#slide 15

Diskobolos (Discus Thrower) by Myron  Made in 480-450 BCE. Early Classical 

The end of the Persian wars mark the beginning of the Classical PeriodEarly Classical style from 480-450, started just before the building for the parthenon.

This discus thrower by Myron is found at a sanctuary side ad it sums up what characterizes Early Classical.  We see an aristocratic athlete who had won discus throws.  The profile view maximizes the portion of the body and musculature.  The sculpture is capturing the moment of the greatest psychological and physical tension.  It shows sophrosyne because everything has been harmonized.  The sculptor wanted to see the head frontally even though the body is in profile view.  It’s not physically possible to do this movement.   Although we seen an idealized face, certain parts of the body are realistic, such as hands.

I have worked with a lot of people who feel they don't need to practice before they present. I haven't met any yet who were successful with this method. I have heard every excuse. I don't have time. We are still getting the numbers that will be in the charts. I did one just like this last week.

Sigh

But some people do listen when I encourage them to practice. However, there's real practice and then there's what some people call practice. While athletes use various visualization techniques to help them prepare for a big game or match, that's not how they practice. They actually hit balls, or run sprints, or ski down hills.

The same goes for presenting. Sitting at your computer scrolling through your slides thinking about what you will say is not practicing your presentation. It might be helping you to collect your thoughts. It might be making some tweaks. It is not practicing presenting. That requires that you get up and speak ... out loud. Just like you will be in the real event.

Get to know as much as you can about the environment you will be presenting in. Will you have a free-standing microphone or a lapel microphone? Will there be a podium? What's the room like? The more you know, the more prepared you can be. Anything unexpected will require you to adjust as you are presenting. There will always be adjustments but you can minimize them be being prepared.

And I don't just mean for big ballroom style presentations. Whatever. Wherever. Practice by actually speaking out loud, saying the words you want to say. You need to find your rhythm. You need to see how to pace and emphasize your words. Going through the slides and saying something like "and here I'll talk about blah" isn't going to cut it.

Oh, and you don't get off the hook if you will be presenting sitting at a table on a panel of speakers. Fine, don't stand. Sit. Upright. And speak out loud.