Preparing for your exhibition

To help you prepare for your exhibition:

• Consider reading some conversation starters before your exhibition day.
• Consider looking at your group members’ portfolio beforehand to have some ideas of what you might say or ask about. You can access their site through our Roster page or the Google Doc sign up sheet.
• Using your buddy check feedback, make any and all changes and fixes you can before your exhibition. This will allow you to have people check for formatting and wording issues with a more fine-grained lens.

You likely have not experienced an online exhibition before, which can be a bit nerve-inducing. Although we (your instructors) look forward to this part of the semester, we understand that our comfort might not directly translate to yours. Here a few quotes excerpted from previous students’ exhibition reflections—we hope they will help you feel confident about the exhibition and know how to prepare:

• “I was a tad nervous to discuss my website in detail. For anyone else who is feeling like I did, I recommend you take some deep breaths and relax because the exhibition was quite fun. Instead of being nervous, just be yourself and bring questions about your website.”
• “I must confess that when I signed up I was nervous because I did not get a spot with any of my house TAs or even with anyone that I was familiar with through buddy check or providing feedback but [the instructor] was awesome so was everyone else. I like the fact I got the chance to work with everyone for the first time at the exhibition.”
• “I prepared the night before by viewing my groupmates’ portfolios and making some notes about pages/details I liked as well as some feedback to give them. This helped me feel more prepared overall for the exhibition and when I was asked if I had any further comments I was able to avoid the awkward silence because I had some ideas already written down and prepared from the night before.”
• “I prepared for this event by first thinking again about the message I wanted to convey with my website and then I tried to view it from the perspective of the potential viewer and how they might get a feel for who I am, what I’ve done, and what I have to offer.”
• “The exhibition was worthwhile for me for a few reasons. First, I was able to get feedback and reactions from my peers right after asking. It was nice to be able to talk and not just discuss through text about my portfolio. My peers gave me great feedback on both my favorite page … and my one I needed most help with …. It was also nice to get the gratification that my concerns I had for my Showcase were just concerns and my peers made me feel like my hard work paid off. I also found it very beneficial to look at my peers’ portfolios as well. It was nice being able to give my peers feedback and help them out with the questions that they had. Looking at the other portfolios also gave me some new ideas that I hadn’t thought of to add to my own portfolio.”