Any one not afraid of public speaking?

I've got a presentation to do tomorrow in my English class. Has to be 7 minutes long and my topic's materialism, which isn't the problem. I can easily fill 7 minutes with useless jabber.

The problem is that I get horribly nervous. I'm not now, I'm very mellow even just thinking about it, I'm envisioning myself doing great, but as soon as it's my turn, I'm going to freak out.

Does anyone have any "public speaking" tips?

(And don't tell me to envision my audience naked because, well, )

Much appreciated, guys!

Skip that class is my advice :haha: I get nervous to the point of when I have to get up before a group of people, unless I'm at the bar and I'm really drunk

Actually i was kind of nervous too before i had to start a speech. But everytime i started, i was just very concentrated and everything went fine. I think the reason was that my preparation was very good all the time. I really knew a lot about the thing i had to talk about (much much much much more than the audience). And that gave me the calmness.

So my advice: You know so much more than the rest and you have prepared your speech very well. Just have confidence in that!

I keep my fingers crossed for your speech!

SoulRat wrote:

Skip that class is my advice :haha: I get nervous to the point of when I have to get up before a group of people, unless I'm at the bar and I'm really drunk

I WOULD skip but it's 100 points off of the assignment (which is only 200 points to begin with).

swiss_tiger wrote:

Actually i was kind of nervous too before i had to start a speech. But everytime i started, i was just very concentrated and everything went fine. I think the reason was that my preparation was very good all the time. I really knew a lot about the thing i had to talk about (much much much much more than the audience). And that gave me the calmness.

So my advice: You know so much more than the rest and you have prepared your speech very well. Just have confidence in that!

I keep my fingers crossed for your speech!

Thanks much, Swiss. I'll try to focus on that.

Ugh

Good luck

SoulRat wrote:

Ugh

Good luck

I'm going to need it.

Get up there and just be yourself! Relax! Talk to the class like you would to your family or friends.


Good Luck

My advice: Go up there with a real apathetic attitude. Just feel like you don't care and be real nonchalant and voila, presentation complete and you'll probably end up doing a good job. Since you don't care you'll avoid mistakes such as repetitive use of "you know" or "umm..." etc.

I hate getting in front of groups and doing "Speaches" but I have been a college level teacher and a sunday school teacher and have had no problems. It is in how you look at the situation.

Do you know something the group NEEDS TO KNOW? If so, you talk to them like a "Teacher" or "Leader" that is explaining something useful to them.

In doing so, you will automatically begin to feel at ease. Also, find two or three people who seem interested in what you are saying and concentrate on talking to them, while glancing at others too. But since you are concentrating on a small number of people, it is more like just talking to a few friends.

I don't mind doing speaches for class or anything. I got used to them in 7th and 8th grade, they no longer bother me. I talk constantly anyway... lol

But good luck!

I know this thread is from yesterday TigerLily and you probably already did your speech and I'm sure you did well.
I'm weird, I really like public speaking, I can speak in front of people I know or don't know, to me it's like acting or something, which I also like. However, if I'm around 1 or 2 people I don't really know, I have trouble talking to new people in a small setting, lol.
The best thing you can do is really know what you're talking about and make it interesting. Even joke or say something funny about your topic if that's ok. Too many people get up there and sound so monotone. And like other people were saying, focus on people that are looking at you and make eye contact, or act like you are talking to friends. And remember, some people are probably as nervous as you and aren't even listening because they're so worried about their own speech!

iluvpudge7 wrote:

I know this thread is from yesterday TigerLily and you probably already did your speech and I'm sure you did well.
I'm weird, I really like public speaking, I can speak in front of people I know or don't know, to me it's like acting or something, which I also like. However, if I'm around 1 or 2 people I don't really know, I have trouble talking to new people in a small setting, lol.

OMG! Thats how I am! lol

tigersgirl wrote:

iluvpudge7 wrote:

I know this thread is from yesterday TigerLily and you probably already did your speech and I'm sure you did well.
I'm weird, I really like public speaking, I can speak in front of people I know or don't know, to me it's like acting or something, which I also like. However, if I'm around 1 or 2 people I don't really know, I have trouble talking to new people in a small setting, lol.

OMG! Thats how I am! lol

Glad to know there's someone else like me, lol

iluvpudge7 wrote:

tigersgirl wrote:

iluvpudge7 wrote:

I know this thread is from yesterday TigerLily and you probably already did your speech and I'm sure you did well.
I'm weird, I really like public speaking, I can speak in front of people I know or don't know, to me it's like acting or something, which I also like. However, if I'm around 1 or 2 people I don't really know, I have trouble talking to new people in a small setting, lol.

OMG! Thats how I am! lol

Glad to know there's someone else like me, lol

Make that three of us!

How is it that many of us that go into teaching are really introverts in small groups of new people, yet we can function in front of many just fine????

I'm not in teaching, so that i don't apply to. lol. I don't plan to be a teacher either.

tigersgirl wrote:

I'm not in teaching, so that i don't apply to. lol. I don't plan to be a teacher either.

That's ok, you never know what you will be doing years from now. It may not be teaching, but you may have to do some sort of public speaking....

Yet we all experence small group phobias!

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

Yet we all experence small group phobias!

Yes, that and for me, clowns. *shudders* I hate those things.

tigersgirl wrote:

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

Yet we all experence small group phobias!

Yes, that and for me, clowns. *shudders* I hate those things.

I hate clowns enough I don't even like parades. I don't know what happened in my past, but I want to cry at parades and hate it when the clown come by!

I HATE clowns. When I was really little I saw the movie 'It'. If i had not have seen it then it wouldn't scare me now, but i can't watch the movie now and i see a clown and get the feeling that i want to run and hide.

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

tigersgirl wrote:

I'm not in teaching, so that i don't apply to. lol. I don't plan to be a teacher either.

That's ok, you never know what you will be doing years from now. It may not be teaching, but you may have to do some sort of public speaking....

Yet we all experence small group phobias!

No kidding, none of us know what we'll be doing years from now in today's job world I may not even be teaching if I can't get a job somewhere...... Who knows what the hell I'll be doing

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

iluvpudge7 wrote:

tigersgirl wrote:

iluvpudge7 wrote:

I know this thread is from yesterday TigerLily and you probably already did your speech and I'm sure you did well.
I'm weird, I really like public speaking, I can speak in front of people I know or don't know, to me it's like acting or something, which I also like. However, if I'm around 1 or 2 people I don't really know, I have trouble talking to new people in a small setting, lol.

OMG! Thats how I am! lol

Glad to know there's someone else like me, lol

Make that three of us!



How is it that many of us that go into teaching are really introverts in small groups of new people, yet we can function in front of many just fine????

I'm not really a people person at all, I'm a total loner-type person and prefer to be by myself a lot. Yet when I do go out or am around my friends, I have a lot of fun and am totally loud and obnoxious sometimes

< Out of exhaustion.

Well today was interesting to say the least.

My class was at 11am and I was scheduled to be 9th to present... on the way to class our car ran out of gas (the gas gauge is *borken* lol) so I was late, I got into class just as the teacher was erasing my name off the list. One kid presented ahead of me and at that point I just didn't care so, in a way, I followed your advice cat!



I was up to 3:30 last night finishing that damn speech and all I kept thinking this morning was "Watch, we're going to break down or something".

Sounds like "one of those days". Maybe breaking down actually helped because by the time you got there, you were like, "whatever", and calm, lol

TigerLil, hope it went okay.
I can't brag, can just tell you what I do. I'm a cantor every weekend in church, which means I have to lead the community in song plus sing 1 song by myself. Have done this for 20+ years, for crowds up to 1000 or so, and I must admit the "slightly tired, lackadasical attitude" works best. When I get knock-kneed, I know I'm not prepared. If you know your stuff well, that's half the battle! There will be opportunities like that all through life.

You should sing something for us Lap and put it on here!!!!

UR2 kind!

iluvpudge7 wrote:

You should sing something for us Lap and put it on here!!!!

I 2nd that!

wish my technical skills were of that caliber!