Presentations: Finding and Maintaining Flow

    In the speaker notes of the first slide, I wrote in all caps, "Don't stress." I had realized, in the hour between finalizing my slides and presenting, that I hadn't given myself the bullet points on the slides to guide myself. I had taken the "as little text as possible" perhaps too seriously. I knew the goal of each slide--which I had helpfully crafted in a sentence--but it felt different to figure out the words to say. My appointment with the Comm Lab had helped me recraft the presentation to flow better and follow less tangential storyline, but I struggled with the advice to write bullet points instead of memorizing full sentences. With sentences, I felt more secure in the flow of my presentation. But she was right; bullet points would be much more manageable and helpful, and less of a burden to remember. 

    I spent those sixty minutes of preparation thinking about transitions instead, the core of my flow, and what I needed to say there. I wanted to make sure that the significance of each slide in relation to the previous slide was well understood. But when my time to present came, I felt so jittery that I didn't remember to take any deep breaths. My thoughts just kept racing. Presenting itself felt so disorienting, because I felt myself stumbling and forgetting in the pressure of the moment, but knowing I had to get up as quickly as possible to actually convey the important elements. Each part of the presentation had its own challenge.

    I feared the later elements, which I hadn't practiced at much, but I found those to actually feel more grounded, because I knew exactly what was needed to be said about them. For the earlier, broader-significance slides, I realized that the script I had written for myself so much earlier wasn't useful for my audience. I had to go on the fly for those first few, and let the momentum carry me through the rest of the presentation. If I had to do this presentation again, I would have let myself take deep breaths at the beginning of each slide, both to let the audience read the verbose titles and give myself some mental space. 

    This virtual setting for public speaking has been so strange. It feels harder to feel grounded in my words, and I don't have the space for the same style of public speaking I'm accustomed to. Gestures are one of the ways I release my nervous energy. Since I had to look at a screen, I felt like I didn't have a good way to see a script before me, because I'd be too tempted to look down and break the facsimile of eye contact. I regretted not putting in enough bullet points on the slides and letting the speaker notes be on the other screen. 

    However, during the questions session, I did feel that I had proper command of the material, which was a relief. The circular storyline of presentatins Prerna taught us grounded me to recognizing the utility of each step in the paper, and I felt that I could give thorough responses. If anything, this experience has taught me that thorough understanding, while essential to a presentation, isn't sufficient for a good presentation. Practiced confidence is the key to pulling it off well.

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