Symposium Nightmare

In just one weeks time, I'll be giving a talk at our MA symposium (which is just a conference with a fancy name). We each have to condense our practice over the last 12 months to a 15 minute presentation, whilst making sure we cover all the important points. It will be the largest audience I've presented to and it's more than a little nerve wracking, especially as we open ourselves up to questions at the end of our talks (what if I don't know the answer to a question?!?).

It's a combined event with the students from Hull and thankfully, this year it's being held in Harrogate College in the cafeteria, so we get to practice before hand (hallelujah). I'm not good with public speaking so this is proving to be a real challenge but it's a necessary evil as I need to get used to talking about my work and practice if I want to succeed in the career I've chosen. Doesn't make it any easier though so myself and a few others on the course have been trying to acclimatise to the feeling of being 'on stage'.

It's also extremely nerve wracking as we're presenting to people who may have a say in our future, such as the curator from the Mercer Gallery. If I cock it up, this will be what I'm remembered for! So I'm practising three times or more a day, I'm muttering my presentation on the school run, in the shower, driving the car, basically every opportunity I can because I really, really can't afford to mess this one up!