Name: Marwah Ghafary

Student number: 643553

First Presentation
My first presentation was about me, Marwah Ghafary: an Afghan girl born in The
Netherlands who loves being creative, looking at other creative work, and enriching my
knowledge of different cultures by for instance traveling.

To begin with, some of the strong points that I gathered from my tutor and observers, were
the following. First of all, the use of flashcards was something that I was praised for. My
other classmates did not use them, and for that reason, I surmise I stood out. In high school,
we were taught to use them by our teachers and they have never failed me before. Especially,
when I felt nervous presenting, I feel at ease, that if I forget the words or trip over my words,
the essential points are still in my hands in the form of bullet points. The use of flashcards
was also mentioned in the literature we had to read for the first meeting. However, this was
not new information for me so I brought that with me whilst preparing for the first
presentation. Moreover, the tempo of my voice was alright as well. I did not elaborate on
myself too fastly but at a normal pace. This made my story understandable. Personally, I
thought I spoke too fast for that happens when I become nervous and sometimes I trip over
my words as I said before. Therefore, after presenting, I was afraid I had not articulated well.
Hence, I was happy with this feedback. Another point was using my body language in
relation to the board. I understood that some have the tendency to look at the board for too
long instead of directing one’s story to the audience. Nonetheless, my turning to the board
and pointing out the pictures that illuminated my hobbies, actually supported my story. It was
a great way of presenting my topics, which I agreed with as well. The board is an aid for the
speaker, why not refer to it throughout the presentation if it helps enlighten my subject.

Then, the points to improve on were the following. To start with, my body language. In the
articles, it was mentioned to not sway one’s body a lot. In class, we also watched a video on
how your stance should be when presenting. I tried to take that into mind whilst presenting.
Yet, the constructive feedback I received was on my ‘swinging’, which I noticed afterward
too when it was mentioned. I tend to swing a bit or lean on one leg when I am standing and
talking to not only someone but a group as well. It is something I needed to improve on, to
feel more confident and ‘stronger’ too, just like the person in the video taught us. It will give
the speaker the ‘power’ in the room, as the tutor said. A better, straight posture will engage
the audience more. Thus, this is something I made my learning objective. Furthermore, I went
over the time limit of three minutes. Whilst I was preparing, I timed myself and each time it
was under the limit. However, during the presentation, I noticed that I overexplained myself
and put extra sentences to my story. The reason for doing this was because I felt as if the
audience did not understand me that clearly, not in the way of talking but in the way of
explaining my points. Having the habit of analyzing people’s faces, I confound ‘listening
attentively’ with a serious expression with ‘listening but being confused’. Consequently, this
was my second learning objective.

Second Presentation
My second presentation was about what living in a war zone, thus experiencing traumatic
events does to one’s brain. In my presentation, I focused on the effects of PTSD and what the
differences were between a ‘normal’ brain and one that has been affected by traumatic
events.

To begin with, a strong point of mine was the table of content. It gave a brief overview of
what I wanted to convey to my audience in the span of five minutes. Personally, I find this a
great tool both for myself and for my audience to have a good structure that is followable and
logical. When I use it, I can gather from the expressions of my audience that they follow what
I am going to talk about, and it is a tool to keep them engaged. Additionally, I summarized at
the end what PTSD stands for, and the two articles I used. Summarizing helps to freshen up
the audience’s mind, it sticks and helps them think and remember the topic of the speaker.
When I concluded my topic, I sensed from the expressions of the audience that my topic had
sunk in from not only the serious expressions but from the brief silence that followed after I
thanked everyone as well. This was due to my using my mother as the main example. Hence,
I surmise the personal story was the reason for the attentive gazes from the audience. This
brings me to the next point, using enough depth. Because I told my mother’s story and linked
it with an actual topic followed by analyzing it from a psychological point of view, I gathered
that there was enough depth in my presentation. To my mind, using an anecdote, here the
story of my mother, is the best way of engaging the audience. The use of anecdotes was also
mentioned in the article. During, the TED talk by Sara Valencia Botto, I noticed her using her
husband, a personal story, as the anecdote throughout her presentation. This led to me using
an anecdote too. Lastly, my posture had improved. It was not distracting, I was not swinging,
just standing on both feet and using appropriate gestures. I did not remark on this whilst I was
presenting for I was too focused on conveying my information, yet felt great I reached my
learning objective.

Then, points for me to improve on were, for instance, the number of words I used on the
slides. The slide on the ‘Normal Brain’, contained too many words. I had put bullet points.
However, I understood this was not needed as the picture of the brain with the different terms
was enough. So, fewer words and a clear slide is my learning objective. This leads me to the
following point: the use of technical terms. I decided to use technical terms for the reason that
I surmised because of the audience I presented to, it would be appropriate. The audience I
presented to knew what for example, the ‘hippocampus’ or ‘corpus callosum’ meant. I
understand that I have to keep the audience in mind when presenting. Therefore, presenting
this topic would have never been my idea if it were for non-psychology students. Lastly,
something that is going to keep on being my objective, for now, is keeping to the time limit
of five minutes as I, went over the limit by ten seconds. I was not aware of this, thus this will
be a point I need to improve on. I want to keep on practicing by recording myself to be under
the time limit.

General learning objectives and learning plan for final presentation.

I would asses my presentation skills according to the observation form as the following. my
strong points would be the structure, interaction with the audience, use of language and voice,
and use of resources. I had a table of content, I kept glancing across the room throughout my
presentation, used appropriate terms, had a good tempo and made use of the board,
flashcards, and did not impede the view of the board.
I surmise, my posture has improved as well as my confidence. By practicing more and
becoming aware of the way I stand, I become more confident in the way I present. Therefore.
I feel more comfortable and convey the message more confidently. Because the second
presentation was just two days later than the first and during the first presentation, everyone
showed their vulnerable side by enlightening their personality. This helped not only me but
everyone to present in a more relaxed way.
My two learning objectives for the final presentation will be the following. First, I want to
keep a straight posture with both of my feet on the ground, not leaning on one leg, and stop
swinging with my head whilst presenting. I want to reach this learning objective by becoming
aware of my posture when I engage in conversations, and sort of ‘training’ myself to have a
straight posture. Practicing more, eventually will improve my posture and become second
nature to me. Second, I want to stop adding extra sentences to the script that I rehearsed for
my presentation to stop going over the time limit. I want to do this by practicing more by
recording myself and standing in front of my laptop in my room as if I were presenting at
university, but presenting to my family instead.