Nervous like nothing else.
I gave the presentation a little under an hour ago. It was nerve-wracking.
The professor called me to the front and said, "Go." That was it. No explanation, nothing. So, I went. I passed out the copies of the outline I'd made, then I started talking about the book I had kind of read, kind of skipping around, always remembering to tie the new topic to the old. I spoke clearly and correctly, with enough projection for everyone to hear me. And I paced. I paced, I swayed, I moved my eyes more than I should have, never actually making eye contact with anyone. It was scary, and it was not my best performance. It also most certainly was not my worst, so that's a relief.
Then the questions started. People called into question my phrasing, taking it as exactly the phrasing used in the book, called me on some of my hyperbole, it was really awkward. Thankfully, I responded well enough to enough of the questions that it all seemed good. Then the professor asked a question that I really hadn't thought about, and I couldn't think of a well thought out answer to it. Turns out, he wasn't looking for a well thought out answer. He was looking for the simplest answer to the easiest question anyone had asked of me. I felt like an idiot. Of course, I did make the class laugh twice, which is always something I try to do. Also, the professor said my timing was exquisite. Or some phrase like that. Either he's being mean, or I really nailed the timing. I couldn't tell...
No comments:
Post a Comment