Thoughts about giving presentations

I guess that everyone has been put at the awkward situation, in which he or she -usually while in school- has to stand at the front or at the center of a room and start talking about something.

This is exactly what a great friend of mine and I had to do on previous Wednesday. We worked really hard on the project we were assigned and then it was our time to actually present our work to our fellow students and to our professor.



Before the presentation we were completely terrified. All I could think about was a thousand pair of eyes looking at me. Of course, there are not so many students in the class but I felt like they were that many. I could picture the look of frustration that they would probably have at the moment I say something stupid or they might not understand what I am trying to say. What is more, I was afraid that the students would get bored and they would not really care about what we had to say. And that would be our fault, as it was our responsibility to attract their attention and to make them interested in what we are saying. Simply, it is just scary to stand in front of a lot of people and start talking.

And I guess that I don't have to mention that the moment that we stood up and we started approaching the desk for starting the presentation, I could feel my whole body trembling. And while I was waiting for my turn to speak, I was so scared that I wasn't daring to raise my eyes to the audience so instead my eyes were fixed on the computer.

But then it was my time to talk. I'm not going to lie, at first it was scary. But it quickly became awesome. It was so cool to actually see that people were interested in listening to you and what you have to say about a project you worked so hard on. And although as I said looking at people was my biggest fear, it turned out to be the thing that gave me gradually more and more confidence. I could see their interest and excitement and that made me want to keep talking, expressing and justifying my views about the project matter.

Therefore, even though before a presentation you may die from stress, as you'll probably want to have the perfect project, the feeling of having people who are genuinely interested in what you are saying and the fact that you contibute to the broadening of their horizons make the experience of presenting a project priceless. So, at the next opportunity you get to give a presentation, don't hesitate and