20 Time Final Post

My 20 Time project was about converting regular concrete into pervious concrete. I was successful in making a slab of concrete porous by spraying it with chemicals. Gypsum and vinegar were the two chemicals that worked and I have submitted my project to Google Science Fair. Over the summer, I will continue to work on my project by finding the most effective mixtures of gypsum and vinegar for use on concrete. I will also test the structural stability of treated concrete blocks.

Gypsum I tested on the concrete in an ~1/5 solution in water

The TED Talk I gave in class about my project

I would say my talk went quite well. Although I stumbled a lot at the start, once I got on track, my speaking got smoother and I was able to articulate my thoughts in a way the audience could understand. I thought I would need my notes, but I ended up just using the images as cues. That being said, I was still very nervous beforehand because I had only written the script the night before. I also had no words in my slideshow, so there were no hints to read off of without looking down at my notes.

Even though I was more nervous before this presentation than before my "What on Earth Evolved?" Presentation, I felt this one looked more professional overall. This is because I had more true passion for what I was talking about, allowing me to walk around and look relaxed. However, I may have been unclear in some parts because during the questions, some people were asking me things that I thought I had answered while talking. Overall, this was a slight improvement from my Tiktaalik presentation, but a definite improvement from my public speaking skills at the start of the year.