perhaps not quite that bad
but I know the feeling of giving a presentation and realising that it's going so poorly that I want to just run away and hide.

Only you can't just stop and walk out, you have to keep to going. You don't want to be there, the audience doesn't want to be there, your advisers are cringing in shame, your mother* is up the back beaming because she lives in a permanent state of denial... and you have no choice but to keep going. And then when it's all over you have to stand there like an idiot while the chairperson asks if there's any questions. And even when that's over with you have to politely sit through the other talks rather than run away and hide. And _then_ you're forced to stand around politely through a 'networking' session (pizza and bad wine)
while people tell you how 'brave' you were.

Like a bloody 5 year old. How does any adult honestly believe that _anyone_ wants to be called "brave" in such a situation?! It would actually be less painful to just tell them they sucked.
*this only happened once, it was a public event. I never ever let it happen again.
(xanthine, Sun 21 Aug 2011, 12:29, 1 reply)

heh!
You're right, of course. "Brave" is for soldiers, nurses, and firefighters.

I'd forgotten about the Q&A period, however, mostly because there wasn't a single question. Ack! I have to admit, though, I had more fun writing this experience up than I should have.
( thwart is just not feeling it with you, Sun 21 Aug 2011, 17:20, closed)

See, you're halfway there.
You're starting to look back on it as something that happened back then, when you weren't as cool and experienced as you are now.
(Juan Quar is clinging to her front teeth on, Tue 23 Aug 2011, 14:37, closed)