Public Speaking: To flow or not to flow

 While words usually gush out of my mouth like an unrestrained waterfall, somehow whenever I am put on a stage the tap seems to run dry. My throat starts to close up, my stomach shrinks, and somehow all of the preparation I did jumps out the window. Giving presentations is a life skill that's really important and relevant no matter what field I end up in, so I appreciate the opportunity to practice, but that doesn't quite erase the anxiety induced at just the mention of powerpoints. 

However, the most difficult part of the journal presentation was actually crafting a cohesive storyline from a quite disjointed article. As if speaking smoothly wasn't already an issue, I was required to formulate a scientific story from something that wasn't quite intuitive. Taking note of bullet points to cover in a put-together manner was difficult, but I think I succeeded this time. Deep breaths in and out, in and out, in and out barely helped to calm my roiling stomach before the presentation, but willfully slowing my breathing and my words helped to (hopefully) hide my nerves. 

Giving a scientific presentation on someone else's work was a novel experience for me, but one that would likely help in both my regular storytelling manner and my writing about information from research articles. Reading this paper so closely gave me a depth of knowledge that I didn't expect from just 10 or so pages. The ability to critique a paper felt so out of reach before, but now I feel as though this assignment may have positioned me better to understand an article enough to question it, and for that I'm thankful. 

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