All About Presentations

"It takes one hour of preparation for each minute of presentation time."
-- Wayne Burgraff

Awesome - so that means I need to spend 30 hours of prep time for my upcoming presentation on Thursday!!  (In between everything else I have to do in prep for this meeting.)  I have never been a fan of public speaking.  I took my college teaching position partly because of my fear of public speaking.  I know that sounds counterintuitive, but I like to challenge myself.  I also know that public speaking is a part of life.  It is something that is done daily in business settings, and if I want to grow professionally - it is something that I WILL have to do.  So I thought, what better way to get over speaking in public than forcing myself to do it once a week.  It has helped some. 

There is a direct correlation between my comfort with/knowledge of the subject area and how uncomfortable I get with speaking.  For example, my principles of advertising class - I know the subject inside and out.  I can speak for over two hours on it and not once check the clock to see how much longer I have to stand at the front of my class and keep talking.  It is also noticed by my students.  They can tell how much I enjoy and how interactive I make the presentations.  I have been told by numerous students how excited they are to take my advertising class, despite knowing how much work it will involve.  Now the same can't be said for other subjects. 

I have presented before to my students, which has never been more than 15 students.  I have presented to an audience of about 50 for a National Student Advertising Competition in college, consisting of students, faculty and industry professionals.  In professional settings, the most my presentations have entailed have been to a group of maybe 8-10 people.  I have yet to present to a large audience in a professional business setting. 

After Thursday, I will be able to mark that off my list of to-do's.  It will be my first large-scale, company-wide presentation I have to do.  To say I am nervous is an understatement.  Thankfully, I will be presenting on marketing - which I know and am comfortable talking to people.  Another plus is that practice makes perfect, and the more I do this (large-scale, professional presentations), the better/more comfortable I will get.  So despite my extreme level of uncomfortableness right now, if you don't push yourself to the point of uncomfortable, you will never grow.  Bring on the growth!!!  (And LOTS of happy thoughts/well wishes/prayers my way on Thursday would be appreciated)