I received my official marathon certificate in the mail, last night. It came with a souvenir magazine which included everyone's time (with split times) and order of finish. There was also a photo order form which had colour thumbnails of eight photos of me taken during the race. I probably won't order any of the photos, but the order sheet is a nice souvenir, all the same.
These days, work is fairly quiet for me. I have a few things on my task list, but most of it has been given to Paul as there are parts which need approval before I continue with the work, or I have questions. Paul is busy with other more urgent matters, though, so I will need to be patient. I feel like I have so much "excess capacity" and that Paul is the "bottleneck". I am going to ask him if there are other ways that I can ease his workload.
posted by James 8:55 am
I had nervousness pulsing through my body as I walked home from the train station. I have heard that the feeling of nervousness is almost identical to the feeling of excitement, so I tried a different perspective. I imagined that I was going through customs at Auckland International Airport, about to meet my friends, or that I was on my first train trip to Tilburg, waiting to meet the Tilburg AIESECers for the first time. It took my mind off being worried by the presentation, and I felt good because I was associating how I felt with excitement, rather than nervousness.
The presentation was at Gorken's place and everyone met there at 9pm - the AIESECers arriving after their local committee meeting. I was pleased with the turn out. There were about 20 AIESECers, all of the trainees and Martin, my housemate.
According to my sister, it is best to serve drinks before the presentation. That way, the audience isn't distracted by the prospect of having drinks afterwards. I heeded her advice and passed around cups and bottles of soft drink as we were setting up the equipment.
The technical side of things went smoothly. The projector and laptop were set on a table and the powerpoint was projected onto the big white wall in Gorken's living room - just how I had envisaged it. The seating could have been arranged better, though, as I later found out that some of the audience had a poor view of the presentation.
Before I started the powerpoint, I presented Martijn with five bars of Bonbonbloc chocolate. That was his prize for getting the highest score in the New Zealand quiz that I had e-mailed out earlier.
I found the presentation, itself, fun to do. I had almost no nervousness! I spoke in a clear, well-paced voice and didn't waffle as much as I thought I would. I spoke about general New Zealand facts, Auckland, New Zealand icons, history, current issues and AIESEC in New Zealand (and Auckland).
I used a lot of photographs - some from the internet and others taken with Vanessa's camera before I left New Zealand. As a personal touch, I included a photo of me doing a handstand outside my house. In the AIESEC culture section, I used great photos of Alicia taking part in the banana dance, Daniel and Xin performing the varient "soft-serve cone dance" and a view of Auckland AIESECers racing up Mt. Eden crater.
To introduce variety, I took questions during the presentation, rather than afterwards.
The presentation lasted for about 30 minutes (as I expected) and it was well received. Many of the AIESECers approached me personally, after the presentation, and told me how much they enjoyed it. Some of them asked me more questions about the Treaty of Waitangi and immigration issues. It felt good to know that they appreciated the presentation and learnt something about New Zealand.
I have a good feeling about the Tilburg AIESECers. Before last night, I would have thought that they favoured the business skills aspect of AIESEC too much over the cultural interaction side of things. Now they appear more balanced.
posted by James 9:02 am
I'm doing my New Zealand presentation tonight and I am feeling nervous.
I am thinking about whether the technical aspects of my presentation will come off. Will the projector, laptop and stereo be there as planned? Is Gorken's living room suitable for showing a powerpoint? What if the room is too dark, and people can't see me at the front, speaking?
Just the idea of speaking in front of an audience makes me nervous. Although, from experience, I have noticed that the nervousness BEFORE the presentation is worse than the nervousness DURING the presentation.
I'm only planning to speak for half an hour. If I'm nervous, then I will probably speak faster. Then again, if I'm nervous, then I will probably say much more waffle than I should. I guess it all evens out.
posted by James 5:59 pm