So You Want to be a Speedrunner Progress- Day 25

Today was the first real “test run” of the presentation. As with running through it in the car on my way to Newington, once I got started and got used to feeling of talking to an empty room, it was surprisingly easy to get through the whole thing. Unfortunately, I don’t quite have my actual slide deck memorized–or written out, for that matter. As such, the whole thing was kind of awkward, as I’d click onto slides too soon, not use the black slides I had put in the presentation, etc. Still, I got the whole thing done in 50 minutes or so. I’m fairly sure I can hack a few minutes off of that, if by doing nothing else than actually knowing what’s going on in the slides behind me, and a 45-minute presentation plus 15 minutes of Q&A would make a nice hour-long panel.

Other stuff to improve:

• Actually mentioning the fact that there will be a Q&A earlier than I did.
• Being more aware of what I’m doing with my hands–I slipped one of them into my pocket on occasion.
• As mentioned above, actually knowing my slidedeck a little better.

What did I actually do well?

• I felt like I didn’t really “um”, “er”, etc. at all, although I would need to actually record myself giving the presentation to be sure.
• Similarly, I felt like my actual command of the material was pretty good. If I had to give the presentation without any visual aids whatsoever, I think I could do it.
• Finally, I think I did a good job keeping my head up. In other words, if I actually had an audience, I would’ve been making eye contact with them (Or at least faking it).

Again, I feel like this is really starting to come together. Since I’m now at the stage where I can’t really tinker with the slideshow anymore, this will likely be the final daily update on the panel. I’ll make sure to continue trying to at least make some kind of daily post, though, as that way you’ll keep coming back (And I’ll actually get some value out of the fact that I have the site paid up for the next 2 years). And I’ll continue to update on the panel whenever I actually do something, rehearse, etc.

-EE