Colinda Welboren is from Year 2020; she graduated from the shortened course of the Bachelor of Theatre in Education at the Academy of Theatre and Dance. Last year, she participated in the Presentation Training. This training is open to all AHK students and alumni.
"When I started my training, I was already a secondary school theatre teacher. But not yet with the right teaching qualification. And in education, that is what is eventually required. After a long search, I ended up at the Academy for Theatre and Dance, which offered the Theatre Teacher course in abbreviated form. At the school where I was employed at the time, I often had the conversation about the content of the theatre subject. It is a school subject that is often difficult to understand. For instance, if the school management indicated that the reason for reinstating the subject of theatre in the timetable was to help students become more social. Then I would reply: 'But I don't teach social skills. I teach theatre where social manners are a prerequisite for getting started' To which the response was then, 'Yes of course, but they also become more socially adept, don't they?' I had conversations like that so often. On top of that, the school subject of theatre in secondary education is really seen as a side subject, just for fun. I often talked about 'the value of theatre' and as such I was already (unconsciously) involved in pitching.
After graduating from the AHK, I switched from a salaried job to freelance theatre maker and teacher. I really wanted that but at the same time a certain discomfort emerged. Like 'Ok, I have always been that teacher, but now I am a teaching theatre maker. How do I do that? Is it enough if I am me and how do I be me? And how do I make sure I convey that in the right way?' Pretty crazy that all these questions come up at such a time, because at the school where I worked, I also had to put myself firmly down. But now my world suddenly became a whole lot bigger. I signed up for the Presentation Training and my approach was: 'Imagine I'm going to De Karavaan, which is an organisation for adventurous location theatre in Alkmaar and the surrounding area. And I want to put MELK, my location performance on a dairy farm there, and make a connection with that organisation; how do I pitch that?'
We started off with a diverse and international group and it was truly inspiring. There were participants who had been working for some time, participants with 2-3 years of work experience and students. Such a diverse club is really great, it is very instructive and valuable. You give each other feedback during the training. And the teachers also give feedback. An example? Tutor Astrid Rose had taken a photo from my Instagram account, a very beautiful and creative photo. But Astrid said 'Yes, so that's how people find you. Is that what you want?' Then I thought 'Oh no, I don't want that.'
All this feedback helped me enormously. I got a clear picture of where I stood and during the training you are given concrete tools to help you improve your presentation. And then you practice with them. This way, I was already able to put down a number of marker points for myself while building up my presentation.
And of course something can always happen when you do a pitch, but at least make sure you are prepared. Or as the lecturer said: 'You're asking people for time, make sure you're ready.' The training focused on things you can at least control. You can't say that about nerves, which often play a big part in presenting. Nerves is its own personal process, but there are so many strengths that you already bring with you from your personality. I found that a very nice approach to the training.
Presenting is quite exciting after all. If, like me, you have the idea of getting in touch with a theatre organisation, you can make it very big in your head. But during that training, it became small again. Manageable. 'Ok, so it's just people working for that organisation, you have that meeting and it's often about who are you, who am I, what can we do for each other? And of course, people are busy so can you get the gist across in a minute? What do you stand for, what do you want, etc. So that you don't think on the spot: 'Which project am I going to talk about now', or you lose yourself in a side road and then the minute will be over.'
A tip I have for participants: get over your own discomfort. The setting of this training is very safe. And another tip: make sure you can participate in all the meetings. The total package of meetings really adds value to the training. Lecturer Marjolein Roeleveld also says so during the intro: 'You come away with more tools. And by practising you gain more self-confidence.' She does that really well. When I entered the training, I was in the middle of a transition phase. This training was really a fine link for me in my development."