regarding people; rant.

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ArRRRgh!! !! ! I hate bitchy people!

I'm currently in a group of 5 that's doing a project. We've had the topic for months now and last week we decided on our roles (the first half of the project was just gathering data and we all did this). One guy took on arranging data and graphs and doing research, I took on making the powerpoint presentation and presenting it, and the other 3 decided to make the poster that goes along with it.

I am not very confident at public speaking, but I felt I ought to as the powerpoint presentation is pretty much copying and pasting the data and graph that the other guy made, and the others have also found pictures for it and added in their own suggestions. I didn't mind other people contributing to the powerpoint because I knew I would be presenting. My first run through at presentation was shaky, but everybody said I'd be fine and just needed practice, which is what I've been doing.

However, during our run through, we have now been told that we each have to stand up and say what part of the project we contributed. We were also told that one of the judges wants to see us all pulling our weight.

Now, one of the 3 girls has announced that she thinks it's best if she presents, leaving the other 2 to take credit for the poster, and leaving me with the poweroint presentation, which is mainly made up of the other guy's slides (and for which he will take full credit).

I sent a polite email saying that I need to be the presenter in order to contribute enough to the project myself, but the guy (who has done most of the work, leaving us pretty short of available roles) is now suggesting we meet up on Monday to 'decide' on a presenter.

I guess what I'm angry about is that there should be nothing to decide. I took on the responsibility of speaking as part of my contribution to our project; it makes me look lazy if my work is suddenly halved. Nobody had a problem with our roles beforehand; the girls were happy to do the minimun, leaving G (the guy) to do most of the work, with myself second, but now that it does matter, they are trying to walk over me to make themselves look better! It also annoys me because if anyone should hand over roles, it's the guy becacuse he can afford to and still look good.

The other 2 girls are her flatmates so I'm guessing they'll back her up, and the guy seems to sit on the fence (I also suspect she's been on the phone to him, judging by the email), so I really feel very angry right now!

Just venting, but if anyone has any advice, it's very welcome! AAAArrrrgh!! !! !

edit; just got a reply back from G; "I was just saying we need a run through with you monday if that's ok??! !" . This is not what he said previously

Stand you ground, it's their fault they are going to be shown up as lazy, not you.

And if you need to, use your Asperger's as an advantage. Tell them straight that volunteering to do the presentation is a massive thing for you, that standing up and speaching in front of others is a huge acheivement in terms of over coming you disability, that you NEED to do this. Tell them how much you have worked to prepare yourself for acheiving this and that trying to take it away from you now is cruel.

And if they try to take it away on the basis that they will do a better job because you are too shaky. Tell them straight that this is because of your disability and penalising you because of it is discrimation, which is against the law.

People like that make me angry too.

All the best. I'm sure you'll do a fab job.

just pull the stubborn bull. Always document exactly what work you have contributed. Id also sneak a voice recorder of some sort into the "meeting" and record the whole discussion of who has done what. Then after your "class" if things didnt work themselves out, you can always pass it on to the teacher. Yeah, sometimes to be treated fairly in life you have to be a ruthless, manipulative bastard, or just a straight up complete monster. I did the whole thing once back in my IT class in my junior year. After it got handed in, i didnt have to do the whole group BS anymore a few projects later after he saw who did what as well as making everyone fill out papers on who did what. There were enough contradictions that he knew something was up, especially since I was the leader, and I made the entire slideshow as well as gathered the majority of the info. I wasnt aboput to let the lazy asses ruin my grade. Because of all that I did, I ended up being the only person with a passing grade after the teacher figured out what happened. (most of my group ended up playing Unreal TOurnament 2004 on a VPN between computers, so yeah.

I will be honest, I hate doing group work with most women because of their pack mentality and they usually do nothing then try to say they did everything. Call it sexist, I dont give a f**k at this point.

Thanks for the replies guys! They really helped

MotherKnowsBest, I'm not sure i it would be wise or me to disclose my dx; it would be a pyrrhic victory at best, because of the course I am in. I also don't want any special treatment because I am trying to work on my difficulties myself. I definitely agree with you that I should stand my ground though! Thanks or the good luck!

DemonAbyss10, I'm not sure where I'll ge a voice recorder in time, but I do have all teh email correspondance saved if it comes to that. I hope it doesn't; it would be very stupid, as they will be marking us on teamwork. Like you, I don't like acting like a b***h myself, but I'm not going to let people walk over me!

The girl who emailed me first has now replied (curtly) by email and said that I can still do the presenting. I won't let my guard down completely; they may try to pull something else on Monday, but after chatting with a friend, I do feel more confident in saying what I have done.

How did it go yesterday?

Pretty well, thanks I practiced a lot on Sunday, so my presentation was a lot better than before. The only real fault people had was that I had to look at my speech a bit too much and not enough at the slideshow; that will just come with practice though.

Nobody mentioned the weekend, except the guy who apologised for the 'confusing emails' and from the looks of it, the other girls have found extra things to do in the project (e.g. more graphs). Hopefully nobody feels they have lost out and things will go smoothly on the day

Well done.

yeah, thats the best result you could have hoped for. If you didnt do your presentation yet, may I suggest the following?

-Practice as much as you can, even if it is just talking to the mirror or your family.
-you dont have to focus on the eyes of your audience, you can focus on a point behind them, and it will give them the illusion that you are speaking to them. (I know this helped me alot, since in my IT class back in the vocational/technical highschool, which of course IT being my major, our big grades were presentations, had at least 10 a year, and we were even graded on appearance and stuff, so I got used to wearing a suit from it as well.)
-dont fuss and worry about the presentation, a clear mind can help ya. practice deep breathing techniques or meditation prior to doing it.
-overall, just try to keep a confident attitude and appearance. It can easily make you know what your talking about and perhaps boost the grades further.

Thanks guys! Cheers for the presentation tips DeamonAbyss10

lmao at the title change