How could we have build the empire state without its floor-plan layout. How would we build cars without the designs. How would we create presentations, without outlines.
s t r u c t u r e
It's that time of year again, where the POL's are rolling in, final exams are creeping up, labs are due, and the pressure is on.
This semester in the IA we have been working heavily on starting up our own business, BlendZ, and along the way we have learned what the true meaning of a company is and all its works, as well as getting to know ourselves more.
The challenge we have is to create our POL (presentation of learning) with a time limit of 8 minutes. In those 8 minutes we have to talk about our directorship and what it means to us and to the company. We must mention how we have learned and grown and what we have accomplished. This is a lot to cram into 8 minutes, so, they key is to keep it short, and concise.
The challenge we have is to create our POL (presentation of learning) with a time limit of 8 minutes. In those 8 minutes we have to talk about our directorship and what it means to us and to the company. We must mention how we have learned and grown and what we have accomplished. This is a lot to cram into 8 minutes, so, they key is to keep it short, and concise.
Coming up with the theme was hard, but it most definitely wasn't the hardest part. Choosing what ideas to share, and how much of each idea to share was the hard part. In other words, the structuring of my POL was my biggest challenge. To start myself off, as I usually do, I headed to the board to get all my thoughts out in one place where I could visually see them. Then, I started to narrow down my ideas to the ones I most related too and felt were the most important. This is crutial. With only 8 minutes to present a whole semesters worth of learning and experiences, every second counts!
I payed very close attention to my structure to my presentation, which is something I don't normally do. I wanted this presentation to be perfect, to explain everything in a purposeful way so that the audience will understand what I went through this semester. I pivoted, a lot. New ideas kept rushing in better than the past ones, and my structure kept changing. It got to a point where I had to stop, and make sure that all I was saying could be connected back to my central theme which was Breaking Good (changing for the better).
When you want something done right, you'll do everything to make it the best you can possibly make it. The good part to this, was that I created a script that I believed was the best structured POL I've done so far. But, on the downside, I spent too much time planning it and perfecting it, that once I had to create it I didn't leave myself with much time for any mistakes to be made. And of course, right when I needed it most, my laptop crashed. So, I was left with no computer to create my POL with. I had to make do with what I had, which was powerpoint. I was not happy with this, but it was all I had, and my only option. With only two full days to create my media on the powerpoint, I did my best to create media that was purposeful to what I was going to say when I presented. In the end it all worked out, but the balance between planning out a presentation and actually putting it together visually is extremely important. For the future, I will both plan ahead in order to create another concise and detailed structure as well as setting enough time to produce my media for the visuals of my presentation. They both take large roles of a great presentation, and I know I have things to improve upon for the next time, but I am proud of the content of my POL, I feel like my organization has grown so much, that it has pushed me to create beautiful work.