Studio Presentation

Here was the chance at another presentation and I was determind to do better at this one than I did at the last one. I put a lot more preparation into this one and even researched on how to give better presentations and get over my nerves!

I prepared more slides, each with its own topic. My plan was that this would hopefully keep me talking and I wouldnt have to think too much about what to cover in my talking because it would be on slides in front of me. I had a lot of photographs and pictures in my slides and this was to keep the audiences gaze upon my presentation and not on me because that makes me worse! I also brought along my sketchbook and some A1 drawings to help if I got stuck.

I downloaded the marking criteria from moodle (our unis online platform) so that I would know what to cover in my presentation and I also drafted out a little plan for what topics to cover and what to include in them.

Here was my presentation:

^ Here I introduced the project and what the presentation was going to be about.

^ I also highlighted the project outcomes.

^ I introduced the first leg of the project and my two buildings. The firstsite building which was compulsory and my chosen 'folly' building. I went on to explain why I had chosen this building and why I found it interesting.

^ I went into the building a bit more and did some initial mark making as I knew we were ending this project with a textile collection.

^ After researching the building and finding that it was from the georgian era, my research headed that way. I also showed my A3 sketchbook at this point and some of the georgian research that I had done.

^ Whilst in London visiting the Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty exhibition I popped next door to the georgian clothing exhibition and did some research on what people used to wear (poor and rich) what sort of textiles they had on their clothes, how they were constructed, e.t.c.

^ I went into detail on the firstsite first hand drawings we did and showed my A1 drawings at this point also.

^ I included some images of the firstsite lecture we attended and noted that not only was the information given useful but also all the pictures, drawings and photographs from the presentation were greatly input into my design process.

^ I showed some early on textile sampling.

^ I explained this really useful way of cutting a plain jumpsuit shape out of paper and placing it throughout my sketchbook to get some really unique designs, lines and shapes. If you look closely at the top line at the jumpsuit second to the right you will see that this is my actual jumpsuit but refined more.

^ I explained the design development process I had gone through and the pages and pages I had like this that were purely used for refining designs and figuring out the technical stuff like fastenings and seams.

^ I talked a little bit about being paired with Alicia and how I found working with her and doing my first collaboration.

and I passed!!

This year at uni has been stressful but I have honestly learnt so much. A few months ago I had my first ever presentation in front of one lecturer and six students and failed due to nerves. This time I had a presentation in front of one member of staff from firstsite, three lecturers and six students and I passed!!! I only failed one thing this year and that was the previous presentation so I worked extra hard to correct that mistake and work better for next time and my effort paid off!

I feel so much more comfortable going into my second year now in September knowing that the one thing I was lacking on is now getting better.

If I had the chance to do this presentation again I would tell myself to calm down. I think I had the failure ligering over me from the last one which made my nerves so bad. Despite this, I think this time around I was definitely more confident and prepared, I had more material with me and I talked for longer (even though I still fell short of the 8-10 minute mark which is still something I have to work on). I engaged with my audience more this time around when I was talking about firstsite I would engage with the lady from firstsite, with textiles it was Will and with fashion it was Val, I used eye contact a lot more to try and engage people. Overall, obviously it went better than last time because I passed! I still have to wait to get my feedback and actual grade but I look forward to getting this so I can work on my downfalls in the Summer to get ready for next year.