For our second project, we were assigned to make and deliver a pecha kucha about a topic we were passionate about. I chose to write about my experience in having a pet rabbit, and how I have grown from it. Below are the exercises we did to help us formulate our theme and how we wanted to communicate it.
For our first exercise, we generated a list of words that were related to our topic. We then chose a few words from the list. For each of these chosen words, we found images across the pictoral — non-pictoral spectrum that represented them.
I chose to create my list of words on a physical notebook. This way, it would be quicker to record words I think of than on sticky notes, and a bit easier to create groupings and relationships than on a text document. I created three main groups: words related to rabbits, words that describe owning and caring for a rabbit, and words that are oppositional to owning a rabbit that might be envisioned when one thinks of house pets in general.
The first word I chose was comfort, which is a feeling evoked when in the proximity of a rabbit. The first image is an image of a weighted stuffed animal, which is commonly used by individuals with anxiety. The second image is an image of a rabbit, who looks very comforting. The distance from the rabbit does make it seem a bit distance, which I might manipulate to make it convey its meaning more. The third images is a simple representation of a bunny blanket. It combines the comfort of a cute rabbit face and the comfort of a blanket to evoke a sense of comfort.
I chose the word routine because life with a bunny is very routine: they eat at the same time, sleep at the same time, and run around the house at the same time every day. The first image is a checklist icon, which represents schedule and routine. The second image is of toothbrush, toothpaste, and an alarm clock, which is a representation of many people's morning routines. The last image is an image of a flower, with very uniform petals. This represents the order and harmony that having a routine brings.
Another word I chose for this project was silent. This is because it is in contrast to many other pets. The first image is an image of my rabbit with her mouth closed, to represent that rabbits do not make noise. The second image is an icon of a man meditating. This represents silence because most meditate in silent, and also represents the peace that comes with silence. The third image is in opposition to the previous two; it is loud and chaotic. The image is still a bit cute, which might not be ideal for conveying the purpose I am trying to convey.
The second exercise consisted of two parts: Beginnings & Endings, where we explored effective ways to draw readers in and leave them thinking, and post-it note outline, where we explored the content and organization of our presentation.
In the first part, we came up with the first and last sentences of our presentation, which are intended to draw the audience's attention and to leave them with a call to action. Before getting to these sentences, I had to reflect on what the purpose of my presentation was, then created the sentences based on it. Below are my most recent first/last sentences at the time of this writing.
first sentence:
I spent the entirety of my childhood days begging for a pet dog.
I believe this sentence is effective because it is something that is relatable for most of the audience. It is also surprising given the topic of the presentation, which might also draw readers in.
last sentence:
share your life with a rabbit, and see what it shares with you.
This call to action evokes a sense of anticipation,which intices readers to follow it to find out more. It also ties back in with the rest of the presentation, which outlines the insights I gained from sharing my life with a rabbit.
After this, we moved on to the rest of our presentation. We used post-it notes to brainstorm the general idea of each slide, with different colors representing different parts of the presentation.
while making this initial outline, I decided that I would alternate between the characterists of rabbits, and the corresponding qualities that it requires of its owner. In grouping things this way, I can develop my argument, so that it begins more light-heartedly and ends with a deeper reflection of the joys and lessons that having a pet rabbit has brought me. However, the format is very modular, which allows for easy changes.
nurturing is the word I chose to describe both the rabbit, as well as the process of raising a rabbit. In these images, the reciprocating nature of nurturing a rabbit is explored.
In the first image, there are two instances of nurture. There is the mother nurturing the child, and both of them nurturing our earth. In the second image, the lion and the girl seem to both be dependent on each other. The third image is an icon with two hands holding up a plant. This portrays the fragility of the plant, and the importance of its nurturing.
Rabbits are lively. They run around and explore every nook and cranny they can access. They map out the room so they can do zoomies around it.
The first image is an image of my rabbit in a plastic cup. The red solo cup is a symbol of parties and beer pong (though this one was likely used to hold Langer's Organic Mango Nectar), which are usually very lively events. The blurriness of the photo also helps to show movement, though it might be a bit distracting. The second image is a bouquet of bright-colored flowers, which shows life and liveliness. The third image is of a dog leaping after a frisbee. This serves to compare the liveliness of a rabbit to the liveliness of a dog, which is something that is much more familiar to the typical prospective pet parent.
Rabbits are apprehensive. They are wary of every sound, every movement, every scent.
The first image is of a child, who seems to be looking upon a stranger with fear and apprehension. The second is of a wild rabbit, perched on its hind legs, scouting out its environment. One of its ears has wear and tear on it, suggesting a threat that brings a need to be alert. The third is of my rabbit, in a familiar setting, displaying the same position as the wild rabbit Her eyes are wide, her ears are perked up, and her nose is in the air. Although she has historically been safe in her environment, she is still alert and apprehensive.
The peer feedback during class was very helpful. It gave me time to re-read my own draft and see how well it worked when read out loud. I also got a second perspective on my work, and I also got to see how another person approached the assignment. My peer reviewer and I both took similar approaches, where we explored a story, and within the story applied principles we learned to a broader context. Interestingly, we had similar feedback for each other. When reading through my peer reviewers work, I thought that her two parts of her story, the actual happenings and the application to the audience and to her life, seemed a bit disconnected. My peer reviewer's feedback for me was that my story was also very disconnected, and seemed to jump around from these parts very abruptly and in ways that were not conducive to getting my point across. After re-reading my work, I thought these were very fitting pieces of feedback, and I plan to incorporate them into my next iteration by grouping the challenges of owning a rabbit together, and then transitioning to a group of things I learned.
Afterwards, we moved on to groups of four, where I got to hear two more presentation drafts be read aloud. Here, we explored the pacing of our work, considering how pauses can both aid and hinder our delivery. I also noticed that as long as we are clear what our argument is, the remaining content of our presentation will come naturally. If the argument is unclear, it will be difficult to form a presentation that flows.
For this iteration, I focused on implementing instructor feedback and leveling out my script to fit twenty seconds per slide. The feedback was useful in helping me use semantics like sentence structure and word choice, to enhance communication.
Overall, this project was interesting. The different exercises we did all worked toward the same end goal, yet I learned many different things during them. During the first exercise, where we came up with words, I learned to think outside the box and connect thoughts and words in unconventional ways. In the second exercise, I had to connect these seemingly unrelated words together to a cohesive outline. During the peer feedback exercise, we practiced giving and receiving feedback in respectful, yet constructive ways. I was grateful for the second set of eyes to look at my work. This allowed me to confirm my own criticism with an outside source, and receive new criticism that I might not have thought of. The instructor feedback was similarly helpful in bringing new perspectives and reinforcing old ones.
One part of the project that I did not enjoy was the strict 20-second slides. For some ideas, I had slightly more content to talk about, but had to either cut them down or split them into two slides. For others, I did not have 20 seconds worth of content to talk about, so I had to decide between padding with filler words or removing them altogether, which detracted from the flow. Although I will not be employing strict automatically advancing slides, the discipline of this project will help me in making sure my future presentations and slides are concise and intentional.