My Interpersonal and Written Communication Skills

My Interpersonal and Written Communication Skills

For this task I will be evaluating my interpersonal and written communication skills and techniques by reviewing a recent presentation on the topic of 'Web Based Communication Channels' that Phillip and I presented during class, based on both my own experience and the feedback which I received from the audience.

Content

The presentation covered most of the relevant information, including the forms of web based communication channels and details concerning them.

The slides covered the following topics;

• Web Based Communication Channels (Introductory Page)
• Explanation of Web Based Communication Channels
• Podcasts
• Blogs
• Video Conferencing
• Vlogs
• Web Pages
• Conclusion

The only content that was missing were pages explaining each channel's potential use in the Rainbow organisation.

Presentation

The presentation made use of contrasted colours between the text and background to make it easy for the audience to read.

Slide headers were used in every slide to inform the audience of the key message that is currently being discussed without requiring any effort at all on their part.

Slide headers also help keep their attention as they alert the audience that the topic of discussion has changed, hopefully attracting the attention of any audience members who were drifting away from the previous topic.

As well as this there were several images added in to increase the visual appeal, each page having images relavent to the slide's topic.

Additionally there was a balanced quantity of text, avoiding large blocks that would deter the audience from paying attention.

As the presentation is for the organisation to aim at senior clients the language itself is relatively advanced while avoiding confusing technical jargon, making it easier for the audience to comprehend.

Delivery

During the presentation I ensured that my intonation was varied, as well as making eye contact with several audience members while avoiding reading from the screen.

Having already learned about the principles of effective communication earlier this year I was aware of the importance of these techiques and their roles in maintaining the audience's attention.

These techniques are very important when delivering presentations (and in most other interpersonal situations) as a lack of intonation will bore any audience member and result in them effectively blocking out any information that is being conveyed.

Varying intonation allows the speaker to convey different meanings through the same phrases as well as helping to place emphasis on key points.

Finally, intonation captures the attention of audience members as they don't become used to the one dull tone and zone out from it, instead their attention can be suddenly grabbed by stress being placed on phrases.

Eye contact is also important; creating a link between the speaker and the audience, increasing the likelihood that they will stay attentive to the presentation.

Using my knowledge of the different learning styles I attempted to make the presentation appeal to as many as possible, making use of images for visual learners and speech for aural learners, the two being the most prevelent styles.

By paraphrasing as such I believe that my presentation was made more genuine as opposed to simply reading text from the powerpoint, this plus my use of gestures and motion helped to retain the majority of the audience's attention resulting in the presentation being considered a success by them.

I believe I could improve by making use of notes, allowing me to remove even more text from the powerpoint and so increase the use of images or other forms of media such as a video clip while retaining the text in note form.

This would require the audience to read less and simply listen while having their attention kept by a variety of media.

When presenting it is important to keep the attention of the audience, this requires measures to be taken to reduce any barriers to communication that are present.

To this end I attempted to reduce as many barriers as possible during my presentation.

The first measure I took was to close the door and every window in the room, as well as turning off the fans to eliminate as much background interference as possible. This resulted in there being less distractions during the presentation, making it easier to maintain the attention of the audience.

Another highly important measeure I took was to ensure that my language and the content of the powerpoint were suitable for the audience, meaning I avoided the use of technical jargon with one exception, while also avoiding oversimplifying or dumbing down the delivery.

Questioning Techniques

Questioning is an important aspect of a presentation as it is a highly effective form of audience engagement. By posing questions during or after the presentation audience members will become more attentive, this is in part due to a psychological response where audience members do not want to give an incorrect answer and be wrong while surrounded by the rest of the group.

As anybody can be asked a question all members will pay at least slightly more attention, which in turn makes it easier for the speaker to further engage them.

There are different types of questions that can be used in presentations:

Open Questions:

                              These questions give the respondents control over the conversation, an effective tool to capture their attention as it is an opportunity for them to take control of the presentation temporarily.

They will usually receive long answers containing the respondent's opinions.

Closed Questions:

                              These will be answered with a short answer, conveying facts. They are effective to gather factual information quickly in a conversation as well as quickly, being useful for scenarios where the speaker is trying to gather information quickly from several audience members.

Probing Questions:

                             These are follow up questions intended to make the respondent expand upon an earlier answer, allowing the conversation to continue with increased depth concerning the topic. Probing questions are useful for increasing the respondent's understanding of the subject while further engrossing them in the presentation.

I did make use of a few such techniques, asking the audience if anyone knew what H.32x protocols were used for as well as asking if they knew of additional software or tools to be used for the other channels.

Some of the feedback I received suggested making increased use of questioning techniques to further engage the audience. This could be implemented in the form of a quick question or two at the end of each topic in the presentation or as a final slide which acts as a recap questionaire to gauge the audience's attentiveness.

For example; I would present the slide on the topic of blogs and then ask if any audience members maintain their own, if so I could further engage them by inquiring into the nature of their blog and whether or not they feel it is a suitable channel of communication.

Teamwork Skills

When creating the powerpoint I researched half of the channels while Phillip took the other half, each of us creating our respective slides. He then transferred his slides to my computer where I edited them for grammar and language improvements as well as image placement and linking.

During the presentation I believe that Phillip and I worked very well together, the audience responded rather positively. We handled the slide transitions well, taking one each without difficulty or messing up during the switches.

I believe that my interpersonal and written communication skills helped significantly when working in a team as I was able to adapt my language to ensure that our communication was fully and correctly understood by us both.

Additionally there was a good flow of information between us, each keeping the other updated on their progress while offering constructive advice which improved the overall quality of the final presentation.

For creating the presentation my written communication skills played a much larger role as I was able to take charge of the final drafting for the slides to optimise them for the target audience in terms of grammar and tecnicality.

Overall I feel the presentation went very well, my partner and I worked well together and the audience responded positively thanks to our combined use of interpersonal and written techniques.