How my presentation went

Yesterday, my college held a Gala evening where myself, along with many other students, presented our presentations on our projects to audience members. The evening itself was very relaxed calm, yet formal, and I very much enjoyed watching my peers talk about their project as I remained in the dark about what some of them were doing. As for my presentation, I feel as though it went really well. I had planned what I was going to say ahead of time so I felt confident with what I was talking about, but there were still some nerves about actually getting up in front of people and talking for a solid period of time. Nevertheless, I remained calm and actually enjoyed informing people about my study and what I had found out, as well as how I arrived at the point I am at now. Although it went well, I did talk for longer than I had expected, so if I were to present again, I would have condensed my information into even smaller amounts and stick to the major points and give an overview of these instead of going into depth, as this is what my essay is for. Even so, I managed to successfully inform my audience about my EPQ journey and I received appraisal from the audience, as well as my supervisor.

At the end of the presentation, I asked if anyone had any questions, and I received questions from two people.

1) Did you look more into the feminist side of the novel? If so, what did you find out?

For this question, I talked about Elizabeth in particular and how she contrasted with her female foils in the novel, such as Caroline, Jane, and Charlotte. I said that Elizabeth demonstrates this feminist ability to subvert the male-dominated society as when she first meets Darcy, he finds her inferior to him due to the fact she is a woman of lower status. However, by the end of the novel, he has come to realise that she has developed a more intrinsic kind of intelligence that differs from his previous conventional view that women should be 'accomplished', showcasing this ability and perhaps, with this, Austen was calling out for a bigger feminist movement by illustrating its potential.

2) I know you lost confidence in your own ability a few time during this project. Has your confidence improved in any way now you've come to the end? And would you feel more confident doing this again if given the chance?

I answered that I feel as though the majority of my setbacks revolved around losing confidence in myself, which resulted in losing enthusiasm and motivation. However, now that I'm nearly at the end of the project and I've seen what I am capable of, I would be able to approach the project again with a more confident and positive attitude.

As of now, I am finishing editing minor details in my essay, as well as printing out last minute material, and I also need to sort out my appendices.