Not sure I've mentioned (it all happened rather quickly) one of the delights of the last few days which has been a design competition our new extension has been entered for. I was invited - by virtue of having written an article on it for a librarian trade journal - to the 'how-do-we-go-about-preparing-for-this' and obviously didn't duck quick enough when my boss was looking for the ideal person to front the actual presentation to the judges.

Sigh. Still, I suppose it was something I could usefully do. Worked up a good script that covered the points in the competition and said the things we wanted to say - and dared to include some not so good points which we're addressing. I then went off to make a PowerPoint to go with it. Now if I say it was 60 odd slides, you might be horrified as it was only a 20 minute presentation. But it wasn't quite as bad as that. Firstly, there were next to no words and secondly there was a certain 'power' to they way I had full screen photos (occasionally 4 photos quartering the screen or three in a tritych and so on) which showed off the building and its design. They were great pictures (done by the Uni photographer although some of mine were in there) and often included students which made it look active and exciting.

I've no idea what the judges actually made of it all - although of course they were polite enough. But frustratingly, although they decide in the next week or two, we won't hear for some time as they announce the winner at a conference. However, pleased though everyone was with our 'performance' (the tour, the display, the presentation, the Q&A), I've seen some of the competition and it's stiff. So I'm not holding my breath.

Interesting process though.