Things that we require to be a better presenter

Project On:
Things that we require to be a better
presenter.

Prepared For:
Ms. Fariah Hassan

Lecturer, Department of English &

Modern Languages

North South University

Course Name: English 105
Section No: 12
Date of submission: 22 December 2019

Submitted By:

Name ID Number

Jakaria Hossain Shajid 1621829030

Contents

Abstract........................................................................................................................................3

Introduction and Background.......................................................................................................4

Research Questions......................................................................................................................4

Hypothesis....................................................................................................................................8

Research Methodology.................................................................................................................8

Data Presentation and Analysis..................................................................................................10

Summary of Research Findings..............................................................................................16

Conclusion.................................................................................................................................18

Works Cited...............................................................................................................................19
 Abstract
During my undergraduate studies I have seen that being an excellent presenter and public

speaker is a vital attribute to master. I was involved to comprehend whether or not having

higher communication skills and presentation competencies rely on a person’s gender or traits

or are there any different factors. Based on this my hypothesis was, female students are god

presenters than most male students because they are better communicators. I have observed

many insightful facts and records doing my research, most importantly my hypothesis was

validated to be wrong, and my claim used to be additionally invalidated. Though, I have

realized that we all can be higher presenters just with the aid of studying the required skills

and working towards extra often. The people who took the survey suggested that, both male

and female students could be higher presenters if they are supplied the equal facilities and

rights in our society. As Paulo Coelho once said, “Don’t waste your time with explanations:

human beings only hear what they favor to hear”. So, to be better presenters we need to also

be higher listeners, and apprehend what our target audience desires and needs
 Introduction and Background
Presentation is a quintessential part of higher studies these days. Every region

of the academic and professional lifestyles requires us to be more presentable to the people

we are addressing or interacting to. So, having to know the right structure and type of

verbal exchange abilities is very essential to characterize oneself to anybody else.

I favor to lookup on how the distinction in communication abilities things on

our presentation ability. I have noticed that both guys and females are very aware about

their look and verbal exchange skills, so that` they can present themselves better in front of

their friends and different people. Students are also doing a number vocational publications

and co-curricular things to do to enhance their methods of public communication. I surprise

how a good deal do acceptable verbal exchange abilities effect our presentation abilities,

whether or not men or female are better presenters, what makes someone a better presenter,

etc. I hope to discover the solutions of my questions through my research.

In his article Obotetukudo says, “A public speaker must be mindful of his or

her physical appearance, which like attractiveness, includes, social, emotional, intellectual,

vocal presence, handling of the speech manuscript, managing communication

apprehension, eye contacts, the smile, hand gestures, handshakes, posture, dexterity in

handling the information and communication technologies in the speaking situation; and

above all, the capability to adjust ideas to the audience, and adjust the audience to the ideas

in real-time.” (2017, para.1) Here the writer discusses about the importance of various

physical attributes and appearance like: gestures, clothing, eye-contact etc. that are required

to connect to the audience in a presentation more effectively. This is important for my

research since, it addresses how physical appearance play vital roles in delivering a good

presentation.
 However, there may also be other social and cultural factor that may be

influential determinants of a good presenter and how he/she develops into a better one.

Some people are extroverts and others are introverts by nature, and this difference in

characteristics also defines how a person communicates and/or socializes with family and

the people around them. I look forward to figure out corresponding facts that make

someone a better presenter, and whether there is any impact of gender difference in it.

"Yes, there are basic behavioral differences between the sexes, but we should

note that these differences increase with age because our children's intellectual biases are

being exaggerated and intensified by our gendered culture. Children don't inherit

intellectual differences. They learn them. They are a result of what we expect a boy or a

female to be." (McKie, 2010, para.06) This article discusses how the differences of

upbringing can affect a female or boy in developing their social skills and aptitudes.

Females usually turn emotional and talkative, and boys turn more understanding and

practical as they grow up. This is insightful for my paper as it talks about the socializing

aspect of the different genders.

 Research Questions
Being a student of Bachelor of Business Administration presentation and public

speaking is bread and butter to my graduate studies. However, in my two years of studies at

NSU I have noticed there are significant differences between the presentation skills of the

fellow students of various backgrounds, thus I grew anxious about the matter. I also noticed

that there is certain factor that may differentiate a female and a male student while they are

presenting themselves to a crowd or audience.

These matters of concern made me curious to know more about the reasons

that may be important to determine a better presenter. Thus, I thought of coming up with a

research topic and hypothesis regarding this matter. I determined to know what the general

students think about themselves at giving a speech or presentation, and how much they want

to improve themselves.

The first question that came in my mind was what are the qualities and skills

that a person should hold to be a better presenter. Since, presentation and public speaking

is a both physical and psychological attribute of a human being so, it is a natural fact that

there should be a set of determining skills or qualities.

Then, I questioned myself is there any differences between male and female

students at giving presentations. The idea was to know how and why the differences may

arise, and what individuals think about this matter.

The next question I brought up was which skills and attributes are thought to be

more important at giving a good presentation. I tried to know, whether appearance is

important, and is
There any advantage of wearing nice clothes; or, whether certain interpersonal and

communication skills more important factors of a better presentation.

As follow up questions I also asked the interviewees if they want to

improve their skills and whether a perfect balance of communication was important. I

also kept an open question over the topic of social norms and obligations, and if these

play any crucial roles on how a person socialize with the society and other people.

I also had question to know if the departments of study or majors determines

someone to be a better presenter or not. I had this question because there is a general

thought bin our society that students of certain departments are better at presenting

themselves in front of an audience.

I tried to record and evaluate the perceptions of the students from NSU, the reach to

conclusive decisions. These questions may provide me with insightful information when I

try to prove my hypothesis through real-life data analysis and statistics.

 Hypothesis
I suppose female students are higher presenters than most male college students due to the

fact they are better communicators. Having spent around 2 years studying at NSU I have

located that woman college students normally do properly in their shows than male students.

Moreover, female students are also accurate at their public talking or debate periods in a

number courses. I expect that, for the reason that most women grow-up inside strict social

norms in our usa and they additionally have had to consider many things before taking an

action. Thus, these make them greater susceptive and cautious about the people and

surrounding.

NSU is one such university in Bangladesh the place our communication capabilities are

continuously being examined and the students spend a precise amount of time making ready

and training for their presentations of a number of courses. I have continually seen most

female students being nicely organized and constructive earlier than giving any public speech

or presentation. Though there is a noticeable difference in male to female student ratio in

NSU, so the well-known viewpoint can also vary. However, we recognize that guys tend to

exhibit predominant characteristics and naturally more dominant. This may lead to a

challenging impediment at proving my hypothesis. As a person having the right stability of

communicative skills and empathy in the direction of the listeners and audience is very

essential to do properly in our presentations. Thus, I assume lady college students may be

higher presenters that their male counterparts since, they are naturally extra emotional and

understand their surrounding greater easily.

 Research Methodology
To prove my hypothesis, I deliberate to set an organized lookup involving the topic. I

accumulated references and lookup findings of a variety of qualified folks and lookup

agencies from weblogs, online articles and journals on the internet. I also designed a

questionnaire to interview a pattern populace and analysis the surveyed facts in real-life.

For the most important research, I interviewed sample of thirteen male and 13 female

students of NSU. They have been requested several a couple of preference questions and few

open questions. I tried to maintain a fair research through interviewing students of distinct

departments, and of exceptional years of studies. To obtain a standardized principal research;

I gathered the demographic facts of the interviewees as well. I additionally blanketed a

number of interviewees who are expert debaters, hosts or public speakers; moreover, there

have been different interviewees who have a tendency to have pessimistic thoughts about

their very own presentation capabilities as well.

To do the secondary research, I took assistance from the internet and assistance from few of

my fellow seniors in order to acquire applicable statistics and insights. I surfed thru

dependable web sites with relevant journals, articles or weblogs that would assist me prove

my hypothesis.

Depending on the credibility and relevance I blanketed the records collected from the net in

my research paper. These sources have substantially helped me to reach to clear selections

over the subject matter.

 Data Presentation and Analysis
The survey performed for my research had some presentable records that add huge

insights and value to my research. A sample of twenty-six students of NSU was once taken

for the fundamental research, with a fifty-fifty distribution of male and female students, on

the other hand I have now not differentiated the information from the male and woman

students one by one just to draw a customary viewpoint of the normal pattern as a whole.

Another demographic truth used to be the year of learn about of the students/interviewees;

this component is now not presented in any graphs. A full-size quantity of the interviewees

have been in their 2d and third years of studies, countless of them have been in their

graduate/final years. I also gathered records from few first year students as well. One

common factor of all the interview takers used to be that all of them have taken phase in

giving presentations and public speeches. Some were debaters so they ought to provide in

depth statistics about giving a higher presentation.

15 1.Bad
11
2.Best
10 6
4 3.Average
2 3 4.very bad
5
5.Good
0

Figure1: Self rating of interviewees on giving a speech/presentation in public

The interviewees were asked what they think about themselves as being good at

giving a speech/presentation in public (Figure.1). Majority of the survey takers are

positive about being
Neutral to good with themselves. Though females tend to be more hesitant to think that

they to be good enough.

Three out of the four who rated themselves to be 5(Good) were regular hosts and

debaters and only one out of the four was a male student. One interesting fact was that 11

out of all the 26 interviewees rated themselves to be 3(Average) and 6 of them rated

themselves to be above average.

Here, we can see a positive perception among more than 80% of the survey takers,

who think they are average to good at giving presentations. And, only a handful of them

think they are below the standard.

This allowed me to evaluate their interest to improve their communication skills

and be better presenters, shown in Figure2.

Figure2: People who want to improve their communication skills

They were asked if they wanted to improve their own communications skills,

surprisingly 18 people strongly agreed, and 8 remained neutral or agreed. I was surprised to

see that no disagreed/strongly disagreed to improve themselves, and only the two` debaters

remained neutral about the fact of improving their skills.

 31%
Male students
Female students
69%

Figure3: Who is a better presenter between a male and a female student?

The statistics of the most important question (this is a crucial determinant to prove

my hypothesis) is shown in Figure.3 As per the survey findings we can see that 69% of the

survey takers think male students are better presenters, than female students. The reasons

they may think so are male students in our society are usually more confident and

extrovert compared to the female students; as the survey shows only 31% of the people

think female students are better presenters. This statistics may have proven my hypothesis

to be wrong, as the data shows that male students are better presenters.

To know why people think so, I asked them what they think is more important for

giving a better presentation. The results are illustrated in Figure4.

12% Gesture/body language

4% Appearance Eye Contact
4% Fluency of speech
Confidence
15%
65%
 Figure4: Most important quality to be a better presenter

Merrick says in his online article, “Communicating clearly and with confidence

will create incredible results. At every age and stage in your career, you will find you

achieve your goals faster by practicing habits that help you communicate with confidence

and influence. You can apply these habits in every type of communication, including

conversations, presentations, video calls, and emails.” (2016, p.01) So, we can now

understand that why most people think male students to be better presenters, since men are

thought to be more confident and outspoken than women.

20
15 Strongly Agree
15 Agree Neutral Disagree
10 Strongly Disagree
10

5
1
0

Figure5: Importance of having a perfect balance of communication skills

This was the easiest question to answer probably, since around half the survey

takers strictly agreed (15 out of 26) to the fact that perfect balance of communication skills

is important to grab attention of the audience. The rest also agreed with our statement as

well, with onle one person staying neutral.

The online article also tells us about the habits that we can acquire to become

better communicators. It is mentioned that having good clarity in our speech, using

confident body language, listening to the audience, talking in a precise and brief way and

practicing to improve
our presentation skills, help use become better communicators irrespective to our gender or

age (Merrick, 2016).

1
4
10
7
Strongly Disagree 4
Disgree Neutral Agree
Strongly Agree 0
5
10

Figure6: Do presentation skills depend on the department of study

The date in the table illustrates that 11 out of 26 agrees with our statement, whereas

10 and 5 remains neutral or disagrees respectively. Now a days group/individual

presentations are being introduced in all the departments of any institutions, but still

people think that business students and graduates are better with their presentations and

communications skills due to the number of presentations they have to take during their

years of graduations.

We can see from the graphs that, maximum of the people think that our

presentation ability depends on the department of study; this may be because we become

better presenters as we practice it more often. As said in the weblog in Forbes, “So to learn

to speak well and successfully, in addition to mastering your content, figuring out what to

wear, and a host of other desiderata, you need to shift responsibility for your body

language and posture to your conscious mind –preferably while practicing your speech

adequately – for as long as it takes to ensure a good result during the actual speech.”

(Morgan, 2016) The article tells that while giving the

Speech we should have confident postures and during the speech we should focus on

maintaining openness and moving toward the audience, and avoid sitting back.

There was also an open question about what the interviewees think about the

influence of social norms and obligations that mold the way a person socializes with other

people. Everyone, answered a “YES” to this question, the suggestions and analysis of this

question have been talked about in the next section of my research paper.
 Summary of Research Findings
In today’s world offering oneself to the society in a vital part of life. If we are to determine

who is a better presenter we need to look into a number of factors and prerequisites that are

current in our society and individuals. I have located that being confident, having an exact

command over the topic and fluency of speech are the predominant elements for giving a

properly presentation or speech. All in all a perfect balance of communication abilities is

additionally very important.

However, I have realized that gender may also no longer be a identifying factor, and indeed

male students are generally thinking to be better presenters than most woman students due to

their predominant traits and greater tiers of confidence. This, have verified my hypothesis to

be wrong as nicely as my claim for women being higher communicators is also located to be

in valid.

People suppose that the surrounding culture, society and people decide how we improve our

communicational skills and perspectives. Many assume that women are historically being

discouraged to speak-up and make bold statements in our society, this have regularly turned

our female counterparts a little vulnerable at representing themselves and socializing

publicly. Moreover, they may be other social expectations and pointers that designs a

person’s take to the outdoor world. “average male most wants appreciation, approval and

encouragement (among other things), all of which can be met by quick communications in

both instructions ,while the average female most wishes caring, grasp and reassurance

(among different things) which are best met in the primary by using longer communications

(in both speakme and listening).” (Warner, 2013, para.07) This weblog put up discusses

about various researches over closing 30 years and tells that women usually grow to be more

environment friendly and state-of-the-art talkers from age 3 to 16, whereas boys generally

attain that stage in the age sixteen to 18. Females are also higher listeners, extra empathetic
and focused whilst they are talking to someone. However, as people grow up our society

molds the way they socialize and interacts with different people. Moreover, most women are

affected due to these tasks and they lose their confidence and activity to talk out or stand up

for themselves.
 Conclusion

To conclude, I can say that male students are comparatively higher presenters than most lady
Students. Though females become higher communicators at an early stage but, they are
subsequently affected via the norms and responsibilities set up via our society. Our females
have always remained the underprivileged halves, even after having the competencies and
skills they are unable to make their mark in the world platform more often.

As for suggestions, pattern population ought to have been a lot large as only surveying on 26
People might also not illustrate the complete scenario. There may want to have been
distinctive viable outcomes.
As per research, most people think they work on to enhance their Communication skills and
be better presenters. Moreover, absolutely everyone thinks that all People irrespective to their
gender and historical past of study have to be supplied the equal Privileges by using our
society and schooling system; and, we should also strive to improve our Competencies via
practice and learning.
 References
Morgan, N. (2016, Sep 08). How Your Body Language Affects Your Public Speaking --

And What To Do About It. Forbes. Retrieved from

https://www.forbes.com/sites/nickmorgan/2016/09/08/how-your-body-language-

affects-your-public-speaking-and-what-to-do-about-it/#696764a535b6

McKie, R. (2010, Aug 15). Male and female ability differences down to

socialization, not genetics. The Guardian. Retrieved from

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/aug/15/females-boys-think-same-

way.

Obotetukudo, S.W. (2017, Jun 21). How Do You Communicate Your Ideas? (11)

Physical Appearance in Delivering Your Speech Presentation. Medium.

Retrieved from https://medium.com/@obotetukudocreatives/how-do-you-

communicate-your-ideas-11-physical-appearance-in-delivering-your-speech-

presentation-87d3d41fed0b

Warner, DR. J. (2013, Jun 14). Are Women Better Communicators Than Men? [Weblog

post]. Retrieved from http://blog.readytomanage.com/are-women-

bettercommunicators-than-men

Merrick, C. (2016, Feb 14). 5 Simple habits that will make you a better communicator.

Business Insider. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/5-simple-habits-

that-will-make-you-a-better-communicator-2016-2

Thank you!