Navarro, Jose

Observations
1. My initial reaction to this had to do with how I looked at the audience; during the
presentation I did not notice that I wasn’t looking directly at the audience. Although
minor, this behavior could draw attention away from the presentation since the
audience might instinctively wonder “what am I looking at?” I was also unaware of
the time I took to present since I forgot to set the timer, but fortunately made it in 5
minutes.
2. I think giving an example in which a trivial algorithm fails caught people’s attention
more since they now have something tangible to which they can compare the
improved heuristic. (3:34-4:00). By placing this example right before the improved
heuristic, the transitioning flowed well as a result since people are now primed to
expect to see the “improved” version. The ending wasn’t elaborate but I think it was a
general enough experience that everyone could relate to (purchasing things online). It
also reminded the audience of the motivation/reason behind the talk. I think the key
feature behind my presentation was the actual animation of my algorithm in action. It
is very hard to vaguely explain an algorithm specially without giving a proof, but
showing a complicated scenario of an algorithm in action I think kept the audience
very engaged (4:00->end)
3. Although it was hard to notice with noise, when the video is muted it becomes clear
that there is a sizable fraction of the time in which I am looking more at the slides
than at the audience which might give the idea that I relying too much on the slides. I
have this bad habit of checking the slides in order to make sure that the animations are
in synch with what I was going to say. So I was relying on the slides for a time stamp
of sorts, but not for material. (2:49-3:18). Around the beginning of the video I had
frequent hand gestures which I believe might be borderline excessive. (0:00-1:12) I
thought that they went well with what I was explaining, but I don’t know if they did
more harm than good. I could’ve used a better hook than the mazes; I chose it since it
seemed like people could put themselves in the shoes of the agents I was describing.
(0:00-0:33).
4. I would like to actually rehearse and not try to come up with substance on the spot.
Although it is not hard to do, if any mistakes on thought management or lapses occurs
there is usually a stutter or an “uh” associated for me. I noticed that this occurred
frequently especially when I tried to correct myself, but noticed I had no time to do
so. Perhaps changing the hook to be even more immersive and involving pheromones
might work since the audience, I believe, had a bit of difficulty in understanding how
exactly the pheromones were used by the ants to navigate.