Baulkham Hills AGM Presentation

A week after my return home, I did a presentation for my home district's AGM. When I agreed to take on the presentation, I had been quite worried about it - I had a history of B-grade speeches during high school so I knew I could be quite dry and rigid. More than anything I wanted to do my experience justice, and so it was really important to me that I delivered well.

On the night, there were Leaders and Junior Leaders, a handful of Junior Guides, and a few of their parents. So I had to balance the sort of material I wanted to the adults to hear with the things that I thought were meaningful to younger girls. It was very cute when I got some tiny gasps when I said I went to Our Chalet -the world centres have always been a big deal in my District, even to me as a young Guide.

This presentation was actually the first time ever that I had presented something without exact sentences in my notes - just dot points. It worked out a lot better than I expected and I was surprisingly calm throughout it - the only part that tripped me up was a parent's question - "What message do you have for the younger girls?" I don't remember my response any more, but I think I said something about looking to the leaders for support.

After the presentation, some of the Leaders and one of the council members complimented me on it, so I guess it went well.

I definitely think that the seminar itself was responsible for my being more confident in presenting. I found myself being much more comfortable in presentation-type situations during the Seminar, and knowing that helped me to feel calmer about this presentation. The seminar group chat also helped me to feel more confident; the contact meant that we were always hearing about each other's struggles and successes and I'd already received a couple of well wishes from them before leaving the house.