Speaking to a crowd and not being as petrified as I was in grade 7

Yesterday, I did a presentation online with an audience of twenty people who are my peers, including my manager's boss. I originally thought of creating a PowerPoint set of slides. One member on our team of four just said to present my points that I had summarized as my meeting minutes last week.

Well, I did. He decided to create a PowerPoint for his other group that he was leading. Geez, thanks!

On a good note, my presentation went so well that I have been asked to present it to my entire department. Yes, I will need to create PowerPoint slides. My minimalistic approach wasn't bad at all.

When I was in grade 7 and throughout most of my academic life, I was extremely nervous talking in front of roughly thirty people. I would rehearse a ton before doing any presentation. It helped.

I supposed that my work and life experiences talking within my team, training others, and hanging out with friends pre-pandemic have made me comfortable speaking in public. For yesterday's presentation, I didn't do much rehearsing or preparation work.

It's interesting how things change as you get older.

Electric and sporty cars

On Tuesday, I had to take an early morning teleconference, so I worked from home for most of the morning. I then left to pick up my guy at work for lunch.

I got there and waited. I didn't see my guy at all. I decided to text him when he was running twenty minutes late. He apologized and said that he would be downstairs soon.

While I was waiting in the parking lot, I noticed that there was a nervous guy in a Hyundai Ioniq car. He kept looking at the two cars that were parked in the charging spots. He took a look at the meters, took photos, texted on his phone, and more. 

He then moved his car in front of both cars. He went inside the office and came back out. He then moved his car.

I then saw my former boss with a colleague get into his Volvo electric car and pull out. I thought that perhaps the nervous guy was running out of juice and needed to charge his car. Nope, he pulled into the upstairs parking lot. Huh?

I was exhausted analyzing the whole situation. I went into the office to use the women's washroom for a change of scenery.

I walked over to my car. My guy was following suit.

"I'm so sorry," he said again.
"It's okay," I replied, as we both got into my car.
"Everything went wrong with the software, so I was trying to fix it," he noted.
"It's okay. You expect imperfections when you teach a new course," I said, squeezing his hand.
"I know," he said, smiling at me.

I drove us over to our Chinese restaurant. The ice storm did quite a number on it. The restaurant was still closed. We went back to the Afghani restaurant for lunch. Once again, I got salad dressing with dairy on my salad when I said that I didn't want it. Ugh!

It was a nice lunch chatting. My guy showed me a purple sportscar that he likes.

"Hey, it's purple," I noted.
"It is. I like it," he admitted.
"I like it, too. If you get it, you'll have to let me drive it. You'd be in my good books," I teased.
"We'll see," he said.
"That's a positive sign. Normally, you give me a firm no. I didn't get that. You're making progress!" I exclaimed.
"Maybe. We'll see," he smiled.

I enjoy teasing him about having me drive his car, even though he doesn't have this purple one. He knows it, too.

Training

At work, I am teaching a refresher course. It is split up into two sessions. The first session starts on Monday morning.

It's interesting that I am both relaxed and nervous. I have given the same training for a while. This course focuses on fundamentals that need reinforcement. I think that it's good that I feel nervous. It means that I care about the content that I am about to deliver.

I didn't think that I would ever be in this position. It's cool that my guy understands what I do and vice-versa.

Nervous energy, in a good way

My guy returns home from camping for nearly five days. It will be fun hearing all about his stories.

I have been preparing for a presentation that I am giving to my peers later on today. I am nervous. I think that it's normal to feel this way. It means that I care about what I am going to talk about.

The weird thing is that my feelings from my past are resurfacing. I feel anxious.

I used to dislike speaking in front of crowds. These days, I talk a lot in front of peers. Yet, I feel that I have a mild case of butterflies-in-my-stomach jitters.

My first bout was back in grade 7. We often did presentations often. I disliked speaking. Mind you, there were a number of other factors that year on top of this issue. I basically skipped a total of a month's worth of classes. I wanted to avoid so much -- people, homework, assignments, class presentations, and so much more.

So, feeling a bit nervous is perfectly good. I know the content well. I have taught it to student interns both past and present, as well as colleagues. If I didn't feel anything, I would definitely be concerned.

Here's hoping that all goes well with my talk today. The crazy thing is that I am slated to give two more presentations in September. I should be a pro at it by then!