Kim's personal advice on collectives

BY Kim Casamitjana spennhoff

With Collectives comes a lot of pressure and stress. It is quite a challenge to bring everything you did during the semester together in a 15-minute presentation.

During my past Collectives, I started making lists of stuff I wanted to improve on in the coming ones, in terms of presentation and organization; maybe it can be of some help to you?

- It is a moment to show what you did during the semester and what you have learned through the work you have made. Something I always keep in mind is that some of the committee members haven't seen most of my work, or any of it. When thinking of how to present it, think of how you could make your process insightful and understandable from beginning to end. Also, I always make sure to highlight what I learned from it.

- If you want to challenge yourself with the 3-minute verbal presentation by not reading it entirely off the paper (which would also be fine, by the way, no need to get anxious!), something that worked for me was to first write it on the computer and then write it down again by hand. I read it many times, highlighted the important parts, memorized the structure and key points. Something I always do as well is hold the paper in my hands for support. When I print it, I make sure the font is big enough for me to speak quickly, and the key points are highlighted in a different color.

- Printing. Apart from the obvious advice to start printing early on (like 2 weeks prior), I make little lists as well, following a specific system. I make a list for every subject, and within each subject, a list with all the assignments I had.

I check which assignments I’ve already printed and make a separate list for every subject with what needs to be printed still. Then I make a separate list, the "Print List", and divide it between: "manual paper", "normal paper", "upstairs good printer". Each title gets a folder on my laptop containing the files that need to be printed.

After that I make another list called "Paper" and write down the sizes and paper types I will need to buy to print, so I only need to go to the shop once and have it sorted out.

"normal paper", some specific paper types of photos or publications on "manual paper", and technical skills assignments or final selections of photos for projects on the "Upstairs good printer".

This may sound a bit exaggerated but coming from someone with a strong tendency to "out of sight out of mind" my way through life, this really saved me.

I usually print all my process and theory on

- Have a plan on how you will structure your room beforehand. Study the room and make a drawing with the distribution of works. It gives a sense of security which will lower your stress levels, and as soon as you can build up, you will know exactly what to do, and if you have people helping you, it will make their life easier as well.

- Ask for feedback from classmates after you build up. What's missing, is it clear enough, is everything hung up straight...?

- Print many white papers with a grid on them, handwrite all the names of the assignments and descriptions, cut them out evenly and paste them next to the corresponding piece of work. Why handwritten? Because most probably that day you will find you have forgotten to write a couple, and instead of having to add them to a document and print them, you can just write them down on your printed grid, cut them out and add them to the presentation.

- Buy tape or Blu Tac a couple of days before, I strongly recommend Blu Tac because it is way quicker to put on the prints.

- If there is anything that you can do beforehand which makes you feel more prepared and confident, go for it. If it's rehearsing and making a friend listen to your presentation 50 times, I will feel sorry for them, but do it. If it's setting up your work in your room at home to see what works and what doesn't, go for it. If it's going out for a walk to unwind, go for it. What I usually do is get some intense exercise the day before and go to bed early. I wake up more energized, and the exercise the day before helps me release some tension and stress.

And finally, once everything is set up, congratulate yourself on the hard work and accept you did your best, and the rest is not under your control anymore.

I look at Collectives as a day where I bring all my work together, get very useful feedback and a new sense of direction for the coming semester or year.