NWR - Take a chill pill.

kimheartsscott · April 2010

I need some advice and I know you all have plenty to offer

In about 2.5 hours I have to give a presentation on an artist/work of art of my choosing, and it has to be 10 minutes or I will get graded down. Right now, my notes constitute about 10 minutes worth of yaking. But, the problem is I did this same thing (different piece/artist) last semester and thought I had myself covered, but then I spazzed out and spoke quickly and ended up with 6 minutes. And, that was in a museum setting with me leading a mock tour, so part of that was me asking the audience questions and getting their answers. So I maybe only had 4 minutes.

This time I definitely feel more prepared than last time, but I'm worried I will rush through it. What can I do to slow myself down and make sure I say everything I planned? As of right now, I am planning on passing out 2 catalogs of the artists work which will kill a little time, and I going to wear a high collar shirt so I don't have a panic attack when my chest turns bright red because OMG THEY ARE ALL LOOKING AT ME.

Any advice? I'm not nervous yet, but I know it will set in soon.

btrflykate1230 · April 2010

Eat a banana.

No, seriously. Bananas are heavy and the potassium in bananas have a relaxing effect on the heart.

Here's a great article that we link to business students at my job:

http://media.www.harbus.org/media/storage/paper343/news/2007/03/26/Ae/The-abcds.Of.Public.Speaking-2791139.shtml

The guy in the article, Dale DeLetis is a personal friend of mine. He taught Public Speaking at my undergrad university and was fantastic. He gives great advice!

kimheartsscott · April 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_nwr-chill-pill?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:6ebe26f0-2fba-402a-a974-924263f6270bPost:d42ea48b-8039-4e6c-99b0-b1b817790c8f">Re: NWR - Take a chill pill.</a>:
[QUOTE]Eat a banana. No, seriously. Bananas are heavy and the potassium in bananas have a relaxing effect on the heart. Here's a great article that we link to business students at my job: <a href="http://media.www.harbus.org/media/storage/paper343/news/2007/03/26/Ae/The-abcds.Of.Public.Speaking-2791139.shtml" rel="nofollow">http://media.www.harbus.org/media/storage/paper343/news/2007/03/26/Ae/The-abcds.Of.Public.Speaking-2791139.shtml</a> The guy in the article, Dale DeLetis is a personal friend of mine. He taught Public Speaking at my undergrad university and was fantastic. He gives great advice!
Posted by btrflykate1230[/QUOTE]

Well crap. I hate bananas.

Thanks for the link! I see raisins are also acceptable, and I have some downstairs! Mmmm.

tenofcups4me · April 2010

Do you have all your information in your notes? Not full sentences, but a clear outline of what you want to say?

Also, you might want to time yourself again and next to some key points, put down about what time you're at. Keep a watch or your cell phone with a timer next to your notes so you can periodically check and make sure you're still on track timewise.

kimheartsscott · April 2010

I have all my info, and I tried to keep it as close to short, outline-y sentences as possible. I tend to stare at my paper if I don't.

maggyruth · April 2010

Deep breathing exercises right before hand...in the nose, out the mouth (pursed lips.) Sounds silly, but it's always worked for me when I'm nervous.

Stackeye210 · April 2010

I don't have much help for you - but I totally break out in hives on my chest when I have to speak in front of people. I always wear high collared shirts on days like that. Good Luck!

akhensley81 · April 2010

I used to do this during presentations like that in college... do you know what a metronome is? Musicans (I played piano) use it to help them literally "keep the beat" when they're playing a song.

For those presentations... I would literally tap my fingers together at a slow pace while I talked to help remind myself to "keep the pace" down. It was probably more of a mind-over-matter thing, but it worked!

It might be worth a shot... but it might make you more self-conscious if you don't get a chance to practice with it too.

cukimerrydoll · April 2010

Enunciate. I have the same problem, but when I concentrate on saying each word as clearly as possible, it adds a suprisingly large amount of time.

kimheartsscott · April 2010

I have decided to wear my Dck in a Box shirt, because it is awesome and maybe distracting so I don't have to maintain lots of eye contact with my audience.

That metronome thing is really interesting! I will keep that in mind for the future.

akhensley81 · April 2010

Good luck!! And let us know how it goes!!

MeaghanandMichael · April 2010

Kate - I am so intrigued by that advice because all through grad school a banana was my go to meal before class (yale was heart pounding, psycho and competitive) and the days I had a banana I felt so much better! I love that this has a reason

sarah0725 · April 2010

Ooh, what artist was it?

I taught 39 cranky undergrads about nineteenth century romantic landscape painting today. It was not fun.

kimheartsscott · April 2010

Mark Rothko. I'm the only person in my class not studying renaissance art, but I figured they were all junior or senior art history majors and they wouldn't give me the "well, come on, I could paint that" eyes. Not only did I get the eyes, my entire question and answer portion was spent defending and explaining why I thought it was art. One girl even went "yeah, ok, whatever" when I said I like to look more at the artist's intent than skill.

NWR - Take a chill pill.

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