Gateways-Environmental Design 102

Presentation Reflection- Environmental Design 102

Environmental Design 102 presentation critique was very insightful for me. It is one thing to go through the semester hearing about your fellow classmates work and ideas, to seeing their “life on the line” or in this case, final design and board on the critique wall. I saw a huge range in the talent I saw, and finally everyone’s ideas and concepts either came to live and inspired or did not. Listening to each presenter, their techniques of presentation and the critique given back in return helps me to better my project and presentation. In a way, going 3^rd to last did not turn out to be so bad after all. Yes, it was nerve racking but when I stood up to present I knew how I would handle the presentation and feedback. Not only does listening to 40 presentations better help me understand each person’s way of design, but I can learn professionalism and different presentation tactics. Some chose to read off flash cards to organize their thoughts while others just winged it. I think it all depends on your every day personality and how you can most successfully express your thoughts. Another big lesson in beginning to present is how to respond to critique. Overall having the right attitude towards criticism can be challenging, when you like your ideas so much you do not want to hear any different. Some of us I think handled negative critique very well, responding in ways that lets our responder know we appreciate their opinions and will truly take them to heart even if we might not agree. Behind every critique, no matter how ridiculous it may seem to us, has something valuable we can take from it. It begins to widen our thoughts and turn us into overall well rounded professionals.

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After the first day of critiques I began thinking about my presentation and my process of expressing my design. I started by making a list of everything I wanted to include in my 5 minutes of fame and from there, I articulated the words to make the audience interested in my story. I timed myself rehearsing my presentation and although with my nerves, some of what I had planned to say probably went out the window, I think it helped me prepare for my turn. My goal was to speak with confidence in what my work showed, my style, my client and my ideas. Owning up to my thoughts of the space, whether they were right or wrong was definitely a huge factor in my presentation. I received really great criticism, overall a positive attitude towards my hard work and final product and eyes that seemed to keep, wanting to look at my work. That is a huge accomplishment to me, along with being unique even if my ideas fail, people will always remember my approach and detail within my projects and presentations.