July 10, 2016

I am done Capstone 1. Most likely we passed based on the feedback we received after we finished our presentation. It was fun!

It was actually a great learning experience.

I don't do presentations often, but I have spoken before in front of thousands of people. I mainly used a relaxed body language to determine my mood, instead of being nervous <-- which doesn't help. I still had a hint of nervousness. But I kept telling myself. I practiced OMG the way I was practiced was hilarious. I googled some random 3 faces. and then I printed them out and taped them on a wall, and presented to them. Because that's what the panel we told would be. 3-4 CPAs. We got 3. Anyways.

My presentation was fairly spot on. Here is my KEY to doing presentations well: LAND THE PLANE!

by land the plane, i mean look hit your point that you were supposed to memorize, but when it comes out of your mouth, maybe it won't be exactly the same as you had planned on saying it. Maybe you'll feel like using different words. However, YOU MUST LAND THE PLANE, and by that I mean, you must flow with your thoughts into a solid point. So I did that and BAM, no "ummm"s no "hmmms" it was simply flowing. Which is important. I fumbled once or twice but I just carried on and continued. because YOU GOTTA LAND THE PLANE lol. you need to move on and make the points you need to make. it looks AWFUL if you were to just stumble and stop. but if you stumble. Gather your thoughts. and keep going, it'll be just fine :) <-- this is for the actual presentation. Even when you're practicing. The way I practiced was with a video camera. I filmed myself (1)- giving the presentation to the camera x5 (2) - looking in the mirror x5 (3) - to the random faces I printed out on google  images x2 or 3?

There was so much urgency, that I didn't stop very much. I was actually VERY impressed by my brain. After 2 or 3 presentations, you can see the difference. You mind is a lot like a bike wheel or hamster wheel in that if you give it a push, it will continue. So you basically turn a speech which you have to try and memorize, into a speech that is autopilot.

This is a great learning mechanism. It basically proved my TEARS theory. I have this theory called T.E.A.R.S. it stands for Technique + Experience + Application reigns supreme. And WOW! I definitely saw how if you accumulate experience (it doesn't matter if it's 4 PM or 4AM) If you are using your brain, your brain will give you improvements in recall. Because I was recalling VERY well. after I went through the process above. So another KEY is EXPERIENCE.

I got to the parking location and parked across the street where there was free parking. My group members paid for parking (which to me, didn't make much sense) but whatever. My team was waiting, while this guy came in and started babbling about a new pokemon game and I'm pretty sure he was hitting on one of our group members. I really didn't care, I just ignored him.

To me, it's very common sense. If you go in well-prepared for a test/presentation/exam, you shouldn't listen to ANYTHING a fellow writer/presenter is saying. They might wanna throw you off your game. Especially when you have to recall certain words in a speech. The last thing you want to hear is some distraction speak lol. So I politely ignored/listened selectively. Waited until we had to leave (which i wanted to do). We went in early. My group member made the mistake of being like ALRIGHT LET'S DO THIS WOOOOOH! WE WERE BORN READY! lol it was funny and nice to see his enthusiasm. But we had a bad start. He started presenting with the powerpoint not even on -_-... When the powerpoint was on though, He was quite dependable and did a great job. So did my other team member. The other two were also good. One of them brought cue cards, which was a clear mistake (they spotted it and talked about it in our constructive criticism after the presentation), however since majority of our presentation was good, they gave us a good sign that we did well. They said: our slides made sense, we kept good eye contact (oh yeah!) and we also spoke clearly and articulately.

Lastly, I spoke to my friend, gave some tips to her team, and then hung out with my 2 group members a bit, and then drove home!

Now, I haven't had any sleep because I was up all night gaining EXPERIENCE. Which wow, you really shouldn't underestimate and bam. Now I'm going to pass out. Hope this was a helpful post. Although I didn't go into any content of the case we presented (which is against CPA rules). I don't think it's against the rules to write about how you prepared for a speech. Should be fine! Peace out :)

Okay two more points before i go! We actually had technical difficulties during our presentation. The mouse stopped working 1/3 way through and we ended up having to use the keyboard, THEN THE KEYBOARD stopped working, and we had to use the mouse pad on the laptop. Pretty crazy, so make sure there are ZERO technical difficulties with your preparation laptop. and go with that one! Another thing, the projector provided by CPA was not centered. It was horrendous for the first few slides, completely off the projector screen. So I grabbed a nearby small item and centered the screen.  Lastly, a criticism with more than one team was taking questions. If you don't have a rule where after one person answers a question, another person who hasn't answered the question will need to answer, your presentation will look as though it weighs heavily on a few group members. This isn't what markers want to see. They want to see the entire team answering questions. So implement that rule, and you should be fine. If a team member wants help with a question they can ask. Otherwise omg. Do that rule, I didn't get to speak, and was a tad annoyed by this.

who cares though! Probably passed! Yeeehaw! gnyte.