My presentation went well! Yay!

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Hi guys.



Well, today I had to give a 20-minute training presentation to the faculty of my school (about 60 teachers in the 'audience'). We (five English teachers) conducted the training, regarding the "Six Traits of Writing". (The other faculty members are supposed to integrate writing into their programs - even the PE department! Hence, the training.)



But the problem was that I only 'found out' about the presentation a few days ahead of time. Then, I didn't have time to plan, because I already have my hands full teaching five classes a day. So last night after school, I threw my presentation together, and was finally kicked out by the custodian at 11 p.m.



I had never presented anything lengthy to the faculty before, and my last-minute preparations didn't do much to help my nervousness. In point of fact, I was still writing hand-outs(!!!!!) up to the last 15 minutes before I spoke, and changing the order of my presentation topics even as I stood before the group!!!!!



I was just hoping my voice wouldn't shake from nervousness. That would be SUCH a giveaway - and would be so humiliating in front of my colleagues.



But I started off with humor, to which they responded wonderfully (thank you, God!!!) - with genuine laughter in all the right places. And after that, everything went fine. Though I spend every day speaking before a room full of students, it's a lot different when the 'audience' consists of one's own professional colleagues - 95% of whom are quite good at what they do (which is the same thing I do, of course; so they can be 'extra' critical. EEK!). The other 5% are brand new teachers, who are pretty darned good too!



Anyway, I am so relieved it's over, and I guess that's why I'm rambling on here.



My question: has anyone else ever faced making a speech or giving a presentation you were really nervous about? How did it go? Surprisingly well? Disastrously?



Thanks for any replies.





Carol

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 15
    scottscott Posts: 7,431member
    I wish I knew how to make people laugh when I wanted them too. I'm going to whip up a presentation for my department on Total Body Irradiation (TBI). It's all laughs let me tell you!



    I give presentations from time to time. Knowing your topic and being well prepared at the keys. In fact if someone sprung a presentation on me with only a few days to get ready starting from zero I'd say "no".



    Considering yours went well I'd say you know your topic and are a natural.
  • Reply 2 of 15
    I hated doing presentations in school. Nowadays, it's part of my job to hold presentations (I'm an IT consultant). It's always 'interesting' to hold a presentation for a bidding. Standing in front of some (potential) customers making a presentation to convince them to give you hundreds of thousands of euros to build a new software system. These are the presentations you better do no screw up.



    A few years ago, I started teaching a course in a local university. Standing in front of 30 students and filling 2.5 hours for one session was also something making me nervous at the beginning. Especially as I sometimes had the material ready sometimes by midnight of the previous day. And kept my fingers crossed that I had enough stuff ready so I would not be finished too early.
  • Reply 3 of 15
    In intro criminal justice, I was doing a presentation on David Koresh. When I got to the point where I talked about the FBI coming into Waco to take over for the ATF, I switched to a picture of Mulder and Scully and played the sound file "Aw naw, hell naw, boy y'all done up and done it!" (from that song, I forget what the name of it is) and everybody thought that was cool. Including the teacher (thank god). I'm usually pretty informal with my presentations, particularly with the visual aids, and I'm always worried that some stick-in-the-ass professor is going to find it to be stupid or unnecessary. My philosophy is that unless you make it interesting, no one will pay attention. If I go in slideshow and make 10 slides with nothing but charts and paragraphs on them, what good does that do? No one will remember anything from that, as soon as they leave the class room.



    (Not that I care anyway, I'm just trying to get a grade.)
  • Reply 4 of 15
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Ganondorf

    My philosophy is that unless you make it interesting, no one will pay attention.



    You know presentation judo? 8)
  • Reply 5 of 15
    stoostoo Posts: 1,490member
    Congratualtions! Now you're ready for the next presentation.



    One of my colleagues was given about five minutes notice that the board would like a demo of The Product (the program we're currently writing) in about five minutes. The Product spans several PCs and a wall of monitors when running, and had just been updated to a new, untested version. The demo went well and he is now a local hero.



    My thesis presentation at the end of university was about 20 minutes. I (and my primary marker) thought it went well, but my second marker largely stared out of the window.
  • Reply 6 of 15
    I sucked at giving oral presentations in school. Then I became a lector at church and took a speech class. It took me a while but I finally got good at it. As long as it isn't a paralyzing nervousness being nervous is actually a good thing.



    Congratulations Carol.
  • Reply 7 of 15
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Stoo

    My thesis presentation at the end of university was about 20 minutes. I (and my primary marker) thought it went well, but my second marker largely stared out of the window.



    Maybe he was just another personality type (see: MBTI).



    This reminds me of an example I read in Gerald Weinberg's "Quality Software Management Vol 3: Congruent Action":



    "...Practical applications of the S/N (Sensing <-> Intuitive) difference are easy to find in organizations, and some of them are so dramatic as to appeal magical, as the following narrative ...:



    'The information systems team was meeting with the human resources management to discuss a proposal for a new information system for HR. Melissa, the team's designer, had sketched the new system, and everyone was responding positively to her presentation - everyone, that is, except Norris, the HR vice president. While the others continued to heap laurels on Melissa and her design, Norris sat cross-armed, close-mouthed, and looking puzzled and annoyed.



    Melissa apparently noticed the VP's reaction, because she began to try to win his favor, but all her efforts seemed to make him look even more puzzled. Recalling our recent workshop, I called for a break. When we were alone, I said, simply, "Norris is an S", and Melissa gasped "Oh!".



    While the others were out on a break, Melissa quickly sketched five foils giving very specific (though totally hypothetical) examples of how the new design would handle transactions involving specific employees. When the meeting resumed, she presented the foils, and with each example, Norris visibly relaxed and brightened. When she turned off the overhead, he smiled and said his first words of the meeting, "This looks great! Let's do it".



    Three months later, I happened to be at a senior executive briefing at which Norris presented the new system. I was fascinated to observe that his entire presentation consisted of five examples taken word for word from Melissa's presentation though dressed up to executive quality by the graphic arts department." ...'
  • Reply 8 of 15
    brussellbrussell Posts: 9,812member
    For my first real presentation I was so nervous that I couldn't sleep the night before. I was a grad student and the presentation was in a room full of about 200 smartypants. I had images of not being able to speak, mmm mmm mmm mmm and then wilting and crying in a puddle of my own urine and everyone laughing in a Carrie-like scene, and then me projectile vomiting out of nervousness over everyone in the room.



    I was physically shaking as I was walking up to the podium the next day. Sticking out into the aisle was a guy's leg with a splint on it, but I didn't notice it, and I kind of kicked it as I was walking past. He let out this loud, anguished "Ahhhh" and everyone in the room heard it.



    Well, that just kind of confirmed that something horrible was going to happen, and somehow it just released all my anxiety, and then the talk went swimmingly. I've never really been nervous since then. I mean, a little nervous, but no more projectile vomiting fantasies.
  • Reply 9 of 15
    carol acarol a Posts: 1,043member
    I like to tell my students 'horror' stories about things that have happened to me or to people I know, so they can realize that everybody has 'problems' and difficulties in life that have to be lived through.



    Wrt speaking before a group: when I was a junior in high school (age 16), I took a speech class. I was the only girl in a class full of sophomore boys (age 15). Our first speech was supposed to be one without notes ! I knew that speech backwards and forwards; but as soon as I got up in front of the group, my mind totally went blank. I couldn't even remember the TOPIC of my speech. So I went morosely back to my seat.



    I don't know what teacher would assign the first speech to be one without notes. That's just setting the students up for failure and humiliation.....which is completely the opposite of what any good teacher should be doing!!!! He/she should be building UP students' confidence - NOT providing opportunities for them to screw up!!!!! It still makes me angry, just thinking about it.



    However, my students love hearing about stuff like this. They find it UNimaginable that I could ever be at a loss for words!!!! hahahahaha



    I also love telling them about the time I got an "F" as a midterm grade from my scriptwriting instructor, because I had to miss a class one night when our school had parent 'open house' the same evening, and I was unable to turn in a paper. I show them the midterm slip as proof, and tell them I had an "A/B+" going into the midterm. They are well and truly shocked. heh. ( I LOVE shocking them! hehe At least it keeps them awake. )
  • Reply 10 of 15
    giantgiant Posts: 6,041member
    There are presentations and then there are lessig presentations:



    http://www.oyez.org/creativecommons/lessig.mp4 (direct DL)
  • Reply 11 of 15
    I had a presentation with 2 other teammates 2 days ago. It went just fine as usual. Man.. I hate PowerPoint!
  • Reply 12 of 15
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Scott

    I wish I knew how to make people laugh when I wanted them too. I'm going to whip up a presentation for my department on Total Body Irradiation (TBI). It's all laughs let me tell you!



    I give presentations from time to time. Knowing your topic and being well prepared at the keys. In fact if someone sprung a presentation on me with only a few days to get ready starting from zero I'd say "no".



    Considering yours went well I'd say you know your topic and are a natural.




    Throw in a few goofy slides. During my last presentation I had a "Born to Kill" slide that has a big monster truck on it and the words "Born to Kill." I threw it in at the end after a long talk about how I developed a new algorithm for image segmentation that I called "The Blob."



    If you act very upbeat and confident, throwing in an occaisional cheeser really makes things funny.
  • Reply 13 of 15
    carol acarol a Posts: 1,043member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Scott

    I wish I knew how to make people laugh when I wanted them too. I'm going to whip up a presentation for my department on Total Body Irradiation (TBI). It's all laughs let me tell you!



    I give presentations from time to time. Knowing your topic and being well prepared at the keys. In fact if someone sprung a presentation on me with only a few days to get ready starting from zero I'd say "no".



    Considering yours went well I'd say you know your topic and are a natural.




    Hi Scott -



    For that first, euphoric 24 hours after my presentation, I felt that speaking before the faculty was something to which I could get addicted quite easily. haha. There's nothing like the esteem of one's knowledgeable colleagues to impart an outstanding 'natural high'!



    I could tell their compliments were sincere. In fact, the whole English dept. was receiving lavish praise from everyone, for putting on such a useful (and even fun!) in-service. Sigh.



    Well, we deserve the accolades. No one works harder at that school than we do. We have two-thirds of the testing accountability on our shoulders. Six teachers out of 50. The six math teachers have the other one-third. But no one else is accountable for anything. Pardon my moans. heh. Just thought I'd get in a little venting while I had the chance.



    About being a natural. Well.....I'm a Leo, with a Gemini moon sign. Perfect sign for English teaching, probably.



    About your situation...isn't there a book called 'humor for all occasions' - or something along those lines? Though I suppose for your presentations, humor wouldn't be in very good taste, would it? But still, if you all work in that same field, there must be humorous/ironic stuff that comes up. So maybe it wouldn't be 'entirely' impossible to have humor in your presentation. Maybe the humor could be directed at yourself, and your travail wrt preparing the presentation. Well...just a thought.



    Or separate it completely from the topic at hand. "On my way to work today..." - that kind of thing. Then, any kind of humor would do.



    You were probably kidding when you mentioned making people laugh. Right? Oh well....
  • Reply 14 of 15
    carol acarol a Posts: 1,043member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by GSpotter

    I hated doing presentations in school. Nowadays, it's part of my job to hold presentations (I'm an IT consultant). It's always 'interesting' to hold a presentation for a bidding. Standing in front of some (potential) customers making a presentation to convince them to give you hundreds of thousands of euros to build a new software system. These are the presentations you better do no screw up.



    A few years ago, I started teaching a course in a local university. Standing in front of 30 students and filling 2.5 hours for one session was also something making me nervous at the beginning. Especially as I sometimes had the material ready sometimes by midnight of the previous day. And kept my fingers crossed that I had enough stuff ready so I would not be finished too early.




    Hi GSpotter -



    2.5 hours would be a lot of time to fill up! And there's no real way to tell how fast you'll get through the material when it's your first time doing it, is there?



    The only thing to do for that 'first time' (your 'virgin' class ) is to have massive amounts prepared, don't you think? Then there's just NO WAY you'll run out of stuff to cover. That's what I did anyway. heh. I only got through about a third of the stuff I could have presented.



    Every fall, the parents at my school come to 'open house' night. They follow their child's schedule from class to class, just as he/she does; and the teachers give a ten-minute presentation of their program. I usually have a list a mile long on the board, of topics I wish to address. Then I talk pretty much non-stop. Keeps them from asking too many questions. haha.



    And since my school is in an affluent area, many of the parents are doctors, lawyers, bank presidents, company CEO's, etc. - a formidable audience. I don't think about that (...much ). I just rattle on non-stop, and that gets me through. I actually like seeing the parents. It's fun to see the family resemblance (to their children) in their faces.



    Btw, how did your first time go teaching that class?



    On the first day of class for the year, I get the students to fill out information sheets on themselves. That gives them stuff to do (plus I 'need' the info); and it takes the focus off me.



    Are you still teaching? I think your experience giving sales presentations in your regular job would be perfect preparation for teaching a class.



    Which do you like better - teaching, or your regular job?
  • Reply 15 of 15
    Hi Carol,

    Quote:

    Originally posted by Carol A

    2.5 hours would be a lot of time to fill up! And there's no real way to tell how fast you'll get through the material when it's your first time doing it, is there?



    Doing a 'test drive' at home helps. Apart from that, there are rules of thumbs like '3 minutes per slide on average'. Of course, there are slides which will be good for only 10 seconds and others do have 'meat' for 15 minutes. Switching media, e.g. going to the chalk board for developing something from scratch - or letting a student do this, helps to prevent losing their attention.

    Quote:

    The only thing to do for that 'first time' (your 'virgin' class ) is to have massive amounts prepared, don't you think?



    You're right. The only problem is producing this massive amount of stuff. Especially when you do this in your spare time after a normal 40+ hours job...
    Quote:

    Then I talk pretty much non-stop. Keeps them from asking too many questions. haha.



    That's one of my weaknesses: I tend to make too few pauses when I'm carried away on a subject to give my audience a chance to digest the input...
    Quote:

    Btw, how did your first time go teaching that class? ...



    Are you still teaching? I think your experience giving sales presentations in your regular job would be perfect preparation for teaching a class.



    Which do you like better - teaching, or your regular job?



    My first class was better than expected. I pretty much got a precision landing with the amount of prepared stuff - phew... The first semester was rather hard as I was finishing the slides etc. mostly just in time. Luckily, I have a workmate who by chance holds the same course, so we could split the preparation. Otherwise I would have been in trouble! Last autumn, we taught the class for the third time. Even though we now have a base, we experiment a bit with the exercises and some parts can still be improved. And the material has to be updated too, so even as I have now more routine (now 3 x 10 x 2.5 hours) it's still interesting. The next class will start in October.



    One of the reasons I did this was the 'free' (even paid! 8)) presentation training I got from the teaching. It's also a nice diversification from my job. 20 year old students are quite a different audience than managers of at least twice that age .
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