A presentation. With a group. My favorite thing to do. Oh well, at the end of today, it will be over.

I wrote that on December 14, 2004. It was 8:30 in the morning and I was just about to die go to my last Web Usability I class and give a totally, utterly, absolutely disorganized, unrehearsed presentation with the two other people in my group.

I lost the lottery today. I’m in Web Usability II now and one of the class requirements is a research presentation. There are three dates available for class members to present: Nov. 28, Dec. 5, and Dec. 12. Today was the day we decided on the date and order of presentation. No one would volunteer to go first, including me, so the teacher did the only fair thing and drew names. When she called your name, you picked your date and time slot. I waited as she called names. One by one, people picked slots on the 12th and the 5th. When she finally called my name, only the 28th was left.

Like everyone else, I was hoping for a later date, but I decided I was okay with the 28th. Not that I had a choice. 😉 But my topic is one I’m highly interested in and I’ve already done quite a bit of the research. In fact, I even have working documents going in both powerpoint and word. Highly disorganized, organically growing, working documents, but that’ll get better as I decide what I really want to talk about and start refining.

I’ll be nervous when I have to get up there and talk. I’ll wish I’d had more time and I’ll wish I was more prepared. But I’ll get through it. I learned that back in December 2004. That presentation was definitely not the best presentation anyone ever did. In fact, in my opinion, it stunk! But even as I was standing up there wishing there was a trap door I could fall through, I was calculating about how to do it better the next time.

I’ve done a few presentations since then. I will probably never be an eloquent orator. But I will get through this. And once I get going, I’ll probably even enjoy it somewhat. And then I’ll be done and everyone else will still be researching and writing and worrying about presenting.

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