Confidence to Stand Before A Crowd by Ahtisham Khero

Academic Learning Giving you Confidence to Stand Before the Crowd

By Ahtisham Khero

Each day brings something new for you with something to learn from.  I want to share an experience that happened to me during my master degree program where I was given a very difficult assignment in completing a presentation.  The course I was taking “management decisions” was taught by a very strict teacher, so people were cautious while completing the assigned tasks.  The task he presented was to find any article related to business or management.  The article was then to be presented in front of the class giving an intro and explaining your article.  The presentation is scored out of 15 points, and it is very difficult to get full marks.  The presentation was to be completed within 5 minutes without escaping any point of the article.  The marks which you will achieve in presentation will be counted in final.  The following day after the assignment was given I spoke with my fellow and friend who I looked to for guidance.  I still was not clear on all of the guidelines so I decided to ask the professor in the next session for more details, and then could move forward with completing the assignment.  After a few days the class finally came and I spoke with the teacher during the class break.  The conversation went as follows:

I: Excuse me Sir

Sir: Yes

I: Sir, I would like to ask you about the presentation task which you had given the last week I want to know which kind of article it should be?

Sir: So you haven’t even picked the article? You know today is the last day to e-mail me what you have to present in upcoming sessions?

I: Yes, I do understand I need to have the article turned in by this evening, but if I select any irrelevant article then it will not be considered.  I thought it would be better to ask first. (I said this while feeling embarrassed).

Sir: I don’t think you will have time to get an article. If a person doesn’t know yet what he should present, and which article he should pick, and couldn’t find the article in last 2 – 3 weeks to email me, how can you find it and send it to me in one day?  You have a few hours remaining, until 2am.

(I felt embarrassed because a few fellows were listening to this and I felt he put the question marks on my abilities and felt that he was clearly underestimating my abilities.  I maintained my composure and continued my converstation.)

I: Ok sir, I have a few hours left, and I will e-mail you a few articles tonight.

The class ended at 9:30 pm.  I went straight to home and sat on my laptop without having dinner and started searching for articles.  It took half an hour and I picked a total of three articles which were lengthy.  This was going to be a challenge to present these articles in only 5 minutes but I sent all three articles instead of one asking the teacher for guidance to which direction I should go in.

The following morning I received the reply from the professor stating which one he preferred.  The heading of the article chosen was “The Leadership Skills for Managers,” and it was 12 pages from a chapter of the book. It was tough, but I prepared myself.  I completed my presentation as precisely as possible.  I perfected my presentation and started rehearsing regularly until the day of the presentation.

The professor was strict in marking but a good person by nature.  He split the presentations into two classes breaking them up by lunch inbetween.  The day finally came and everyone took their seats and awaited their presentations.  All the students who got up before me were doing fine, but there was not any really impressive presentations during the first two hours of the session.  Most of the students were speaking with paper in their hands, reading their main points and explanations.  Suddenly at 12:50pm my name was called, “Now Ahtisham.”

 I presented myself to the class in a formal dress code, looking the part.  I started to speak with confidence with strong vocal power.  I grabbed the attention of every listener in the audience. I was confident and rocked the floor with my magical presentation.  Everyone was surprised by my performance.  They were not expecting any quality work from me in doing my presentation because they perceived me as ordinary performer from the start.  And here, suddenly, they have seen something rocking, and someone who changed their perception!  Due to my body language, my vocal power, the spark that came into me, I broke down the walls to their mind and opened them up to new thoughts and ideas.  Even as I was explaining points everyone started clapping for me.  Again I was given applause as I concluded my presentation.  They applauded and congratulated me.  As I finished my presentation the professor said, “Today’s best presentation so far, I just read this article in the morning and let me tell you it consists of 12 pages which he precisely summarized without escaping anything and presented in just 4minutes 15 seconds!  Considering time limit in mind, well done!”

I felt glad as I climbed the mountain and rose to the top with the whole class liking my performance. Even today I realize that those words which embarrassed me from the teacher were only to bring out the best in me in a short period of time.  In that discussion with the teacher I felt bad and thought to prove the teacher wrong, which I did.  The teacher’s harsh words brought out the best of me.  And at the end of the day I had the satisfaction of having my presentation be the main topic for lunch that day.  Again being appreciated at lunch by my professor, and being accomplished among my peers.