Presentations and Professionalism

I just found out I have two days to finish an assignment requiring PowerPoint slides, a video, and some pictures as visual. Orientation has always been a boring class, but why is it boring?

Sure, it's good to be professional. Probably even necessary. You gain a lot more respect from being professional. But you know what? It's never been my thing. Geeks like us have little use for being professional, nor do most of us want to (I know I've stuttered a lot presenting in front of my classes.)

So, as an alternative to being totally professional, suit and tie, what can you do?

Well, there has to be a balance. Being professional and stiff is boring and probably won't land you your next date, and heaven knows we've all probably tried everything, but acting like a total fool probably won't either. In most high schools and colleges and especially universities, following the outline is probably your best bet for a high grade, but putting a personal spin on it definitely helps to make it more interesting.

If you're presenting about careers like I am, then don't just tell us where you'll go to college, how much it'll cost, what the pros and cons are. Tell us why you'd enjoy doing it. Inject a little humour. Tell us what you'll be doing, why people get paid for your line of work (example: We get paid to fix your computers so we can become further to our goal of making Star Trek a reality and so we can be better prepared for our mechanical counterparts when they finally unite and rebel against humankind.)

But above all, if you don't do research about what you want to spend your life doing, I can guarantee you'll be disappointed once you actually do get into the business. Make sure you know what you're getting into. For me, blogging is a hobby and I know I'll never be famous, at least in the blogging area. But writing fantasy novels and stories is my life, and with writing, it's pretty easy to know exactly what you're setting yourself up for. You write, maybe collaborate with some editors, you edit the novel, you go through the publishing process, and half a year to a year later your book hits the shelves. A lot easier said than done (writing requires enormous amounts of self-dicipline), but it's satisfying to know you finished it, and you've basically been immortalized through the book.

So go ahead, be professional. But please don't bore us to the point where we've long ago stopped fighting our nodding heads and loud snoring, while the others have probably glazed over, their eyes frozen open from a lack of blinking. Find your own balance. Practice your presentation before you bring it to class. I won't say it has to be polished, especially since that would probably sound pretty stiff once it comes out. But definitely put your own personal spin on it. As long as you do that, you can't go wrong.

Comments welcome.