Discussion Post: Week 10

Now that Presentation II is behind us and you’ve been able to watch your presentation video, what do you think of your performance? Did it go how you expected, or were there some surprises in your presentation? How will you adapt to the challenges of Presentation III, when you’ll have to pitch yourself to your audience? And what about Presentation IV, which will come immediately afterward?

It’s worth a quick reminder that your group should be well on its way to finishing Presentation IV by this point, as there won’t be much time left after Presentation III concludes to play catch-up. Don’t forget to submit your topic for Presentation IV before the November 20 deadline, and also remember to send your Presentation III topic over Blackboard before the start of this Tuesday’s class.

Going into the third and final presidential debate on Monday, most major polls had Barack Obama and Mitt Romney effectively tied, with the difference between them within the margin of error. With the momentum swinging toward Romney, though, some analysts argued that Obama needed to completely dominate the last debate in order to stem the tide. But despite Obama’s best efforts, such dominance was nowhere to be found as the two candidates fought to a draw over foreign policy.

Discussion Post: Week 9

We’re almost done with Presentation II! How has the challenge been compared with Presentation I? Did it seem a little easier since you had more time with which to work, or was it harder to juggle your visual aid along with the more complicated content you strove to deliver? What did you learn from watching others’ presentations, and what lessons will you take from Presentation II as you move forward?

After the second presidential debate, only one thing was clear: it was not a repeat of round one. President Barack Obama took the affair seriously, fighting back against Governor Mitt Romney in a stark contrast with the passiveness he displayed in the first debate. Many analysts and polls suggested that Obama a stole the advantage in round two thanks to a few Romney missteps, of which the most egregious was a mistaken claim about Obama's response to the Benghazi embassy attack. However, the reported win was, at the very least, less clear than Romney’s round one triumph, with Romney making several compelling points and imploring voters not “to settle” for the current economy.

With the narrower win in mind, the Obama camp has to be nervous about Romney’s momentum across the nation. While early vote totals have been quite high, suggesting an advantage for Obama in the November election — in recent years, more Democrats than Republicans have filed absentee ballots — the margin by which he leads those early votes is much smaller than the lead he held in 2008. With even major media outlets that supported Obama four years ago openly shifting toward Romney, the presidency may be within reach for the challenger.

Discussion Post: Week 8

At last, Presentation II is underway! What did you learn from watching our first few presenters on Thursday? Did you pick up any strategies that could work well for your own presentations in the future? Or were there any traps that you hope to avoid in your own work?

After the first presidential debate, almost every media outlet declared Mitt Romney the clear winner. He surged in the polls after his victory, moving past Barack Obama in almost every major national survey taken after the skirmish despite having consistently trailed for almost a year. According to RealClearPolitics’ average of nationwide polls, Obama had not trailed since Oct. 11, 2011, but Romney pulled ahead on Tuesday, showing just how decisively the debate changed voters’ impressions of the race.

Thursday’s vice presidential debate, on the other hand, did not have such a clear winner despite the clear contrast in the running mates’ policies and debating styles. Joe Biden was much more active throughout the debate, taking control of almost the entire first half but doing so by repeatedly interrupting both his opponent and the moderator, while Paul Ryan played a more passive role, but kept a cool, composed demeanor throughout the clash. Biden had a number of strong one-liners prepared to combat the Republicans, from attacking Romney’s now-infamous “47%” line to calling Ryan’s claims “a bunch of malarkey.” Ryan didn’t have nearly as many strong retorts, much of which was due to Biden interjecting and getting the last word on the vast majority of debate topics.

Discussion Post: Week 7

I hope you’re enjoying the long break, everyone! In the meantime, with Presentation II right around the corner, how do you feel going into our second round? What changes, if any, do you intend to make to your approach? How will you handle the challenges of giving your demonstration while keeping your attention on your audience, or distilling complicated technical content in a manner that everyone can understand?

Looking ahead, what web portfolio areas have you identified as key trouble spots that you’ll want to work out on our last lab day this semester? And how is your group progressing on its Presentation IV preparations? Remember that there won’t be a lot of time between our next few presentations, so you probably won’t be able to just, say, wait until after Presentation III ends before devising your last presentation. You’ll likely want to front-load your work when possible, instead.

As always, please remember to submit your Presentation II outline via SafeAssign at least 24 hours before your scheduled presentation, and bring a printed copy of your outline and rubric to class on your presentation day. I would also recommend that before your presentation, you test any visual aid that involves the computer — and don’t save the visual aid on your H:\ drive, since logging in and out of everyone’s accounts to access different H:\ drives will take more time than we have for most of our presentation days. Flash drives, CDs, E-mails, or cloud storage are all better ways to make sure that you have the files you need for your presentation.