Seminar

Seminar is a session that requires a group of students to present a certain topic for a maximum of 10 minutes including a Q&A session that follows after the presentation. It is a very interesting and effective approach of self-study that requires students to carry out their own research before presenting their findings to the whole class including the lecturers. It is also an interactive process that creates an opportunity for students to meet the lecturers one-on-one to inquire on certain topics for further understanding as most topics that are given are closely related to what we have learned previously in class. Students are also encouraged to read more reading materials on the topic to gain more information which would be quite useful during the Q&A session in which the presentor would be bombarded with questions from the audience.

To me, Seminar is a really good practice for me to improve my presentation skills and create an ideal platform for me to hear and receive feedbacks and constructive criticism from my friends and the lecturers in respect to how well I convey the message and points to the audience. I learned through times that a good presentation has to take into account of many things even the most trivial thing like the size and type of the font used, images, choices of colour for the presentation, personal appearance and most importantly public-speaking skills.

My one secret for a successful presentation without major hiccups would be preparation. Usually we would receive our topic at least a week before the presentation week which gives me an ample time to do research and prepare. The first stage of my preparation is to give at least 2 to 3 days to read and jot down all the information about my topic by going through books and online resources. I would also make a point to meet certain lecturers to ensure that I am on track and to clear any problem that I might have in understanding certain concepts. The next stage, I would allocate at least a day or two to prepare the slideshows of my presentation. I would always go for a simple 2 colours that are opposite to one another in my presentation like black and yellow or white and orange and minimise usage of unrelated and unnecessary images to prevent my audience from getting distracted. The last stage to my preparation is to practice my speech as much as I can so that I could articulate my words loud and clear during the presentation.

Though the idea of Seminar could be intimidating and stressful (as any public-speaking session would be), I do enjoy every process of preparing and presenting my seminar topics because I actually benefit from it.