starting the year right

i spent the last 2 days at a company-sponsored presentation skills workshop at linden suites. i have been very scared of this workshop ever since issa brought it up with us last year and i have been dreading it during vacation. i know that it will be an acting workshop, much like the one i attended on group moderation because the facilitator is none other than ms. dulce aristorenas!

waah! i dread acting! i really do... the last time i remember enjoying acting was when i was with my childhood friends and we were reading lines out of local komiks and i, wishing at the same time that i will be on tv someday. shet, oo nga no. but all that went down the drain because of an unfortunate incident when i was in the second grade (maybe a separate blog entry to discuss this portion).

yes, you can make me act, but only when i am singing or dancing. in those ways, i express myself more. but speaking, er, no. but it's part of my job so i have to do it.

the workshop itself did not turn out so bad as i expected. some activities were similar to the group moderation workshop, but i enjoyed them more this time. maybe because i am more comfortable in the group i am in, unlike before, when my classmates were mostly from ad agencies. but throughout the whole course, the butterflies didn't leave my stomach. tense ever!

the last activity of the session was presenting our chosen material to 3 judges, ala american idol. issa said, guess who's gonna be simon? to our surprise, all 3 judges (vicky lim-ortega, grace marci, and dulce) were simon cowells. ugh. imagine that! they would interrupt presentations and acted as very difficult clients. jumie is right, it's even harder than the real thing!

fortunately, the judges had good things to say about my presentation (*cheeks flushed*). some comments, i cannot publish, but i am happy to say that dulce thought i was very good, and all i had to do was just go beyond what i did.

wow.

i never expected this really. i always get really really nervous before presentations, every freakin' time! swerte lang talaga ako, probably because i chose a very easy material, one i have been presenting repeatedly for 4 years now (haha!). but probably, that's what made me confident. i knew my material. ask me any question and i'm ready. i am already backed up by years of experience on this matter. if that is the difference, then probably the reason why i am very nervous about presentations is that i am always in a rush and i usually have no time to review my material. with that, i will try to make sure that this year will be better. my target is to have a complete presentation material 2 days prior to the actual date. ayan. new year's resolution. hehehe.

i think the whole group found this workshop very productive. what a way to start the year. i feel energized. i hope i sustain this feeling till end of 2008.

check out our pics!

issa and dulce

the organizers from l-r: ms. mercy, issa, dulce, vicky lim-ortega, grace marci










with my classmates minus kat
wacky!
group hug!
now with issa
with our "american idol" judges