordination problems. This was not the case in my situation. I managed to work in collaboration with my colleague and we coordinated properly. We conveyed all the relevant information to our audience altogether and got appreciated. It is through this professional development activity that I found someone as competent as me to work with. Finally, the positive feedback that I received from my assessor and the audience was something the I really liked about this professional activity.

What did you like least?

There has to be a negative attached to every positive in almost every situation. Similarly, there were some aspects of this formal presentation that I did not like or appreciate at all. First and foremost, I could not be very fluent in what I tried to convey to my audience. I managed to convey it well, but it could not happen in the manner that I had expected or what is expected from a professional public speaker. For example, I was always taking an awkward pause through “ummm.” In order to fill the silence, I also used words like,”uhh” “you know” “literally” and some more “ummm.” This is called being disfluent, which I am. I guess I must have maintained silence for a few seconds because that is way better than filling it with such words, disrupting the flow of a formal presentation. When I first began to present the introduction of my topic, I was really shy. I appeared to be confident but in actual I was not. What I hate about formal presentations is the anxiety they tend to cause to people who are not very good speakers or presenters. I was rather anxious before the presentation, and even throughout. All the eyes on me made me nervous.

Benefits of participating in the professional development opportunity

There are several benefits of participating in formal presentations. It helps build confidence. When formal presentations become more frequent, an individual tends to get used to them and acquire confidence. It is through the enhanced confidence that the individual is able to speak effectively and communicate better. Individuals also receive feedback from the audience for their presentations. It is through the feedback that a presenter learns where they went well and what areas need improvement. Feedbacks in formal presentations are a great way to learn areas of improvements and key strengths. It helps with self-awareness. Feedback can also be indirect, such as audience not paying attention, implying that the presenters must work on the quality of content they are presenting and the style of presenting it. This will result in improvement. Participating in formal presentations is likely to produce influential and charismatic public speakers.