honours poster presentation

i had my first ever poster presentation in the MPSH yesterday.

my goodness, my nerves were so frayed that when my picture was being taken, the photographer commented, 'wow your smile is so... radiant.'

i think they meant glaring.

my first examiner came around 10+am, smiled, and said, 'ok, why don't you bring me through your poster?'

i smiled.

'well, my project is about the investigation of plasmodium cell death...'

*pause*

*pregnant pause*

(#!%%#2 I CANNOT REMEMBER A THING I WANT TO SAY ARGH OMGOMGOMG ARGH HALP HALP HALP)

then i started to hyperventilate.

all this while, I WAS STILL SILENT AND SCRAMBLING THROUGH MY MIND FOR ANY PHRASE TO START ME OFF but

no there was nothing.

it felt like a reached a state of zen, where my mind was unpenetratable

BUT, EH, WRONG TIME CAN ARGH ARGH ARGH!!!

...

...

still nothing.

(in the time it took you to get to this sentence since the start-off line for my presentation, that's how long i was mute for.)

finally i let out a, 'DR WONG I FORGOT WHAT I WANTED TO SAY!' and gave him an extremely mortified expression.

he was so nice, my gosh i-am-so-bloody-blessed; he smiled kindly and 'oh take your time, i won't interrupt. just start when you are ready. :)'

and, i did! and because of how i let out a half-scream, his examining took on a very informal turn...

i ended up at one point saying 'oh oh oh i know!!' and he looked delighted in how i was catching on to his idea. very animated.

after his one hour grilling/working through our different perspectives, i was totally deflated.

i think it took all my brain power to catch his drift and latch on to his concepts. GAH.

and i had one more examiner to go...

---

ok, i knew my presentation skills SUCKED from round one, so i went back to my lab to try to hone my skill. or whatever crappy monologue i had prepared.

after an exasperating hour with alvin and hanbin (er, hint: i wasn't the one exasperated; hanbin fell sick after hearing my 'speech'), i went to look for prof #2.

you see, this is the prof i am scared of. like, really worried man, coz i'd rubbed him the wrong way just before my presentation. :(

so i contacted him, and went to set up my poster in the seminar room - i had some problem putting up my poster, which was not something blu-tack couldn't solve...

but it didn't stop me from running around the general office, panicking like a headless chicken anyway.

SO. the time came.

he strode into the room.

AND SMILED.

i was so stunned. i think my mouth parted a little (almost giving way to a full gape), and duh i smiled back. i was about to offer to bring him through my presentation but guess what?

(still smiling) 'i hope you don't mind, but just give me 5 minutes to read through your poster... u can take a seat first. *smiiiiiiiiiilllle*'

i was damn unnerved. like, i was in twilight zone or something, my goodness.

ok to cut the long story short, i didn't present, he asked me questions on how i set up my experiment and then complimented my poster!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

'i like your poster. it's simple, and not too cluttered. and i like how u didn't try to look as if you've done a lot of work when you really haven't completed yet. yes. simple and nice. i like it.'

i flipped out. majorly.

i thanked him profusely and when it was done i walked back into my lab in a daze.

i've never had such a stressed out and nerve-wracking day as this. it was insane, and life-draining.

it was dead funny to see how everyone was curling up after their presentation. hahaha.

i love my poster. :)



ok this is but a mini-sample of it. the real thing is 36 x 40 inches which is HUGE.


and i had a serious bad hair day. gah, it's all stress-induced.