Learning to speak

It’s almost done. Nearly a year after our kick-off meeting, and after months of sweat, toil and more than a few sherbet lemons (what my parents would call “brain food”!), I’ve now almost completed the whole of my Third Year Project – or in more general terms, a dissertation! Crikey, that makes me feel old!

As I wrote last time, the Easter holidays were mostly spent working on the Project itself, while occasionally popping out to see friends (and take much-needed breaks)! Returning to Southampton half a week before term began to give myself a little bit of settling time back into the rigours of independent life (whereas at home it can be quite easy to take meals magically appearing, and laundry seemingly doing itself, for granted!), I knew that the submission deadline for the ten-thousand word report, along with the programming “artefact” we were tasked with constructing alongside it as the basis of our research, was alarmingly close, so there was plenty to crack on with to make it the best I could!

And despite my sleeping pattern adjusting itself into that of true scientific fashion, as I only ever seemed to have huge brainwaves every time I clambered into bed (typical!) – often which I then felt I had to act upon if I wanted to doze off that night – I ended up managing to get plenty of content written and checked (despite a minor last-minute panic where I thought I’d accidentally deleted my references!), with everything submitted in good time and (hopefully) form – phew! So the challenge, thankfully, was met, and after what I can honestly say was one of the most gruelling, but ultimately rewarding, months of my life, I’ve come away with a final project of which I believe I can be proud.

Setting out to find some way of linking my love of my subject, Software Engineering, to my other great passion, the theatrical world, almost a year ago now, I definitely wouldn’t have foreseen the end result, particularly as my initial research surrounded topics like robotic puppetry!

But I’m pleased to be able to say that, despite the occasional questionable result here and there (as ever in engineering projects, nothing’s perfect!), I’ve managed to research around, and program, a fairly bespoke computer system which takes in multiple-camera video streams of theatrical shows and analyses them without human input, producing ‘suggested cut’ files of their contents. It’s a tool which hopefully might prove hugely useful to the theatrical societies in the future in terms of speeding up the editing process, and one which I’d love to look into developing further in the future, although after ten months of it, maybe after a short break, perhaps!

But although the battle to hand everything in on time was thankfully won, the war is not yet entirely over, as my dissertation Viva follows hot on the deadline’s heels and takes place next week. This is a forty minute or so presentation where I have to explain, demonstrate and then defend my work throughout the year to experts in the field of such autonomous agents, having been promised the asking of questions designed to test the range and depth of our knowledge to the extent that we’ve been warned we may struggle to answer them all! It certainly will be a test of how far the project’s come in its lifespan – and how much theory I’ve picked up along the way!

Yet one thing I’ve realised while preparing for the Viva is how much it says about the developmental opportunities both my course and the University have afforded me that I’m not quite as nervous regarding the presentation element as I’d have previously anticipated. Although the prospect of the questioning section still completely terrifies me, I’ve found myself over my three years at University becoming more and more confident with public speaking, including improvised speech, which is odd as, if you’d have asked me to present for that period of time at the beginning of my University career in such a high-pressure situation, I’d have run a country mile! It’s strange to think just how nervous and shy I used to feel in front of people before I arrived in Southampton, in contrast to how I feel about it now.

I guess this growth in confidence in learning to speak could well be attributed to the amount of time (some might say too much!) I’ve spent on stage through theatrical activities, but I think it’s also largely come through elements of my course; as group projects often form a large element of Software Engineering and Computer Science modules, the ability to stand in front of people who you’re aware are assessing both you and your words is a skill you’re given plenty of chance to practice throughout in many different contexts, letting you soon learn what works when you have to present yourself – and what doesn’t!

And it’s a skill which has multiple applications across different contexts, be they job interviews, technical presentations, business pitches (myself recently having quite a big one – I’ll be sure to write about the result next time!) or talks to particular audiences, like those I was granted the honour of taking part in with the Pro Vice-Chancellor for Education during last summer’s Open Days.

Speaking in the Nuffield Theatre to audiences of hundreds of parents last summer was certainly nerve-wracking, but hugely rewarding!

Although public speaking doesn’t always go to plan – I’ll always remember the feeling of forgetting the material in my second ever stand-up comedy set after just one minute of talking out of sheer nerves, even though I thought my first set had gone down pretty well – it does always provide a fantastic challenge, and with enough rehearsal this can usually be overcome, while providing that incredible feeling of running off performance adrenaline and improvising to deliver the best presentation that you can.

So I’m sure that, however the Viva ends up going I will, one way or another, end up enjoying it (to an extent!). At the very least, it will finally see the end of the exacting, but rewarding, Third Year Project, right in time for exams – so fingers crossed for the days to follow!

Robin