[CLOSED] Online Assessment 5 - Impromptu Presentations, Speeches and Conversations

Dear Cross-Cultural Business Communication Students,

Task 5

In class on Tuesday we looked at impromptu presentations and conversations.  I would like students  to answer one of the following;

Have you ever gave a presentation or speech that you hadn't prepared for that went well and people thought you did a good job?  What made your presentation a success despite your lack of preparation?

OR

Have you ever had someone start talking to you, that you didn't want to talk to? How did you show them that you didn't want to communicate with them? Did they refuse to accept your rejection of them?  Thinking about the notes about making social conversation in English on page 37 of your textbook, what made their approach so successful or unsuccessful?  Or was your rejection purely a case of not liking them?  

OR

Many boys develop ways to "pick up" girls.  That is, they have a method of starting conversations with girls.  What has been the most memorable "pick up attempt" you have seen or experienced.  You can reference one you have seen on TV or in a movie if you wish.  Thinking about the notes about making social conversation in English on page 37 of your textbook, what made their approach so successful or unsuccessful?

Please reply in this thread

Deadline: Friday, 19th September 2014  
After that day the task will be locked.

in my memory,the first time i was asked to gave an impromptu presentation when i was in middle school,we had a class meeting on every monday afternoon. it's always the headteacher's job to chair the meeting,however,Just before the class meeting,my headteacher asked me out, i was the monitor at that time,and he gave me a piece of paper,there were some items on it,like organising classmates to participate the school sport meeting,and classroom hygiene issue,and something else,just like that,i can't remember exactly. about the process,i don't remember much of anything,i remembered that i was nervous when i went on the platform for the first time,though there were my teacher and classmates in the classroom only.i kept to remind myself: stay clam,be relaxed,everything is in control and went with the flow,do things step by step,my classmates were cooperative, the class meeting was carried out smoothly. it's a fantastic experience.

I have met someone that I really don't want to talk to her because everytime I come cross her , she talks about her boyfriend . I don't want to hurt her ,so I did't tell her directly . If I feel boring ,I will turn to another topic . But after one minute ,she will keep on talking about her boyfriend . I am not eager to listen what her boyfriend did last night .Therefore , I decided to send a message that I don't enjoy that topic .

My first speech may be is the one when I had the interview to join the student union. I did the rehearsal for that, but I think I was too nervous. And I can't remember what I said.
By now, as time went by, I got a lot chance to make a speech. I think the most important things is that make your point clear and slow down your speed.

To some extent, I am not outgoing. So in many of my spare time, I prefer to stay alone at home, even at bedroom. Sometimes I go out, relatives often talk with me. However, somebody is boring, strait-laced. When I feel really don’t want to talk, I would reply with a little words and tell them I am going to go shopping. At that time, they will end the talk quickly.
In a talk, feedback is very very important. In the text book, the 8 says "When asked for feedback, give feedback that is constructive, in that in focuses on behavior that can be changed." Therefore, as for I reply with a little words, the talk is going to be ended.

In our daily life, there are some people that we don't want to talk to from time to time. It seems impolite that if we just turn around and show no response. Therefore, the best way we can reject one's conversation is that we can give them some response first and then we can tell them we have something important to deal with so we can't have a deep talk.

Yes, I had this presentation that I didn't rehearse or even go through the ppts I made the day before presentation when i went out with my friends. But it went quite well for i talked and explained the points i posted on ppts. I made them with my heart so i remembered them. And most importantly they were not difficult to spread out. I may lost one or two points but i acted like i KNEW them well ! See how important it is to be calm and brave during presentations. And try to slow down when it comes to imoprtant points. Anyway, making preparation beforehand really counts !!

To some extent, I am not outgoing. So in many of my spare time, I prefer to stay alone at home, even at bedroom. Sometimes I go out, relatives often talk with me. However, somebody is boring, strait-laced. When I feel really don’t want to talk, I would reply with a little words and tell them I am going to go shopping. At that time, they will end the talk quickly.
In a talk, feedback is very very important. In the text book, the 8 says "When asked for feedback, give feedback that is constructive, in that in focuses on behavior that can be changed." Therefore, as for I reply with a little words, the talk is going to be ended.

i think most of people have ever met someone whom you don't want to talk to. i am outgoing, and i like talk with people, but even so, there are always someone you don't want to communicate with. when he begin talk to me, i won't refuse to communicate at the beginning, maybe i will pretend to listen carefully and pretend that i am interested in that, but when i really want to stop the conversation, i would make an euphemism , maybe i will say : i am so interested in what you say, but i am afraid that i can't stand here right now, i have something important to do , and my friend is waiting me in somewhere....(then i will go away and out of his sight)
i think this behavior is indirect ,and it can't let someone feel that you just don't want to talk with them...

Surely I had such experience when someone struck up a conversation with me that I didn't want to talk to. When it happened, I showed little interest in the things he’s talking about and seldom gave any reaction, like body languages. Without doubt, he got what I meant and then gradually stopped talking. I guess it’s because he’s saying something negative that I didn't even want to listen. It would be a great idea for this guy to improve his unsuccessful making-a-conversation by just avoiding starting to say something pessimistic.

Of course there was a time when sb start talking to me, but i didn't want to talk to. I still remembered it was in high school. a girl, everything in my class didn't like her, sat beside me and start talking to me. Actually i didn't want to talk to her as what she said was so negative and she liked to judge people by their appearance and had an affected air. I happened to buy a new watch that day. The first sentence she said was that "I don't think your color of your watch is suit for you." When she said it, i had no desire to talk to her. I pretended i was busy and ignored her words. Maybe she realized that i didn't want to talk to her, she got away at last. I think if u want to start a conversation with others, you'd better be positive rather than negative. If you only say sth that no one want to listen to, how does a conversation continue?

I did remember when I was sophomore I had a presentation task . It was a bad one , at least I thought , even though I got things prepared . But things all went wrong at that moment . So I had to pretend that I was confident . I tried to rethink the procedure of the topic . And when I forgot something I tried to distract classmates' attention to other topics . They though I was so flexible to enlighten them . Finally , they thought highly of my presentation which I did not think so

I have become a member of school's broadcasting station since the first year in college. We have a meeting on every Sunday evening. And there is one big project which scared all new members, that is impromptu speech. Well, as a new member, I really hate that part because you don't know what you're gonna talk and you only have 30 seconds to prepare and 1 minute to finish. After you finished, fellow sisters and brothers would give scores on your speech and do some judgement on your work. I was told to make a speech on " happiness" when it came to my turn. I was in a blank with the first several seconds. However, I suddenly came across my family and friends, who make me feel happy all the time. Once I have an idea and a story, I wrote down some key points and began my speech follow the steps already formed in my mind. The result seems not bad. Haha, I succeeded.

Everybody will meet others who you don't like to talk with, but how to face them is such a problem for me. My friends tell me that I always show long face to the people that I don't like, and easily read my mind. Anyway, I know that is not well for my interpersonal relationship, but I feel difficult to control my negative emotion and pretend to be happy, even excited. But actually, I won't reject others' talking directly, instead of that, maybe I will just say something boring, a word to end this conversation quickly, or maybe just find an excuse to leave. If that man still stick to me, and please go to hell, I cannot help keeping silent.

The first presentation in my life was happened when I was in high school. As a section monitor in English, once before the class began, our headteacher asked me to the teachers' room and told me I had to had a class with my classmates. I remembered that day I have to do a explain for the exam paper. though it was not fluently, I could put through it at last.
Personally, even you do not prepared well the presentation, if you are confidence and calm, you can success as well.Besides,reflect on your own audience participation in school classes, seminars, and other presentations. Think about what aspects you enjoyed and the ones that you disliked. Emulate the actions of others that had success with the crowds and implement them into your own presentation. Any topic can be made interesting with the right delivery.

Personally, i think there are three important points to make a good presentation, which are as follows:
1. Tell the truth. When we tell the truth, we connect with our audience, we become passionate, and we find self-confidence.
2. Tell it with a story. When we tell a story, we make complex concepts clear, we make ideas unforgettable, and we include everyone.
3. Tell the story with pictures. When we use pictures, people see exactly what we mean, we captivate our audience’s mind, and we banish boredom.
If we can achieve these three key point while preparing, I believe we can more or less impress the audience.

In the last year, I really surprised my unprepared speech can win a lot of agreements from others.
I don't know it's the turn I make a speech before my junior sister qpprentices. At first, I felt nervous because of my unpreparation and there are so many new face to me. However, I started to ask some questions, and I smile to them. We all feel comfortable and relax. And then, I started to tell them my experence and my happy memory. At last, I hope them can enjoy their college life. They listen to me carefully and I felt proud that I can stand before them. Also, I make them laugh through my speech. They ask me questions and I tried to solve them. Both of us satisfied my speech though I haven't make any preparation.

key to question2:
Yes, I did. I just smile at him. Then he accept my rejection.
Thinking about the notes，he talked something uninteresting，so it made his approach so unsuccessful.

In the last term, I didn't prepare well on a presentation, which would be made next day. I was so nervous that I didn't know what to say. But I couldn't make this much worse, so I calmed down myself and tried my best to make me understood. I spoke slowly in order to had more time to think and organize. That made me a success, they liked my presentation.

I have had a speech that I hadn't prepare for and the speech was not bad at that time.That was a speech about how I feel about the volunteer work . I made it in front of more than 20 Korean. Of course they can't understand Chinese . I spoke Chinese while a Korean teacher who interpreted for me had a good command in Chinese. I think what made my speech a success despite my lack of preparation is that I had my memories and feelings. I made a speech with my real feelings and told them what I had experienced. The context was already in my mind . What I need to do was to organize it without much thinking.

It turns to be a natural behavior that when people start their presentation, they like to stare at their PPT. Because they don't know how to do their speech or can't remember what to say during their speech, so they would like to post lots of words in their PPT and what they do is to read and not worried about saying something wrong. As a result, every time when we see someone doing his presentation, we feel bored, cause we just listen to people reading one after another and learn nothing. I forgot to prepare my presentation one time and not familiar with the words setting in the PPT. What I could do was to focus on every little title and pictures and spoke in my own way. To my surprise, I did't do a bad job. Maybe just because I did't always stare at the PPT.

Q:Have you ever gave a presentation or speech that you hadn't prepared for that went well and people thought you did a good job? What made your presentation a success despite your lack of preparation?

A: One year before, our group of 4 classmates needed to prepare a presentation about "paralism". At first we members divided the task into 4 parts, but there was no one except me willing to finish such a boring topic. So I had to found the information by myself. But the presentation was next day. I did so late that night that I did not try to check it carefully and perform it.
Tomorrow, when I got up I have a strong feeling of nervousness, but until I calmed down myself and tried to relex did I have the confidence to face with the presentation. I knowed myself well. I had much tutoring experience so I standed in front of classmates and teacher, I let myself as a teacher. And I emphasize the inportant points and difficult points. Classmates cound follow my ideas and had a beter understanding of paralism. Even though I hadn't prepare the presentation, that was my first successful one.

I have the experience that I didn't want to talk to someone like I was having a class and my deskmate talk to me. I just wanted to ignore him but I know that I couldn't do that. So I said :"Sorry, I am listening to the teacher, and should we talk later/after class?" Because I knew I should act in a polite way so that my deskmate could accept my rejection with a good grace.

As to the tips in the textbook, I think good manner and a good attitude of sating the reasons,or be sorry for the leaving are the very important things in a conversation for others to accept your rejection.

I have the experience that meet the foreigners but nothing to say. It's the time when I was in Guangzhou, my cousin and I want to visit a museum. We saty outside the subway station but lost directions. At the time, a couple of black people with their daughters passing beside me. I looked at them, thought maybe I can ask them, but I give up because I don't know how to say it. I lost my confident and being too shy. But they offer helps without any hesitation. At last, they leaded us to the museum and we visit the museum together. But I still regret I waste the chance when I can talk to them and introduce them our culture. As our teacher said, we English major students have a deadly problem-do not know how to use what they have learned to say English at needed time.

Yes, I have gave a presentation that I hadn't prepared well but people thought I did a good job?. I think the reasons are People did not listen my presentation seriously, or maybe they were sorry to tell me I did it badly.