Public Speaking

[sky14kemea]

When you look up, look at the back wall.

Sometimes I think about how much contempt I would have for about half the people in the room if I knew them.

this is good advice, but you gotta do it properly XD my friend had to sing in a school play, and he looked at the clock on the back wall, which made him look silly (basically he looked up to far)

since i have bad eyesight i just take my glasses off and i can hardly see them, you could try blurring your eyes (but make sure they dont go cross-eyed) so you cant see them

there's also the last resort of pulling a sickie, if the nerves really get to you

 

[runedeadthA]

I'm gonna have to suggest the age old method of going up on stage in your underwear. That will go great with calming everyone involved down.

I am pretty sure that is not the advice they give you.

That is most certainly almost probably a lie.

No, I don't. I don't have issues speaking in public.

Wait... Arn't you suppose to imagine the Audience in their underwear? Personally I wouldn't, because if your grandparents are in the crowd it ain't gonna end well.

My advice, just take a deep breath and stop worrying, What are they gonna do? Lynch you? If you don't do well then just accept that you made a mistake somewhere and move on.
Of course if you succeed, feel free to throw a wild party

 

[Jharry5]

Try to get a good friend to sit somewhere in the middle of the room. Then regulary scan the room and focus on your friend.

If only there was someone in the group I knew. =(

there's also the last resort of pulling a sickie, if the nerves really get to you

That's so tempting. But the mark goes towards my final grade...

Wait... Arn't you suppose to imagine the Audience in their underwear? Personally I wouldn't, because if your grandparents are in the crowd it ain't gonna end well.

My advice, just take a deep breath and stop worrying, What are they gonna do? Lynch you? If you don't do well then just accept that you made a mistake somewhere and move on.
Of course if you succeed, feel free to throw a wild party

But of course. Whether I succeed or not, I think.

 

[ix_tab]

I don't have a problem with public speaking, but I have a mild speech impediment, in that I stutter when i get excited, and I speak really reaaaaaaaaly fast. Think Yahtzee fast, but with an Australian accent and being a girl. So whilst I am not nervous of the crowd, I am nervous of my own brain.

The thing that I like to do is some deep breathing beforehand.

Also remember that no one is there to wish you ill, and if you talk a little slower, and a little more deliberately, then you are more likely to keep it together.

 

[SimuLord]

I've done a fair bit of public speaking and I find that the fine art of self-delusion works wonders. When I give a speech I speak as though I am a preacher carrying the words of the gods to my listeners, even if the speech is about something as dumb as the eighth-grade report I gave about James K. Polk (keep in mind this was years before They Might Be Giants made Polk cool. I was just speaking about an obscure forgotten President.) I attacked the assignment like I was trying to get the man elected in 1990. It didn't hurt that the dude was one of America's greatest presidents (not for nothing did TMBG write a song about him) but I put him up there like his face belonged on money. It worked; I got an A+ and a valuable lesson in the need to speak with conviction.

Oddly enough I originally got the idea to speak like that from reading about Adolf Hitler and seeing that he would've been just a crappy wannabe painter if it weren't for his brass balls when given a bully pulpit. If you don't have natural confidence in front of a crowd (and as a damn-near autistic introvert I sure as hell don't), you've just got to fake it for a few minutes and excuse yourself to the bathroom to vomit afterwards if it doesn't work. Nobody needs to know---just tell 'em you had to take a shit.

 

[Beefcakes]

I'm a pretty good public speaker, aced an oral I had recently, one of the most important things to know is to know your topic. Its bold because I can't express how important it is to know what your going to say. You can be as confident as you want, but if you got no idea what you wanna say, your rooted. And not in a good way. Also, prepare more things than you need to say. Its good, trust me.

Confidence wise? Hey, they are there to listen to you, they want to listen to you. Just tell them what they wanna know. And if they don't care? they won't listen, no skin off your back...
Or however the saying goes...

 

[Arcadia2000]

Yes with the slow and deliberate and the practice. Good good good. Breathe in and out and if you need a sec just smile and make like you're shuffling your note cards. One slight pause in the whole shebang won't even be noticeable. Look like you have a wicked secret. Heck, invent a wicked secret. And carry it with you wherever you go. Looking like you know something no one else does is two parts confidence, one part arrogance, and one part BS. Generally.

 

[S.H.A.R.P.]

And does anyone have any particular anecdotes about speaking in public or the like, just to put me at ease...?

I found one thing to be truly essential: make sure that the topic you are speaking about is embedded in your mind. By this I mean that you should be really acquainted with the subject, and truly know what you are talking about. This way, you will be able to improvise.

I don't know if this is a personal thing, or if it counts for most human beings. But I myself don't go to a presentation knowing exactly what I'm going to say. I've done that before, and almost no matter how many times I've read it over, somewhere in the process I lost the story, and wasn't able to pick up where I had left, thus making me ramble a bit and looking a bit silly.

My best presentations were when I knew in general what I was going to say, and just build on from that. This way I'm able to adjust my story a bit, when I see that for example the public isn't to much interested, I skip on that bit and tell more about something else. Improvisation is your friend, and if you pull it off without hesitating to much, or jumping from topic to topic like a bunny on speed, you should be fine on that part.

On the matter of nervousness, well I still experience it of course. I usually take deep breaths to relax before I'm put on stage, 4 seconds breath in deep, 8 seconds blow the breath out, and 4 seconds hold your longs, then breath in again. It's actually a yoga exercise to help you relax, and it helps quite a bit.
As I said before, it's truly important that you exactly know what you're talking about. That way you can ensure for yourself that you won't forget it and look like an idiot. You can step on stage, confident that you know what you're doing, and in that aura of confidence you'll just do your thing.

Also, practice makes perfect, but that's a bit of a sucky thing to say.

 

[InProgress]

Alcohol! and lots of it!

In actuality, a small mouthful of it on an empty stomach will be just enough to take the edge off your nerves.

If you arn't over the legal age, try masturbating before hand. It releases enorphins, relieves stress and makes you feel a whole lot better for a while after words. Its a natural high =)

Alcohol is just what I wanted to suggest. A friend of mine is an actor, and whenever he has to speak in a big public, he gets mashed up.

The masturbating one, is just weird. 0.o

 

[twistedshadows]

You'll be better off if you don't make eye contact with anyone. That's not to say you shouldn't look out into the audience, or else you'll look just as shy as you feel. If you scan the back wall periodically without actually locking eyes with anyone, you'll look confident and like you know what you're talking about. You'll just feel better if you don't start focusing on individuals and looking at how many people there are. It's much easier to pretend there aren't people staring at you that way.

It's an immense help to know what you're speaking about extremely well so you aren't fumbling around for your notes while feeling like an idiot.

Also, don't lock your knees or you might pass out. And remember to breathe. You'll do fine.

 

[Jumping_Over_Fences]

I actually teach a few classes where presentations are a big part of their grade, so I have presented in front of many people and I have seen tons of presentations. So here is some advice that should help out a lot:

Go first: if you do this less people will be paying attention to what you have to say. They will be nervous about presenting their project to everyone. Plus, this way you will get it over with and you and your teacher will not be able to compare your presentation to anyone else.

You notice your screw ups, the audience does not: Realizing this is key to any presentation. If you stumble over a word, skip a section, or just plain screw up, you are going to notice and dwell on it more than the audience. The audience is not expecting perfection, just do your best. Don't point out your faults or get flustered, just move on.

You are up there for a reason: You know more about the topic than your audience, that is why you are up there. Prepare yourself and you will be fine. Remember, you are smarter than the audience and your presentation is a way to brag to them about it.

Starting is the hardest part: Once your presentation gets rolling, you will not have a problem. It is just hard to get moving. Take a deep breath to calm yourself before you start, then do your best to get the ball rolling.

Those are the key points that I always go over when teaching public speaking. Hopefully they will help you out a little. If you follow these you will be fine.

 

[traceur_]

PUT HUMOUR IN YOUR SPEECH

Put at least one piece of humour in it, it makes things much less stressful if people laugh or even just smile.

I did a presentation on violence in sport and one section was on fan violence and I said "...can be caused by people who are deliberately stirring up trouble or just some dropkick who had too much to drink", that got a laugh, it's that simple.


Starting is the hardest part but if you can do it right then you can get going smoothly, I take a deep breath and just start talking, try not to talk too fast because slowing down is tricky.

Don't stand like a statue behind a podium, walk around a bit, move your arms, use body language.

Most importantly just go for it.

 

[Tech Team FTW!]

No, I don't. I don't have issues speaking in public.

Just so long as no one turns up with a camera, right?

 

[not a zaar]

I got nothing. Whenever I had to do a presentation or something similar in school I didn't and just took the zero. I can't deal with that crap.

Good luck!

You'll go far in life kid.

 

[Grimm91]

I just think happy thoughts and try to say what I need to without puking.

 

[Steven Kyzburg]

PUT HUMOUR IN YOUR SPEECH

Put at least one piece of humour in it, it makes things much less stressful if people laugh or even just smile.

I did a presentation on violence in sport and one section was on fan violence and I said "...can be caused by people who are deliberately stirring up trouble or just some dropkick who had too much to drink", that got a laugh, it's that simple.


Starting is the hardest part but if you can do it right then you can get going smoothly, I take a deep breath and just start talking, try not to talk too fast because slowing down is tricky.

Don't stand like a statue behind a podium, walk around a bit, move your arms, use body language.

Most importantly just go for it.

Agreed, i've been told that i'm a great public speaker but i'm as nervous as hell when I do it, my arms and legs shake even as i'm doing it. But when your doing it you have to simply realise that you have to do it and now your there you may as well do it right, so be assertive, own that platform! Stride about, gesture with your hands and use your body language to your advantage (it also covers the nervous shaking in my case)

And yes as traceur said use humour, it works wonders. I had to give a short presentation in front of the department heads of a university and a load of otehr students such as myself, we had two hours notice to come up with something. I got my thoughts together and essentially did it off the top of my head throwing in some humour, I went last but got the biggest laughs. People prefer it to simply listening to people droning on.

As my traceur rightly said, just go for it.

 

[Mozared]

Humour wins, indeed.

And, in case nobody's said it yet, what seems to work for some people is imagining your audience to sit in their underwear.

 

[Nmil-ek]

Have a friend sit WAAAAAAY back so you can focus on then makes it look like your giving great eye contact, listen to some bob marley light a spliff and chill brauh.

 

[Steven Kyzburg]

As a side note, if your looking for a direct calming for nerves I find that imagining yourself as a huge all powerful being striding about the podium or situation that your confronted with. Just imagine yourself being great and it generally works to quell the butterflys.

 

[The Hitman]

Try a little thing called "Rescue Remedy", you can get it at any good pharmacist. Its a little bottle of natural substance that doesn't druggie you up but it just, well ... WORKS!
I compete for GB team and its does the job for me