"Nervous Wreck!"

Today I had to give a presentation to an audience of around 50 people. My goodness! I've never really been good at giving speeches, apa lagi to so many people! I'd get so nervous, my mind would go blank, and I'd keep stuttering! (Umm... ahh.. what was I going to say??)

A few weeks earlier I had presented an earlier draft to my team mates. It was a *total* disaster... I couldn't get my message across to them, I put too many slides in my power point... In the end, you just know that it didn't work out... :(

Luckily, my team mates were kind enough to point out what went wrong (Spoke too soft, the slides are cluttered with words, too many unnecessary slides).

My gf was my worst critic... She basically said it was BORING. Too 'loh-soh'. At the end, she really fell asleep! And this happened just a night before the presentation... OMG, I'm gonna screw up, BIG TIME........ :'(

Then I checked out some websites. "Presentation skills", "How to Overcome Fear of Public Speaking". This one particular site helped me gain back some confidence:

http://lorien.ncl.ac.uk/ming/Dept/Tips/present/comms.htm

Then I went on a massive editing spree! Cut out all those words and slides and kept in mind these reassuring words:

Enjoy yourself. The audience will be on your side and want to hear what you have to say!

Guess what, it turned out okay! Many people told me I did an interesting presentation, which I take as a great compliment. The hands-on exercise that I added in at the last minute also helped keep everyone interested :)

So, here's a big thanks to you all who helped me out! CHEERS!