You know how everyone has that one specific fear that shut them down on physical and mental aspect? Well that one fear for me is public speaking, but hey I’m a PLP student I conquer the unconquerable.

Big crowds, not my forté.

So as the end of the term and also the school year is coming to a screeching stop that can only mean one thing, EXHIBITION TIME! Once again the class was divided into our own groups with no say what so ever, I was thinking to myself, “this is not going to go well with my luck”. And I can tell you I was right, pour Spencer was stuck with Anatolia and I, the two most terrified people when it comes to public speaking. After constant complaining to my friends and myself, I decided that I should man up and try to put my fear off to one side for now. I should mention that the whole point of this exhibition is for a debate/battle between the groups that were decided earlier. The only thing we knew about the debate topics were the seven concepts that were given to us a month ago. (if you would like to know those topics you can visit my previous blog where I go into more depth about those concepts). So back to my story, my groups preparation was not as crucial as I would like it to be. We became very easily distracted by other groups practicing for the Exhibition night. Our concept charts were left bare or minimally filled out, and as the big night came screaming towards us with no preparation at all, we were left rather unprepared.

Good job tom, ya did it again, nothing.

As the clock was slowly ticking down the hours before my group had to go in front of the crowd and debate, you could find me in the cafeteria filling out our concept sheets like crazy.

As the time came my group and I got up and were ready to try our best. To sum it up we lost, but I am still proud of my group, despite all the nerves and trembling fears, we stood in front of that podium and gave it all we had. I cannot tell you how pleased I was as soon as it was all over, the relief that was lifted off my shoulders made me feel lighter. But oh no, I thought I was done, apparently there was a losers bracket, so once again squishing all my fears deep down inside, I got up and debated like there was no tomorrow. Summarizing that debate, we lost again, but still very proud of my group.

If I was to wrap up this experience in a nice little parcel and tell you What went well? What didn’t? What would you do differently next time?

  

For what went well, my group’s courage in the actual debate was way above my expectations. What didn’t go well, definitely the preparation involved, was minimal and almost to none. Next time if I could change anything it would be bigger groups and longer debate times, as it would be a real in depth debate between the two groups, and generally would be more interesting for the students and the audience. My experience throughout this exhibition was quite dreadful, but I cannot express how proud I am of my group for conquering our fears and getting in front of the podium and debating till our hearts gave in