Seminar Blues

You could say we were lucky. After all, the LCD Projector (I wonder why they call it that... :)) which was non-functional for the past few weeks suddenly came back to life for our Project Seminar and surprising, after A was late, our turn got postponed. Although I would have not had one of the people in the hall (a M, from the other section...) Actually, let me start from the beginning...


Project Seminar is this boring thing where you are expected to know what you are gonna do in the coming 6 months and explain it all to all the people of the class with a Seminar In charge breathing down on your necks (totally figurative :P). Anyway, it's no big deal, but it is supposed to be important because it carries some marks and one is expected to be professional (something we usually aren't : passing time in the canteen doesn't exactly count as professionalism you see...) during the seminar. And because of our roll numbers, we ended up doing the seminar at the end of the semester (somehow, there are just about 3 weeks left this semester, time really flies when you are having fun!! :P). Anyway, the main aim of the project seminar is to assess the work done by project groups towards the project.


Now, my group. Let's call them A and B and Me (no names policy of my blog, remember?). A is this lethargic fellow who only wants to stay up late and wake up late (frankly...). B is this fellow who is so frank and outspoken, sometimes he makes me freak out in public places (seriously, you need to be careful around him if you are in a public place, he might pass some snide comment at someone and you might end up getting beat up... :)). Anyway, somehow B is very serious at studies (thank God...) and takes technical studies seriously, like me and unlike A. So, we were all set to take this seminar up since we finalized an in-house project at our college under the guidance of one of our Prof.s. We were psyched (at least me an B were, A as usual was stoic about it...). I'll not bore you with the topic and stuff, if you were present at the seminar, you'd have known.


So, we were done with the presentation (yeah, we copied some parts, but that was legit stuff...) and ready with the details and well prepared to face the questions too. Coming clean, I'm not good at speaking to crowds. It totally freaks me out and yet, I try my best. Anyway, as it turns out, neither was each of my group-mates.


To start off the day, it was raining cats and dogs in the morning and yet, daringly, I set off to the college wearing my rain-coat (my friends call it Hagrid's coat, if did not get the joke, I'd love it :P). But then, the magnitude of the rain was so much so that, I got soaked anyway (from the waist down...believe me it looked ridiculous...). All wet, as opposed to all set which I was planning to be, I was riding as B started calling me continuously. Man! Is he a worrier!! Anyway, I reached college in good time only to find that, we would be having the seminar in the afternoon session, although it worked fine for us as A could not make it to college until around 11. Trying to dry myself and simultaneously explaining some of the seminar stuff to B the time for our turn was up. Somehow, A got stuck up (in conversation outside the seminar hall...) and we almost conceded our turn to the next batch who were almost about to start before we even entered the hall. Anyway, why I wanted to do it first was that, I simply wanted to get it over with and couldn't have the responsibility on me until later. And of course, I was dressed in formals like a dork and couldn't stand it so much.


Rule no. 1: Look professional. Yeah, I looked that and so did, surprisingly, A. B on the other hand, the first one to reach the college incidentally, came in a freakingly shiny shirt one of those you wear only to night clubs and stuff. Every time he came in front of the projector, his shirt was shining like hell :D. Apparently, he mistook professional to be stylish... :P


Rule no. 2: Be well prepared. Honestly, by some cosmic joke, A was the only guy truly prepared. Me and B on the other hand, being true engineers (A wants to be a Manager (MBA)...), had prepared to think on our toes and do our preparation through the seminar :P. And this was one of the biggest mistakes one can make.


Well, these are pretty much the rules and there is one more...Don't alienate the people by asking them questions during their own seminars, it doesn't help, although it did not hurt our seminar much.


Anyway, the seminar started (finally!!). Then started the problem. A started the presentation and was explaining things at an excruciatingly slow pace that everyone was freaked out (see comments on FB for more details... :P). He had the longest part of the presentation and somehow managed to call B by his "Orkut name" which freaked B out. I was to know later that, A faced one of the problems B and I faced during the seminar. Anyway, after double the time A promised to take up for his part, I was called next (feels weird to be called Mr. Munaf Hussain, sounds too dorky... :)).


My phobia set in. There I was, in front of a crowd (around 35 people, no less... :)). Anyway, I started off well. But I have this stupid habit of looking at the people I'm speaking to in the eye (most of the time, no pun intended... :)). And what was more, a couple of people (you know who you are, I'd be surprised if you were reading my blog, no offense...) in the audience (if you can call the group that...) started smiling (although it was more like laughing, mocking, whatever...) at me and I started to feel like laughing too and lost track of what I was saying, and although I ended up doing the presentation well, it could have been better. I managed to forget some of the jokes and funny analogies in my presentation which I was keen to say, that was more because of my crowd-o-phobia, though...


Apparently, B also faced the same problem as I (not the crowd-o-phobia) did. Anyway, it was not so loud though. He should have been a bit louder. Then came the question session. I was totally prepped to answer all the questions. This part was a bit disappointing. I expected a lot more questions, what with my freaking people out with my questions during their own seminars, I guess it is Gandhi-giri season :P. Anyway, our seminar in charge took up the mantle and asked a couple of questions and we were excused. I, as usual, spent the rest of the time LP-ing (ask someone from MJ what that means.. :P) in the last row :).


Anyway, facing the crowd still freaks me out, somehow :P. It was lucky though, many things could've gone wrong but didn't - in your face, Murphy!! For more on Murphy's Law, click on it. This was my experience today, do share yours in the comment (Anonymous comments are OK too.. :P)


P.S.: If A and/or B are reading this, don't mind my frankness :D.