The coming week and week following are going to be personally stressful for me - in addition to the general malaise of the current events unfolding (pandemic, politics, the politics of the pandemic) I am also going to do my first (? only?) Zoom presentation for a guild. Plus other things.
I'm not proficient at either Power Point or Zoom, and so I'm nervous about how - if - I will be able to manage to give something akin to an interesting presentation.
On the other hand, I'm not the only person dealing with Zoom and Power Point, and I hear the stories of others and realize that it isn't just me struggling with wanting to be 'professional' in a situation that makes doing that, challenging.
I'm used to a little stage fright. I admit the first few times I did stand up presentations to groups of people I was also nervous with stage 'fright'. But as a child I had done things like sing in a choir, played in music festivals (accordion!), danced for audiences, done speech festivals. So I wasn't entirely new to the concept of getting up in front of a sea of faces and just...doing it. Nerves and all.
Nike had it just exactly right with their marketing slogan of Just Do It.
In many ways, stage 'fright' is just your body getting itself ready to perform. A little adrenaline provides some energy, you learn how to focus or you stop putting yourself in that situation. It's something that organizations like Toastmasters understands - give participants a 'safe' place to get up and try, then get feedback on how to do it better.
I considered joining Toastmasters when I was younger, but never seemed to have the time. Instead I strode out in front of a lectern (when there was one), and just told my story, watching crowd reactions, learning on the fly.
The difference now is that I need to deal with technology which can fail for unknown reasons. It's not me I'm worried about. Much. I think I've got this public speaking thing more or less worked out. It's the added stress of using the internet and not knowing if the experience will be good for me, of course, but also for the viewers.
I accepted the date in part because I wanted to know more about what the seminar speakers were going to have to deal with so I could provide them with assistance where necessary. As it happens, I can't do much because so much depends on the internet and if it works. Or not.
So I am going to focus on doing what I can in the studio. The next warp is ready to weave and I will begin after lunch. In the queue after this one is another with the dark blue but with turquoise/emerald as the stripe, then a pale blue/grey, then maybe that autumn colourway I've been toying with and may or may not actually toss onto the loom.
By that time there will be very little left of the 2/16 cotton. And so I may decide that this never ending cycle of tea towels is over and done with. My stash of that type of yarn will be pretty well used up. I may in the future buy enough white to do white warps and weave off the rest of the colours on the white. Plus I have been given some linen yarn from a friend downsizing HER stash, and some linen on white cotton might look very nice. I know it will make a great quality of cloth.
Given it is taking about 14-16 days to complete (weaving) each warp, that's about two months to seeing the end of the tea towels. For now. My completion date is now mid-January. And after that? Probably work on some more scarves and try to use up some of those rayon yarns. I'm not sure I want to do more shawls, but possibly.
Always something to look forward to.
4 comments:
I don't know if this will help you, but I've conquered nerves by recording then viewing. Watching myself at twice playback speed keeps me from obsessing and seeing little things I can do. I'm not as nervous the next session.
Laura I had to do the same thing for my guild recently and was also worried about the technology. I'm reasonably confident at public speaking. I used to be the world's worst but after I was dragged kicking and screaming into it at work, I eventually got to quite like it. I prepared my Powerpoint and made sure our secretary who runs the Zoom meetings had a copy as a backup. It all went off without a hitch, didn't need to use the back up. The thing I found disconcerting was that with everyone muted, I didn't get any feed back from the audience. I like to hear them laugh at the jokes or at least look as though they're interested. I broke it into 3 sections so we could have some discussion every 10 minutes or so. Afterwards I realised that there was one thing that could fail and which I couldn't control, and that was a serious internet failure, fortunately it didn't happen. I'm sure you'll be fine and good luck with the technology
It is disorienting to conduct a meeting and run Zoom at the same time. Before my first time I practiced with my daughter who often conducts zoom meetings as part of her job at the university. That helped me a lot, but I realized I couldn’t be proficient at running a meeting and running zoom. The guild you’re presenting to will probably have someone run the nuts and bolts of the meeting so you just need to practice the function of share screen and where to find your Power Power images so you can go right to them to share. There’s always a little lag time in the function but find someone to practice with so you can focus on your material. It would not be me! I still fumble with the functions but our guild has appointed an ad-hoc Zoom Host position for the duration of the pandemic so I just have to get through the meeting while sitting in a room and doing what feels like talking to myself :-)
Some encouragement, in the category "if I can, you can"...
Last January, I agreed to be the presenter for the October meeting - topic, using a rigid heddle to create Baltic-style pick-up bands. No problem...have several looms I can put out to compare/contrast and have guild members give it a go with a simple 5 or 7 end 'wandering vine' type pattern. In the bag!
Then Covid...
So I spent a fair whack of mental energy in August determining exactly how one could present the material to an on-line audience. Watched a fair few YouTube tutorials to understand how the camera angle can emphasize elements - or not. Watched more tutorials on how to teach using a phone as a secondary camera for demonstration purposes (and exceptionally simple set-ups for that phone). Wrote up a power point. Video recorded a demonstration which was long enough to teach what was needed, but short enough not to fall asleep. Practiced with three Guild members, twice, to verify where the various buttons were located (where's the 'share screen' button?! The Power Point window covers the Zoom window!!!).
All to say, went off without a hitch. Next month's show and tell had several pick-up bands by Guild members. I'd like to think it wasn't a coincidence. Maybe...
If I can...so can you!
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