Dear class,

Through the times that I have been facilitating classes for the past semesters, I have observed the strengths of different teams from their presentation sessions and have noted the various qualities that make such teams strong. I wish to highlight the essence of these teams’ attributes through the description of a hypothetical class Team X as shown below:

When Team X is asked to present, its members are calm and composed. Their strong coordination skills can be observed as each members goes about setting up the presentation. While some set up the projector, the rest began to position themselves either at the front or the back of the class, readying themselves for the presentation.

When all are ready and the facilitator gives the signal to begin, the team members are at ease and one presents after another. During the course of the presentation, the members are confident of their content and – save for some technical details which they might refer to on their laptops or scripts, they present their points using their own words to the best of their abilities. They put in the effort to elaborate on the points that they are presenting and they provide relevant examples whenever it is applicable. Coordination skills between them are strong when the team present.  All the members are attentive and focused on what the other team members are talking. In the event that any of their team mates fumble in their presentation, they will immediately step in and assist.  This same phenomenon can be observed during the “Q & A” session as well.

During the course of the presentation, it can be observed that the team is formal in their presentation. They are serious but not to the extent of forgetting to use a dose of humour every now and then. The team members always stand while they are presenting (and this is so even while their team members are presenting) and they refrain from engaging in any form of distractions such as eating, drinking or even spinning in their chairs while presenting.  All the team members are focused during the presentation and none of the team member can be seen to be joking with members of other teams during the entire course of their presentation. They do not walk around the class chatting with members from other teams as well while their team mates are presenting, and they do not doodle on the white board should there be one behind them during the presentation.

To engage the class in their learning, the team also pose questions to the class during the course of their presentation, making sure that they have sustained the audience’s attention with their questions while not allowing their questions to be disruptive to the flow of their presentation.  When the team presents, each team member presents according to their prepared slides while at the same time, they are aware of what other team members are presenting. This is because they have discussed the content of their presentation before the actual presentation. This has enabled all the team members to understand the content of the entire presentation and how their presentation contributes to the team’s presentation on the whole. In fact, the team members are so familiar with the presentation content for the lesson that each of them are able to switch at will and present any of their team member’s slides should the situation calls for it. This is because every team member understands the presentation content and more importantly, the flow of the entire presentation.

The above illustrates the strong team dynamics of an excellent team. Although it is hypothetical and such a team does not exist yet, I hope that all of you are able to work towards being the great presenter that you already are. All of you are doing well, and have the potential to be the great presenters and team members in such a team as described above if you put in the effort to realise your potential. I do not expect you to work towards my ideals or expectations but I hope that you are able to improve yourself to the point where you can present with ease as a presenter while being a cohesive team member in your team as well such that you will be able to contribute to the team effort.

When all of you work together as a team, you can achieve great things. And some of these achievements are things that you may not consider possible before. 

So, keep up the good work and enthusiasm!