Events Feedback Issues - Essay Example

Events Feedback Event I attended a business event hosted and organized by the Miami Technology community where Software start-ups were competing for a prize based on who had the best project. It was an ordinary presentation although instead of a neutral audience, there was also a jury whose role was to assess the ideas presented. Although the distinction was necessary given the nature of the event, there was a forced definition of roles since each of the parties could actually have played the role of the other. As matters stood, the audience was not in a position to comment on, or interrogate the ideas that being the exclusive role of the jury. One of the key priorities for businesses is to seek out potential partners with whom they can collaborate and in this event this opportunity was presented in that the audience was allowed to interact with the start-up leaders. While I appreciated the chance, I found that it could have been done in a more practical way had the opportunity been allowed after rather than before the presentations were made. Although I talked to some of the presenters and tried to get the gist of their ideas and make contacts, it was frustrating to know I would not be allowed to interact with them after they had presented. Only the jury was allowed to ask questions, which made the presenters focus more on them rather than the audience rendering us passive if not redundant. One would expect that if they are to find about an idea, they could make relevant enquiries. That way if a company fails to win the prize, they may still find potential partners in the audience. Considering that in such an event the audience is picked from professional and potential investors, it was not fair to deny them a chance to cross-examine ideas since the jury may not necessarily ask focus on everyone’s concerns. For most part, the presentation was a verbal one, speakers mostly the presenters from the app companies gave speeches that lasted on average 10 minutes, and they answered questions from the jury while the audience listened passively. However, I was also involved in a non-verbal communication with the presenters before they took to the podium through handshakes and face-to-face conversation that involved reading each other’s facial expressions and gestures. In addition, there was use of intonation and gestures by the jury, audience members constantly used body language such as nodding or clapping during the presentation. Aside from the speeches, there was plenty of visual information more so advertising video on mounted screens as well as digital presentation of the apps. Some of the video were very comprehensive, one app maker had one that allowed them to turn any game into a multiplayer using wave interaction and after viewing the video, the concept became immediately clear. I have always found that watching things allowed me to understand better than listening to ideas. In my opinion, for a business idea to be viewed positively, the presenter should be as expressive as possible using visual media since it boosts continence on their part and saves time for the potential partners who can quickly make up their minds. Event 2 The university of Miami writing center organized an event aimed at helping the student body to become more conversant with the use of digital media in academic presentation since it could reinforce the communication between them and their audience. Two speakers both of whom are professors from the English department hosted the event; the mode of presentation is structure like a typical classroom scenario only it is livelier. The role of the audience was quite active as the speakers allowed us to contribute especially in providing aesthetic attachments to presentation, which the professors claimed we were better at. Consequently, there was little separation of roles and almost everyone in attendance contributed something to the discussion. In my opinion, this was the best presentation I had ever attended; in fact, I felt as if I learnt and taught at the same time, which is rare in traditional passive lecture halls. It was divided into two parts, in the first, the speaker discussed the importance of using technology during presentation, to demonstrate this they used the system central model by Baddeley and Hitch memory theory, which addresses the interaction between visual audio and long-term memory. By applying this theory, professors can reduce the common causes of distraction in digital media such as excess slide and figure out how to develop catchy and attractive presentation by understating how the audience responds to different stimuli. The next part of the presentation was visual and the speakers only gave a brief definition of the usage of digital media; they then showed us more specific methods of applying digital media to our presentation. These included using a big writing board, which looks more like toys that children use to play, which they demonstrated, was capable of attracting a lot of attention. They then used a PowerPoint to create pages of PowerPoint presentation using suggestions from the audience and used it to show how strong a connection there is between interactive digital presentations. In fact, the demonstration made the point the professors were trying to make quite explicitly for them, unlike traditional presentations, this one simultaneously appealed to the audio and visual senses. When done professionally by applying various elements of color graphics and sound, the presentation is both fun and has more impact since it will be remembered for longer. In the end, I realized that while digital technology is important in that it makes it easier to render the content, it primarily serves to bolster the connection between the presented and their audience. Therefore, as long as there is a positive connection between the two parties the presentation is likely to be more successful and fulfilling. From the lecture, I would recommend that there should be a permanent course in universities and other learning institutions so that group learning and normal class work can be enhanced with available technology and interactive learning techniques. Event 3 I attended an event at the Miami university writing center hosted by two speakers who taught me and my fellow participants on how to apply personal viewpoints and supply evidence while discoursing on controversial topics. Despite being structured after a normal classroom affair, the lecture was mostly informal and the speakers used simple words and phrases, which improved their overall efficacy and made the audience more attentive. The first stage of the lecture consisted of a demonstration in which the speakers enacted a common conversation where two people were discussing, which team played better in a football match that was played the previous night. One of the speakers takes an aggressive and affirmative tone, he immediately lists all the facts on which his opinion is founded, he claimed that his team covered more yards and the opposition had poor defense and were not focused. The second speaker disagreed with this but he did not really manage to support his ideas very well, his reasons appeared rather complicated and poor organized. In some ways, he appear to support the others argument but the reasons he gives are ambiguous and poorly explained such as other teams have better coaches and such. The speakers concluded that in the end, while both sides may have had a valid argument, the audience would be more likely to believe the one that was presented in a more comprehensive way. In the next part of the lecture, we were expected to practice our skills in discourse, we were given controversial topics such as money can buy happiness, and other neutral ones such as dogs are better than cats. The speakers taught us how to choose arguments and discuss them objectively making allowances for both sides. For example, in an argument on whether European colleges are more expensive than American ones, one can consider the fact that although the latter charges lower fees the tax rates are marginally higher so the education may actually cost the same or even more in the end. We learnt that we need to understand the difference between personal opinion and evidence given to support an argument if we expect to gain respect in the academic world. One must be persuasive and convincing to get attention from the audience and convince them to take our side or an argument. However, in as much as this appears to be a simple process, it is easy to make a mistake in connecting opinion and evidence, which can negatively affect ones, credibility. Therefore, there must be a very strong logical connection between the thesis statement of an argument and the argument itself. The speaker should therefore first ensure his position is clearly understood and defined, it should be logically stated and any factual evidence introduced before one attempted to introduce their personal opinion. At the end of the lecture, I realized that although I used to assume that when someone argues they would win or lose based on how strong their argument was the mode of presentation in a key determinant. Read More