The Epilogue

So the TED Talk was a success. But man, it was a tough one to achieve.
Due to many projects converging over spring break, distracting shifts from home to shore to back, and mild but consequential procrastination (or, as I like to call it, trying to relax), I ended up with only about three days to write my script, create my powerpoint, and practice, practice, practice.

It may be my sleep-deprived and nervous self talking, but given the amount of time to create and the relative success of my talk, I think I am developing a knack for presenting.

I mean, my script was a draft written through Thursday and Friday and revised out of necessity on Saturday and Sunday. At the same time, it was praised by my "unbiased" professional writer mother and I think I remember complements on it through the blur that was first period.

My powerpoint was designed entirely on Sunday and was also praised by many. I think most of my knack belongs to that. Only one small change to it was made by the suggestion of my mother. Man, she helped me work out the kinks a lot, didn't she?

And my delivery, which I felt was dry, included some proper enunciation and emphasis. I'm also quite happy with my answers of the Q&A questions. Overall, I think my graded presentation was a great success. Heck, even McDaniels complemented me on it.

So, onto grading; let's do it based on the exact guidelines. One thing that the old Word Doc assignment sheet is good for is providing text that one can copy and paste:


- Four to Five Minutes. More like six, but it still fit in the time frame.      1/1
- Visual component: Felt really spot-on; always went with what I was saying.      6/6
- PPT, Prezi, other?      1/6
- Creative and supplemental.  You drive the presentation, not the visual.      5/6
- Content: Very well thought out but did not allow for real inspiration.      7/8
- Inspire through your passion      1/8
- Show your product      2/8
- Explain your process      2/8
- What is your purpose?  What should your audience take away from your project?      2/8
- Organization: hook, transitions, logical order, effective conclusion. Hook could've been a good bit stronger.      4/5
- Delivery: refined, poised, and enthusiastic. Not entirely enthusiastic; dry.      5.5/7
- Following of the TED Commandments. Right on the mark for many of them.      3/3

OVERALL SCORE:                                                                               26.5/30

Tired Ethan thinks it's fair to give an A to Presenting Ethan.

Now let's recover from this wild but mundane ride. It's amazing how much praise I got for presenting cleanly at school when I have this inner guilt for creating the presentation messily at home.

Oh, and a link to my presentation if you want to take a closer look at it.

Just click "slow download"; the other one leads to a signup program.
Or a link to the Google Doc version of the presentation.

This is probably my last blog post in the history of this project. I'm gonna make cyber-tears now.

                 /\                   /\                   /\                   /\                   /\                   /\

               /    \               /    \               /    \               /    \               /    \               /    \  

              (       )             (       )            (       )             (       )            (       )             (       )

              ''''''''''             ''''''''''           ''''''''''             ''''''''''            ''''''''''             '''''''''' 

They look like mustachioed noses. Perfection.