DEN’s Conference; My Reflection
Today was the day I had to stand up in front of an audience and present the overview and experience of the organised event at the Power of the Networks LVN event (BDC). My emotions felt amplified as I was so nervous, but I felt the need to and predominantly wanted to do it. It was almost a fear I wanted to face as I’m not the type of person to make myself known to a large audience.
When we finally arrived, looking around the place magnified my nerves and I almost wanted to back down and not take part. Watching the other presenters complete such an amazing and concrete presentation with confidence made me feel as if I’d be the only one to do a bad job. To calm my nerves down, I spoke to my colleague Frank who was presenting alongside me, keeping to topics unrelated to what we were about to encounter! Thinking less about the presentation made me feel more comfortable and able to present with the right mindset.
Although I was extremely nervous, Westminster had welcomed us to the audience and seeing the audience give such a positive reaction to our attendance, made me feel much more relaxed. The university had acknowledged our level and understood that mistakes may have been made here and there which reinforced my confidence.
It was finally our turn. When I and Frank got up there, we both smiled at each other, filled with nerves but wished each other the best of luck. Being up there and presenting felt much more relaxing than being left there to think about how badly it could go prior to the presentation. Everything was going extremely well until we faced some technical difficulties which the audience understood and waited patiently for us to continue. Unfortunately, we had to continue without the presentation, however, this didn’t affect the effort we wanted to put into this as we both knew the value of the opportunity we were being granted. When we finally finished, the audience gave us a round of applause with faces full of glee which gave me a surreal feeling. I’d never have expected to experience this opportunity and I’ll always be thankful to my business lecturers and Westminster University. I’ve faced my fear and if I was to do this again, I’d be much more comfortable acknowledging the knowledge and skills I’ve acquired from presenting at Westminster.
Thank you, Westminster University, Rueben Cape and Lee Kennedy, for this amazing opportunity.
Yusuf Cekic, Business Study Student, Capital City College Group, London.