Salamat Joannah V.

C35 June 29, 2017

Critique #1 – Panel Discussion

Last June 21, 2017, my groupmates and I delivered a panel discussion tackling the
preference of companies to certain universities when it comes to hiring employees. The discussion
established the existence of the preference, as well as the reasons for its existence. Perceptions
regarding graduates from the top universities versus lesser known universities were entertainingly
addressed through a friendly debate by the panelists. The CHED representative explained the
current efforts by the government to improve education in the Philippines. Interesting questions
were heard from the audience, which established the need for a further study with more experts to
understand the deep-rooted issue.

As the moderator, it was my job to keep the discussion going, as well as to aid the panelists
in case they get lost in the middle of their speeches. Personally, I do not think that I was as nervous
as my groupmates, as with a scripted panel discussion, I think my role was the easiest because it
did not require as much memorization as the others. Evaluating my performance, I would say that
I was an effective moderator: I introduced the topic clearly; I paraphrased the questions of my
panelists for the audience to hear the arguments better; I steered the discussion back on track when
some of my groupmates got lost; I was able to summarize the entire discussion well enough.

I am not entirely satisfied with my performance, however, I see areas where I could have
done better. First, there was a moment when I had a feeling that one of the panelists – the CHED
representative, to be exact – was going blank. When I was about to ask her a question to get her
back in track, we spoke together at the same time, and I felt as if the audience would think that I
was interrupting her speech. Second, there were a couple of instances that I hope I could have
delivered my thoughts more eloquently. Lastly, though I am quite happy with how I summarized
the panel, I wish I made my thoughts more organized.

No matter how many times I have delivered reports and speeches throughout my academic
life, I still get nervous every single time. In the middle of speeches, especially when it is
impromptu, my thought process gets jumbled in order to come up with the perfect string of words
to clearly express my thoughts. For my next speech, I wish I could sound more eloquent and be
more confident.