Best Presentation, Essay Example

I have attended in person as well as watched many presentations in electronic media and it is difficult to name one as my absolute favorite but one presentation on TED really impressed me. It was by aid expert Ernesto Sirolli (Sirolli) which talked about the importance of listening to those whom we may be trying to help. Sirolli claimed that one of the major mistakes aid organizations make is not to communicate with the people they are trying to help because they are overconfident. As a result, they do not really understand the roots of the problem they are trying to solve and end up wasting resources. Sometimes, they only end up worsening the problem that wanted to solve.

The presentation impressed me because Sirolli successfully used many strategies to grab the listeners’ attention. First of all, he made the presentation interesting with some humor as well as stories to keep the audience engaged. It was also apparent that Sirolli has a thick Italian accent but yet he was easy to understand because he spoke relatively slowly. This shows he understood the audience and knew his words may get lost if he tries to speak a bit faster due to his foreign accent.

Some of the advices I have gotten regarding presentations is that it is important to have eye contact with everyone in the audience to make them feel important. Similarly, one should have interesting introduction to grab the listeners’ attention. It is also important to learn about audience background so that one uses appropriate communication style. I believe all of these are good advices and I will do my best to follow these as much as possible.

I personally believe in being an effective presenter due to the benefits in personal and professional lives and am usually confident going into the presentation. But once I face the audience, I do become a little nervous because it is natural not to be in a position where one is judged. But I believe practice is the key and as I make more and more presentations, my confidence will continue to increase. Thus, I look forward to this presentation opportunity.

Work Cited

Sirolli, Ernesto. Ernesto Sirolli: Want to help someone? Shut up and listen! September 2012. 2 December 2013 <http://www.ted.com/talks/ernesto_sirolli_want_to_help_someone_shut_up_and_listen.html>.