I'm going in cold

Group projects and presentations. I know I am not the only one, but there are times that this fills me with fear, and times where I feel excited about the knowledge I can share.

This last week I was filled with the former, and it is all my own fault.  I hated (strong word!) the reading I needed to do for this presentation.  They were journal articles that were full of jargon, and writing that was neither clear nor concise. I found them incredibly difficult to get into, and barely gleaned any information, however after spending an entire weekend reading these two articles I decided that I had enough information to prove that I had read them, and could talk on the subject matter enough.  I was going in hoping.

Boy, my body belied the truth of my preparedness.  I was showing signs of stress before I went up with my group, it wasn't going to bother me, I've done presentations before, and done them very well.  Hah! So up I go, and we attempt to talk about the articles.

Well, then the sweats began. My feet were sweating. My KNEES were sweating (yes I went there!).  Then I tried to talk, fumbling through my notes that suddenly I could not read. My face went so red, and being so very pale and knowing everyone could see my discomfort I decided to own it.

"I'm so embarrassed right now, sorry guys" I say, fanning my face with my books.  Oh boy.

In the end I was able to say enough, and perhaps even redeem myself a little- I hope to still pass this element of assessment.

I learnt a very valuable lesson— no matter how difficult the subject is, it is no excuse for being under prepared, you need to be able to talk the talk.

Don't go in cold people, you will only come out hot!