Winter Exhibition ‘18

“I tried being normal once. Worst two minutes of my life”

On December 20th 2018, the PLP students of Seycove once again embarked into the world of our Winter Exhibition™.

This year was a bit different though. It was bigger for the grade 10s. It was the finale of our “Cray Cray Yay Yay” unit. 

Our Cray Cray unit was pitched to us in mid November. The unit was based around the driving question-

The unit was quite long. Like realllllllly long. We started the unit in mid November, and ended it in late December, in that time we even went on a trip to Seattle. 

When doing an average PLP project like this, we would come up with one thesis of our own (or in groups) to answer. This project we all came up with a good 5-7 thesi. Plus, in true PLP fashion, we had to have each one approved by the teachers (or multiple teachers). 

The Creative Process–

First thing’s first.

This project was a Pecha Kucha. If you don’t know what that is; a Pecha Kucha is a 7 minute oral presentation accompanied by 20 background slides. Each slide is 20 seconds long and (hopefully) has an image that fits with what you’re talking about at that point in the presentation.

But PLOT TWIST, we couldn’t have a script. Which meant we were presenting a 7 minute presentation live, with no script, and only a point to get across. Originally we were allowed “Presenter Notes” but those were eventually taken out of the picture as well. It was just us, our crushed dreams about our notes, and our memory now. 

After finding what we wanted to say, we had to pick the images to go along with it. We had to pick 20 images, each 20 seconds, to go along with what we said. Easier said then done because we were supposed to use only our own images. From Seattle. This was an issue only because most of us mostly took videos in Seattle (as that was our assignment) and not photos.

We made it work though. And everybody did a really good job.

The Pecha Kucha–

My Pecha Kucha was made up of the following images-

All of my images were taken by me (so they’re copyright free) and were chosen specifically to work with what I wanted to say at that time of my presentation. Plus it had to memorized (which for someone with my memory was terrifying).

The writing was originally done in note form, but later on we couldn’t use those so I memorized what I wanted to talk about.

The thing is though, I finished my Pecha Kucha and even did a run through of it for critique with multiple audiences. However when I got home from school a few days before the exhibition, I had the inspiration to recreate the whole thing around passion. So I did. I don’t regret it. I had something to say and I said it.

The Exhibition–

On exhibition night, as per usual, everything went into a state of insanity. Which was expected. The background computers threatening to shut down after we removed the mouse and keyboards however was not….

Oops.

Our class was given the back of the library to turn into whatever we wanted that we thought would suit our presentations. So what did we pick? The opposite of crazy.

We decided to turn our room into a cafe themed “lounge” complete with comfy chairs and dining tables. Our food and drink included baked goods and coffee & tea. We had the room lit with lamps and fairy-lights and we had (at least when we were setting up) soft music playing in the background.

It was fantastic. I actually loved it. It was so relaxing and honestly such a good vibe for before our very stressful 7 minute presentations for our friends and family.

Small shout out to my classmates- our class is so supportive of each other and it was fantastic to know that we all had each other’s backs. Everyone said “well done” and “good job” to everyone when they finished their presentation and that was such a boost I think to everyone after. 

What I Would Change–

Honestly, I think there are only a few things I would do differently. 

The main one being, I don’t think I said crazy once in the whole presentation. And while that’s not great, I know that it was only because I was caught up in the moment, and that to me counts as more of a success. So no beating myself up about that one.

The other thing is just getting ready. I worked quite hard on getting ready for this presentation I the memorization and that, but I wish I had worked just a little harder. Which is hard to do, but possible. I think it’s more of a personal fear that I did badly, but I still plan on making sure my next presentation like that had been practice even an extra day more.

Conclusion–

This whole exhibition was new and different for my class and I think we all did extremely well. I am proud of what we have done. I hope everyone in our class is as well because everyone did fantastically. 

Thanks for reading!