Wednesday 29th November
Doctor Bob Walley is an actor, a fine artist and a dancer, she teaches medical students traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture, she says yes to everything. Anticipate that everyone is glorious, be lucky. She did the first joint PhD in the world. In presenting & saying yes, always use that energy and presence. I ask why her name is both Bob and Joanna – she tells us she was short, fat, and ugly someone at the Hacienda nightclub called her Bob. It’s always stayed with her. She is neurodiverse which means she only thinks in the present. She tells us to work with what you have, especially when you have a lot on. Silent, no narrative a PhD on none places. Dance through different epistemology – interpretive dance, silent disco. She hosts ‘shut up and write’ sessions online / in a room – take the space to write with each other for 25 minutes on Thursdays 9:00 to 11:00am. PhD was in performance duration practise.
She asks us to think about the moment of presenting we are working towards. Do you know everything you need to know about it?
A moment,
- Draw ideas together
- How do you plan a presentation together?
- Breathe – look at her padlet
- Content – what is relevant?
- Draw all this information together
- Structure – ask me anything
- Delivery
- Graphics
Bob suggests we put our content onto post it notes – move them around to begin a structure.
- Sections
- Logical
- Beginning, middle and end
- Clearly introduced and concluded
- Delivery
- Eye contact
- Pace & timings
- Graphics
Ted talk, three articles – just a sorbet. Acupuncture for stress, read based on her disciplines. Email her any questions. ever be made. Look at her padlet – how do you feel about presenting? I feel ok as I do this a lot in my teaching practice. She asks us about being given permission to speak, will get stuck in your throat? Remember people, your colleagues want to be there, be present, be the best you can. Academic paper – write any word for clarity, to give a voice to something. I find public speaking OK, I find writing harder, balance.
Bob suggest when we speak, to make sure we face the door, settle, you can have, if you need a physical reminder. Think about your presentation, the characteristics you’re enjoying. Consider the person in the room who is experiencing your presentation. Use powerful pauses, repetition, something unfamiliar, reminder to breathe.
Nest – be present in the room, sit when you want to, on the right chair, where you feel comfortable, have your favourite pencil, hold tactile objects. Nesting – have your own things infront of you, with your words. Make your nest – put things in your pockets. Bob always has a smooth stone in her pocket as a moment of comfort. Wear comfortable clothes, shoes off – what makes you feel comfortable? Favourite stationary, smooth pebbles, a housecoat. All a nesting approach, what might yours be to be comfortable?
Grounding technique – find the ground to extend up and away from it and find a voice. Think about what you don’t like in a presentation? For me, its reading from slides. Get the correct tone, a melody in your voice. Lectures that are too long aren’t good, lighten the tone by smiling, frowning brings the tone of your voice down. Confidence – talk through and around your slides. Proxemics – invite more interest, learn less formally. Lean back, gain critical distance and understand something better. Correct method – section out the pages – different parts to take notes. This allows you to extract different information.
Bob teaches both death & birth practise. She focuses on water as energy, cleanse with cold water for clarity before you present.
Define a set of rituals,
- find your ritual practise.
- durational performance practise.
- Eg brush your teeth before teaching.
When you give your presentation, what are your strong and weak points? Keep those characteristics when you structure, plan your presentation. Find your ritual practice.
Breathing, guided meditation
Feel more present in the moment, feel more confident. Find your voice. Vocal exercises – how to use to communicate confidence and clarity, intention and conviction into the way we speak. Put ideas into practice, start to get ready. Breathe – a pandiculation. Stretch, yawn, place, space, pandiculation, breathe, loosen up the body. Breathing – are you aware of your breath? A moment of stress when we panic. Series of practises to do work with your breath. Exhausting up, away and out – in a bad way. We feel breath, in those moments of stress when we put the body through a certain set of conditions. Guided meditation – senses of words, guide you, direct you into the process, where are you? Take off your socks and shoes, lie down, feel the ground. I am in the perfect place for me right now.
We participate in a guided meditation with Bob. Breathing, I feel my heels. Intention, it was good to be in my body rather than in my head. I spent so much time in my head.
Yoga nidra – this is my time; I’ve been through a battle. This is my time, it’s time to take care of me. Do yoga, be more body centric, learning – do the MA, no more Graphic Branding and Identity? It’s time. Lengthen my space, when you feel stressed – what does that feel like to be me? Shake it out.
Tell your body you’ve got this. When speaking, open mouth more. Project, use your breath intentionally. Not tense, constructed, open up your shoulder blades, open your mouth. Sense of clarity, get the words out. Exposing vulnerability, gives space to something internal – your mouth, open your mouth. Yawning, the apparatus of the jaw. Expanding, you are revealing more of yourself in the moment.
Breathing exercise, close the loop, your energy is yours – teeth, placing the tongue on the back of your teeth. Yoga nidra – lions breath, breathe in, hold, breathe out. Draw a square, draw one breath in, when ready, breathe out. A little hold, square breathing. We are told we can practice this in a queue – imagine the square.
Posture – open up the space, give the lungs space, this will give you more clarity, open up the voice, where you place your shoulders. Have a welcoming posture – open ‘in’ the moment, slightly placed forward, an aggressive pose – chin out, elbows up. Smile – pencil in your mouth, to begin the smile. Watch a Ted talk 20 minutes on posture. Consider your body language, taking in power poses in stressful situations, watch. Joy, celebration – open the body up. Hands on your hips, before you have an intention. Change your response, bring anxiety down.
Presence – physically, communicate your body as it is comfortable as you can be, you are willing to give it a good shot. It could just be about holding your gaze. Take a moment, A powerful pause, speak to people, smile, allow yourself to access, be as comfortable as you can be. Manifest through physicality, look in between the eyes. The ability to hold the gaze, give your lungs the space to breath.
Breathing – bringing objects around you, remember to breathe, put it into the text you read
Sounding – a sigh, gets breath out of the body. Automatically replaces with fresh breath, sigh to get something out.
- Develop a sigh.
- Your text – learn a way of reading. How might you address the text we read?
- Practice the sound and clarity, the belly breath.
- Practice beforehand – where there should be breath.
- Not the breathing in when reading text, it’s the breathing out.
- Follow your rhythm – use little breaths
- Shaking hands are nerves, they are there because you can see humanity.
- In stress it’s hard to listen, we go blank.
- Stress can affect the senses; you don’t hear the questions.
You can answer through the questions, repeat the question while you gather your thoughts. Build through, use what you’ve heard and what you, use that material to find a way into a response. Ask – does that answer your question? Ask the speaker to repeat the question.
High moments of stress – exam techniques, an elastic band around the wrist, inability to function, ping it – the slight pain will reset and interrupts your brain. Catch your breathe and come back into it.
All points to consider as I prepare for my presentation.