Something I have always looked very negatively upon is presentations. My hatred for them dates back to elementary school. I just hate being the only voice in a silent room full of a group of people, with dozens of eyes staring at you. It puts me on the spot, and I get really, really nervous. The work I’m presenting is usually very good, but it is hard for me to relay that to the audience because I get so nervous that I tend to clam up, and not say as much as I could (and probably should).

I have gotten pretty lucky throughout my college years and haven’t had to make too many presentations on my own. I have had a few group presentations (3-6 people), which I don’t find as heart-stopping. This semester when I found out I had to do a 30-40 minute presentation on a case study in Issues, I wanted to drop the class. But that was not an option since it is required prerequisite to take Advanced. Luckily I had a partner and didn’t have to do it completely on my own, but 30-40 minutes is a really long time to be in front of the class if you hate it.

I tried not to think about my presentation until the week of, because I knew it wouldn’t do me any good. I actually wrote myself a letter that I read before I went to class that morning reminding myself that everything would be fine, and it wasn’t that big of a deal. Although I was really uncomfortable during the presentation, it didn’t show as much as it has in the past. We covered almost all of the information we had planned, and the audience was somewhat engaged. Some of my friends in the class said that they couldn’t tell I was nervous at all, and did a really good job, which made me feel really good.

The reason I did better than I have in the past is because I tried to think of the presentation as a positive experience. I know that in my career, I will have to do them, and it is better to get experience now before I enter the real world where people aren’t as nice.  I also reminded myself that even if you don’t have confidence, you should learn to fake it. I do have confidence but it diminishes when I am presenting, so I tried my best to fake it regardless. I think it worked!

I have to give another presentation in the same class at the end of the semester. It’s by myself, but it’s only five minutes max. I am going to apply the same thoughts I did for the first one and know that I will get through it. I’m trying to view them as learning experiences and hope that each one gets a little bit easier.

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