The UNT Showcase

Last Friday, we had our UNT showcase. I'd say that this was an overall successful experience.

Before this showcase, I made some upgrades to my board and overall presentation. I created a more eye-catching centerpiece, a 3D bar graph, and cleaned up the wordiness. With no mentor yet, this section was filled with the interviews that I've had thus far (and I have another interview today!).

I went into this event with the sentiment that I would "wing it," meaning not have a strict outline of what to say. While this caused my very first presentation to stumble some, I believe this worked in my favor. Without the stress of having a strict script or even outline, I was free to present my journey through ISM differently to each person and, after considering my audience, appeal to what would be most interesting to them. I always enjoy doing this, that opportunity to think on my feet was welcomed and exciting.

The most stressful part of this experience was meeting not one, but two professionals who have backgrounds in business analytics on separate occasions. Knowing how simple my work has been so far due to the lack of knowledge I had on the topic going into it this year made me anxious while presenting my board to them. However, both were extremely kind and gave me helpful advice on where to aim my research for the rest of the year. It was also a reminder of my goals for the rest of ISM, which is to improve my technical knowledge in my field.

The lack of technical skills presented in my original work was glaring while presenting, therefore I aim to fix this with my final product. I would like to focus my learning on coding and the use of real sentiment and machine learning analysis to create a more legitimate final product. As I'm starting with essentially zero knowledge on coding and scripting, the only way to go is up.

Speaking with other students was also very fun. My presentation was more casual and focused more on my original work, as students were consistently more interested in my findings, as it pertained to many of them.

Suffice to say, I really enjoyed this experience! The low stakes environment and curiosity of those listening allowed me to get more direction on my future works for ISM and improve my presentational skills. I am optimistic to see what I can do next.