1 day until presentation, panicking

February 7, 2024 2:47 AM

I have 26 hours to prepare for a presentation, most of those hours are compromised and am having a controlled panic moment. How can I get this done?

- I did prepare the slides, notes kind of but not really and haven’t practiced. Need to do additional reading for several key slides. Have a partner but they’re having their own issues. 1.5 hr presentation

- my time has been stolen by other people’s health conditions and the complete failure of our healthcare system. Ie trying to manage my dad’s heart failure mostly outpatient for the past two months (he did end up admitted for a few days, after his cardiologist was negligent). Partner also having a very bad time. 2 households, transit, traffic, nightmare

- my dad was supposed to go to his day program tomorrow but there’s been a COVID outbreak there so they’re closed tomorrow. I can’t find alternate arrangements. Asked sib, highly doubtful he’ll help. It is not really possible to do productive work around my dad. I will have to be with him most of the day.

- presentation is 8:30 am the next day, I usually get up at 6 just to *get* to the class.

There has to be a way to accomplish this. This is my worst nightmare.

- I went to bed early last night to get up early to work on this (so I wouldn’t have AS bad a time on the day), but I woke up and have now been up for 3-4 hours (currently 5:47 am my time), waiting to go back to sleep (so not working) and unable to do so. For papers I used to just stay up all night and work. The timing of this is messing me up.

What are some tricks to get me past paralysis and doing it? Even if it’s not perfect. Just has to be done. Should I try to sleep or work right now?

posted by cotton dress sock to Education (20 answers total)

Response by poster: Maybe I work now and nap when I can? My dad needs supervision and will want to walk though.
posted by cotton dress sock at 2:50 AM on February 7, 2024

Don‘t do the in depth reading. That ship has sailed. Focus on getting across what you have read with confidence.

If pressed during the presentation acknowledge that a certain aspect of topic would warrant a deep dive which would however go beyond the scope of today’s presentation. Link relevant resources to make that believable. You know there is more, you made a choice to focus.

Good luck!!!
posted by koahiatamadl at 3:02 AM on February 7, 2024 [8 favorites]

Should I try to sleep or work right now?

Neither. If it’s safe to do so where you are, go for a brisk walk around the block. Or do bodyweight exercises in your home. Listen to some high energy music or music that really sweeps you away. Drink a big glass of water and do a bunch of stretches, focus on your breathing. You have all this panic energy and nervousness and anticipatory stress vibrating around in you, so you need to physically express some of it to get your brain to shut up for a second. Once you have achieved this moment of mental quiet, you will be able to decide how best to utilize the rest of your time.
posted by Mizu at 3:08 AM on February 7, 2024 [9 favorites]

If this is for a class, can you explain your caring situation and ask for accommodations, e.g. to delay the presentation for a week? Seems possible that people would sympathise with your having a heavy burden as a carer, and I'd hope that their overall goal is to get you through the program, not just to arbitrarily ding you because your dad has really serious health problems.
posted by quacks like a duck at 4:19 AM on February 7, 2024 [14 favorites]

Maybe this is impossible, but can you enlist your dad to listen to you practice? It's not the same as focused prep but at least you will get a few run throughs. When my grandmother was ill, and no longer really could understand English (but needed round the clock care) I'd talk through my work problems with her and practice presentations with her, even though she couldn't understand most of it. She was happy to help, and would comment on body language rather than content. It wasn't a perfect solution, but it was A solution. Maybe your dad cant sit through a whole presentation, but could you practice parts of it with him?

Good luck, eldercare can be so hard and all encompassing.
posted by larthegreat at 4:19 AM on February 7, 2024 [5 favorites]

Think actively about the big picture. Trust yourself to fill in the details. Breathe.
posted by Dashy at 4:54 AM on February 7, 2024 [2 favorites]

Before, in order of priority:

1) Ensure that you can read through the slides at least once, ideally twice before you give the presentation

2) Verbally give the presentation at least once, even if it's at high speed gabble-rate

3) Briefest of acquaintances with the additional reading

During the presentation:

1) If appropriate, acknowledge that you are very nervous (ie you might miss things, make mistakes etc - it's not that you're not prepped!)

2) Each new slide, take a moment to pause and take a deep breath

Sounds like just getting through it is the main goal. Good luck!
posted by london explorer girl at 4:56 AM on February 7, 2024 [4 favorites]

I would like to second larthegreat's suggestion. What you need more than anything is practice in front of an audience - it will do more to calm you and work out the presentation kinks than anything. And it will occupy your Dad's time as well!

Your presentation is 1.5h. That's a HUGE amount of time for anyone to talk - are the slides divided equally between you and your partner? How many slides have you GOT? Are they technical in nature? business? I recommend no more than a slide every 2 minutes for a reasonable pace - that's 45 slides in total, and if divided by two, 22.5. If you have more, think about anything that's not essential that can be cut. It's not for you, it's for your audience - too much information for them to ingest.

*Print* the slides for use as notecards if you can. Use of notecards is a TOTALLY ACCEPTABLE way of giving a talk. It will also help you because the slides will be behind you. People used to give talks WITHOUT slides using notecards only - imagine that!

Practice each slide individually - your "voice track". you don't have to memorize this track, just think about the points you are going to hit. Then ask yourself: What are the top three questions the audience will have about this content? Either work the answer into the voice track or make note of it for later.

Come the day, as london explorer girl said, pause and take a breath. One other thing: SLOW DOWN. I give this advice to almost everyone in my department who has to give a talk and hasn't done it a million times. Your instinct, because you feel underprepared (and you probably AREN'T) is to speed up. Slow down. Be deliberate. Take your time with the material. It will let you form your thoughts better, connect with your audience better, etc. You have the time to take - take it.
posted by scolbath at 5:25 AM on February 7, 2024 [5 favorites]

You don't mention how crucial and unavoidable this presentation is, or whether there are avenues to reschedule, or flag up ahead of time that your preparation has been compromised by caring obligations.

I find that sometimes when I'm in a state about having to do something, I'm there kind of clinging to the event with tight, clutched, grippy hands like a life raft, so focussed on the fact I HAVE to do it, and how terrible it's going to be, that it doesn't occur to me that... I could just let people know what's going on/postpone it/ask for help and advice. It's like it assumes such tremendous and terrifying proportions that I assume it's immutable.

And then often I'll finally take a step back and tell whoever's in charge that I'm struggling for reason x, expecting it to be a calamity, and they very lightly say "Oh, no problem, thanks for telling me, why don't we do y instead?" And y could be to reschedule the whole thing, or to go ahead with a shorter presentation based on what you have been able to do, with a follow-up session another day, or to go ahead on the clear understanding that what you do will be imperfect, for valid reasons.

Maybe this is, like, the defence of your PhD with visiting examiners travelling from across the country. But maybe it's an end of semester presentation at a Uni that has a big focus on student welfare, and loads of procedures for dealing with this kind of thing.

But either way, you have to start by speaking up. Before you do anything else, contact whoever is in charge and tell them you're really struggling to prepare this in time due to unexpected, unavoidable caring duties, and ask what they suggest you do. Best of luck.
posted by penguin pie at 5:53 AM on February 7, 2024 [6 favorites]

Three factors:
time: can you ask for extension as others have posted?
cost: sounds like you cannot pay someone to watch your dad or come over to watch him at your place? or to tidy your slides?
quality:
- decrease the scope of your content in any way possible
- talk slowly during the presentation
- if possible ask questions of your audience to see if you can get them to tell you stories (take up time)
- add anecdotes that are easy to tell and take up time possibly at the beginning of each section (can you get away with showing a short video at the beginning of each section?)
- talk about each of your ancillary resources that you have not read yet and describe why it is on your list
- it is ok if you are done early

Never admit to any quality issues or nerves before starting to speak, project confidence.
posted by RoadScholar at 6:20 AM on February 7, 2024 [3 favorites]

so much good advice above. In my big presentations, I often find that getting started is the biggest hump, and once I got through the first 5 minutes, things were rolling. So feel free to do the "tell them what you will tell them, then tell them, then tell them what you told them" - you can do that for the whole presentation (a brief of what the next 90mins looks like = a good way to get through over the hump of starting) but you can also do that for every slide.

Seconding the "skip the detailed reading" vote too - as long as you don't say it every time somebody asks a question, you can say "I wondered that too but I haven't had a chance to dig into it yet" at least 3x before people get suspicious! You can also say "what an insightful question! I have never thought of that, but it sounds very interesting." And my personal favorite, which you can only deploy sparingly: "That's a great point, but unfortunately beyond the scope of this presentation. Can I catch you next week for coffee to talk through it?"

Many of the most important "teachable moments" I've been a part of have been at the diner across the street, after the presentation. For some reason a sketch on the back of a paper placemat gets into people's brains.
posted by adekllny at 6:22 AM on February 7, 2024 [3 favorites]

I agree that you should contact the instructor - even if there is no wiggle-room on timing, they may very likely be willing to take account of your circumstances when assessing your presentation.
posted by coffeecat at 7:16 AM on February 7, 2024 [3 favorites]

Even if you can't get an extension, what score will tank your grade? Just do good enough? No need for perfection - remember, it really is just some class you're taking.
posted by atomicstone at 7:25 AM on February 7, 2024 [1 favorite]

I am a college instructor, and although I cannot predict how your instructor will react: if you were my student and told me all you’ve said here I would absolutely let you reschedule.

I mention this not because it’s a guarantee that you’ll get an extension but because many times I have had students tell me about their stressful life circumstances *after* they have done an assignment, when it’s impossible for me to give the extension I would have automatically offered them had I known.

Unless you know for a fact your instructor is a hardline “no extensions” person, I think it’s worth alerting them to your circumstances. There is a movement among a lot of postsecondary educators for treating students with more empathy than in the bad old days, along with growing recognition that many students are dealing with external pressures like eldercare, childcare, full time jobs, etc., outside the classroom.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 8:05 AM on February 7, 2024 [10 favorites]

I am a college instructor, and although I cannot predict how your instructor will react: if you were my student and told me all you’ve said here I would absolutely let you reschedule.

I tended to be a hardass in the old days, but even back then a story like this would have had me offering an extension, no question. Definitely worth asking for! Without shame!
posted by praemunire at 9:38 AM on February 7, 2024 [4 favorites]

Just a thought as well: if you are worried your instructor will say, “Why didn’t you ask me for an extension before?” you can be honest and tell them that 1) the situation with your dad happened at the last minute and 2) initially you didn’t think your situation qualified for an extension, but you spoke to other people and they encouraged you to bring it up with the instructor.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 11:59 AM on February 7, 2024 [2 favorites]

What are some tricks to get me past paralysis and doing it?

Pick the smallest, most trivial related task there is. Moving the presentation to a different folder is about the level you want. Then you’ve started and can do other completely trivial items. Then you have momentum and can start working on the larger stuff.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 1:45 PM on February 7, 2024 [1 favorite]

I assume you're doing this presentation on a topic you know well, so everything you need is inside your head already. I wouldn't worry at all about detailed slides and having done extensive reading because you almost certainly know more about the topic than the audience.

I do a lot of presentations and, as a procrastinator, usually find myself preparing for them at the last minute. In preparing a slide deck, I start by listing the things I'll talk about in the first slide (not including titles slides etc) as per adekllny's advice. Then create a slide or two or three for each topic with the appropriate heading and it all starts to unfold from there. I never use detailed slides - just dot points, because you'll never keep the attention of the audience if they're busy reading your slides instead of listening. I rarely use notes, unless there's something very technical and specific I need to remember - I just start by talking about what I'm going to talk about, then I'm on a roll and I just talk about each slide as it comes up.

I never practice a presentation, but I do run through the slides in my head a couple of times and think about what I'm going to say about each slide. I might tweak the slides while doing this if I remember something I want to add or realise I've put in a point that isn't really important.

If you feel like you're not going to have enough material for the time, asking questions of the audience is a neat way of using up time, especially if you can get a bit of engagement and a discussion going. Most importantly, SLOW DOWN. You should give people time to take in what you're saying and pause between each point and between each slide. Racing through a presentation is a great way to both lose the audience and end up with 30 minutes of time and nothing to talk about.

Don't Panic! You've got this.
posted by dg at 3:04 PM on February 7, 2024 [1 favorite]

First, you absolutely have time still to prepare and have this go fantastic! I hope that you were able to get some of the anxious energy out and get some prep in.

But also to lower the stakes a bit -- as an undergrad, I once had to give an end of the semester presentation on a topic that I had tried to work on but for all sorts of reason was woefully underprepared for. Honestly, I did a terrible job and didn't do well in that class. Ultimately, for a combination of factors, I even dropped that major and felt so upset. BUT I still graduated, eventually got a PhD, and now I work in a field related to that major I dropped. Things like this feel like they have so much more significance than they actually do.

Do your best, but even if this specific presentation isn't your best, it's the tiniest part of your life. Your fear is the hardest part. You'll get through it!
posted by past unusual at 3:53 PM on February 7, 2024 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: You wonderful, wonderful people. Thank you. I read and benefit from your kind thoughts and advice as I plugged through!

(With - surprisingly! - the help of my brother, who took my dad for a few hours! And my mom, who let me work at her place in absolute peace and quiet for a few hours! And my boyfriend, who got me up after 1.5 hours of sleep!)

I feel so supported, you have no idea :)

Like you, my prof has been quite understanding - the issue was she’d already given us one extension, and I was going to be damned if I was going to ask for another. My plate has just gotten too full for me to be effective as a student I think, lately anyway. Like a person does actually need a few good hours a day to work, period, and I just haven’t had any. (Twice last week, I fell asleep face-planted on the couch.) Will need to find them, period. But I’m not bailing or failing this time, no matter what.

Thanks again lovelies :)
posted by cotton dress sock at 5:57 PM on February 8, 2024 [6 favorites]