Stress and Success (part I)

The past two weeks have been absurd.

I was selected among many other students to give a brief presentation to a bunch of people who donate lots of money to BYU's School of Technology each year. Since my major is in that school, and some of the donors funded a lot of money for me to go to Singapore, and the professor in charge of the trip to Singapore adores me for some reason (I really don't know why he thinks so highly of me--I didn't suck up or try to be teacher's pet at all; I was just myself and he and his wife somehow love me... not that I mind...), the Dean of the school asked if I would be willing to share with these donors what I learned from that trip, how it's helped me, and express my gratitude to them. Of course I accepted. I love speaking to people and large groups. I know, I'm crazy, but I really enjoy it.

So on October 22nd, I woke up early and got ready for the day. Bob really wanted to come and hear me speak, even though it was only going to be for 2 minutes, so he came with me. We were both all dressed up and professional-looking. We arrived and quietly sat in the back until my turn to speak.

There were only two of us students who were selected to present. A guy who went to China for a study abroad went before me. The poor guy was nervous and shaking and tripped over his words a few times. I wanted to just hug him and tell him to relax. He finished, and it was my turn.

I felt a little nervous too, but I did my best to hide it. I had a few PowerPoint slides with pictures from the trip. The first picture was of the whole group of students who were a part of the class. We were all dressed professionally in it and had our projects displayed. My small group was gathered around the wheelchair we designed and prototyped, and I was sitting in it. As I was standing there, I briefly explained that I was not actually confined to a wheelchair, which several people chuckled at. I discussed our project idea and the basics of how it worked. The next slide had several pictures on it. One was of me eating some weird food with chopsticks. I told them of some things I learned, especially that I don't like fried oysters as I pointed to that specific image, at which everyone laughed.

'Okay,' I thought, 'I got them all to laugh, so now they have some connection with me.' I was able to relax and opened up more about my experience in learning how to work with engineers, design products, listen to various viewpoints from different people, etc. As I started wrapping up my short speech, I gave some small background on me, that I lived on a farm in Tennessee, and I never really thought that I would have a chance to travel to such an incredible country to further my education. I meant every word of it, and I unexpectedly got choked up and teary-eyed. I finished by thanking them all for helping me to have such an amazing experience, because I never could have gone without their help.

I ended and as I walked back to my seat, I thought, 'Holy cow. Where did those tears come from?' I sat back down next to Bob, beaming because I felt so good about how I spoke. He leaned over and hugged me, then whispered in my ear, "Good job!"

I really felt like I nailed that presentation. I know, it was only a couple of minutes long, but it was partially up to me to show these donors that the money they donate is really going to a good cause and being used well, and we even hope they'll consider donating more. If I hadn't have given a great speech, it could have affected the donations they give in a negative way.

After it was over, I went out into the hall/lobby to stand and see if anyone wanted to say hello to me or anything. On my way out I was stopped by several people who complimented me on my presentation. As we were talking I glanced over at the other student who spoke. He had all of two people talking to him, while I had about eight talking to me. I felt kind of bad for the other guy. I'm such a spot-light stealer sometimes. And yet, as much as I felt bad, I also felt like I had to do that to some extent, because his speech wasn't very good. He had some good pictures and made some good points, but I felt like I had to be really good to make up for anything that his was lacking.

Man, I am so analytic. Is that a bad thing? I'm not sure if the way I think sometimes is right or wrong. It's just how I think.

Either way, the presentation was successful and everyone appreciated my words and insights. I felt great about myself, and met a lot of important people. I can't remember all of their names, but I sure home they'll remember me.