I presented with Lynda and Alice on Sunday at 10am. We were the very first group to go, and I think it went just fine but could have gone better. Being in an unfamiliar room with strangers definitely hindered our presentation. We were used to the podium in our classroom and how to maneuver around it; we usually all stand behind it and just shift the attention onto whoever is speaking. We tried to do the same thing at the conference, but there was a lot less space and it ended up being a little awkward. We were also used to our audience being familiar with our topic. The rest of the class has seen our presentations leading up to this one, but our new audience had no idea what we were talking about for the first few minutes.
Even so, I think we got our point across well. We were lucky that most of the people watching had been to the High Line, so they caught on once we declared that we’d be discussing the future of its funding. There didn’t seem to be any confusion amongst the other students when we were finished. The moderator and a visiting professor had some thought-provoking questions for us that gave us some ideas for our final paper. We had a small discussion about the process of creating a BID and methods for encouraging residents to participate in one for the High Line.
Our presentation could have gone better if we’d prepared more for the new atmosphere. In comparison to the other presentations, ours was the only one that seemed to be a part of a larger step-by-step project. We didn’t really take into consideration that the people at the conference wouldn’t have the same understanding and background information that our classmates have. Personally, I was also uncomfortable in the new space. I got a little tongue-tied occasionally because I was making eye contact with total strangers. I could have avoided this if I just mentally prepared for that factor, but it didn’t even cross my mind until it happened.
The most interesting presentation that I saw at the conference was about public housing on the Upper West Side. Students from City College made the presentation, and they spoke about some really interesting ideas on how to revamp the neighborhood. Since we’ve spoken about public housing, the topic resonated with me and I was able to follow along easily. They proposed ideas like opening up a street through a housing complex to increase foot traffic and building a school in the middle of the complex. On a side note, I thought it was funny how the Baruch business school students talked about funding while the City engineering students talked about architecture.
It was also interesting for me to see other presentations about the future of NYC that didn’t involve neighborhoods. There were presentations about crime control, education, obesity, etc. Watching these presentations allowed me to ponder the future of NYC in a broader and less geographical sense. They were more focused on the people and their wellbeing. This also helped me get a better perspective on what I should be thinking about when I take a position in my final paper. I have to think of the people in the area and not just the physical space alone.
