Presentation

Today was the first session of the presentations, the second half of the group will do their next Tuesday. I am very glad that it is now done. I was feeling very nervous as I always do when I have to stand in front of an audience and talk about my work. The presentation is marked as part of our final BA grade so it was important to do as well as I could.

I faltered a little and I did run over the time limit of 10 minutes. I did not leave enough time to discuss the slides of my own images at the end, but I did show them and pause at each one.

The comments I received from a few of the other students were that my voice was quiet but clear, and that I sounded calm and in control. I am fortunate that although my nerves are jangling inside me, I am able to appear quite confident. If only I had a little more belief in my own abilities to do well.

The lecturers commented after each student had made their presentation. After mine, they said that they were pleased to see that I had overcome my initial problems with my personal project work, and that this exercises had been advantageous for me, as it had enabled me to have a clearer picture of the concept of my work, which I felt was quite true. In writing my presentation, and seeing my work from another perspective, I had come to realise that my connection with the land, is an ancestral one. It is my family and my fore bearers who tie me to this land, and it is them who allow me to see the beauty of it.

This was a compulsory part of the BA Module; we will be given feedback at a later date.

There was some interesting work being shown today by my fellow students. It was a great opportunity to see what everyone has been working on. There is not often the chance to see everyone's work; this final year is very much about self directed study, and when we meet for seminars, it is in small groups and there are often students absent.

My main errors were that I used two political quotes that were not really relevant to my work. I misunderstood the quotes and put forward opinions that I had not fully thought out. But mistakes are made to learn from, so I am not going to give myself a hard time about that.

I think on the whole, I did quite well. This will be the last presentation I will have to give during my studies for the BA Degree. I am not sorry it is the last, but only wish that my confidence was greater than it is. It will depend very much on which path I take, as to whether I make any presentations when I leave University. One never knows.