My teammates and I showed up on time, looking sharp - almost unrecognizable. Greg, a typical "granola" in t-shirt, rock climber pants, and hiking shoes, was decked out in his best interview suit.
However, George was probably the most transformed. George had a punk hairdo - whitewalls buzzed on the sides and forming a V at the nape of his neck, tufted bangs up front - and always wore hefty black boots, black t-shirt, and black jeans or shorts over his muscular build. But there he was in his Sunday-goin'-to-meetin'-clothes
Then there was me. I usually wore jeans, maybe a polo shirt, (now vintage) Reebok freestyle hi-tops. But I wore a suit that day as well. It was senior project presentation day, one of my final acts as a college undergrad.
Greg, George, and I were good friends during that semester of our senior design project. We actually had a fourth teammate, Steve - a pretty frat boy who was absent for most of the work. He might have been there on presentation day, but is foggy in my memory of it now. I do remember him apologizing for not doing anything and offering to type up the report. The remaining three of us thinking, "how's he gonna type up the report, he doesn't know what happened?"
Our project was a cute success. We presented it, got our "A", and went on to graduate and do other cute things.
For my part, I sucked. I was up there in my suit and realized I had not honed my presentation skills.
I really shouldn't have been nervous. We were just presenting to our professor and fellow classmates. I got through it, but it was not a cute success. Looking back, engineering classes in general at that time didn't require much discussion during classes, let alone presenting in front of class.
Afterwards, I realized that, up until that point, I really hadn't had much experience with public speaking. It just hadn't come up other than maybe a handful of times in high school? For some club fundraiser or such? I certainly hadn't had any formal training.
Once I became a working girl after college, one of the first trainings I signed up for was "Effective Presentation". The class lasted maybe a week, and there were about six of us plus the instructor. We learned and practiced presentation skills, made and watched big honking VHS video tapes of ourselves, and got better. Sheesh, if only I'd known in college.
Later, when I was busily volunteer momming in elementary school, I noticed lots of class presentation type activities required of the students. I thought, "Oh, good they include this stuff in school now". And I think it continued into middle school. Hopefully high school too.
Seeing those kids up there, presenting compelling stories or describing a favorite possession calmed my nerves for their futures at the lectern.
But at least I could play a mean game of Spanish Bingo!
2. Tell us about something you never learned in school but should have.
