Public speaking

[Homeskulled Kid]

We speak. Sometimes in private, like to ourselves when we stub our toes and say 'fuck' emphatically for about ten minutes, or when we require intelligent conversation and everyone else in the world is stupid. Sometimes in public, like to a person who has just stolen your seat or to a hot babe with a disarming smile, but I'm talking about actual public speaking.

Have you ever done any? Were you received well? What was it about? If not, do you ever think you will, or that you could even hack it in the first place?

 

[EC]

I took a public speaking class in high school. It was a blast, and I had fun. The key is to get the audience involved.

 

[Homeskulled Kid]

Hrmm, well in about a week I'll be speaking publicly for the first time in my life. Reading out my own narrative in front of thirty people - one that I have yet to write, with the added pressure that it has to be told in five minutes or less.

I'm not breathing into a paper bag! You're breathing into a paper bag!

... so in about a week I'll come back to this thread and say whether I sucked or rocked. Unless I get lynched, of course.

 

[Caite-chan]

I hate it. I remember having to take Speech in high school and I despised it. I wasn't to bad but I know some people can be mortified to have to talk in front of people.

 

[strangerhypno]

I love the attention but if I'm not prepared or make one mistake it's all downhill from there, which is usually the case whenever I have to speak to a large crowd. I remember in speech class I said something really awkward, and I felt it for the rest of the year. But luckily I had a cool friend in the class, so I wasn't entirely alone.

 

[Yue Han]

Well I'm a teacher so I'd say I'm pretty good at it as that's a form of public speaking haha.

I'm not actually the best speaker in day to day conversation and I sometimes muddle my words if I'm in a group of people with a lot of talking going on.

Public speaking though is a different story since it uses a different part of the brain after all. Once I'm teaching, bam, I'm in character and my wording becomes fluid. If you like acting then treat public speaking as a performance since it pretty much is.

 

[gimmepie]

Public speaking is okay. It's definitely easier from a place of authority or purpose though. Mind you, I've never had that much of an issue with it either way that I can remember.

 

[mikey]

I'm okay at it. I took a Public Speaking class in college and really helped a lot since then.

 

[mishy.]

i'd probably be a little better at it because of my work but the idea of standing in front of people to give a speech still terrifies me even after taking a speech class.

 

[Kai]

Hrmm, well in about a week I'll be speaking publicly for the first time in my life. Reading out my own narrative in front of thirty people - one that I have yet to write, with the added pressure that it has to be told in five minutes or less.

I'm not breathing into a paper bag! You're breathing into a paper bag!

... so in about a week I'll come back to this thread and say whether I sucked or rocked. Unless I get lynched, of course.

Start by writing the narrative. You can't present something that isn't there. Once it's finished you'll be able to rehearse and a fraction of those pesky butterflies will fly away.

 

[colours]

Nope.

In one of my college classes a year or two ago, I had to give a presentation as my final exam. While I did fine according to my instructor, I broke down afterwards thinking I did terribly.

So I would rather avoid it if possible.

 

[pastelspectre]

i took a public speaking class my first semester of college. it was fairly easy with the classwork but the actual presentations were nightmares. i was okay doing group presentations, but doing presentations on my own was a nightmare. i got through them, but i often had major anxiety beforehand and did the leg shake thing a lot of anxious people do and i would feel nauseous and my hands would shake. whenever i would go up and present, i had to take many deep breaths and prevent myself from crying. i often stuttered and avoided eye contact which is a must in a public speaking presentation.

needless to say, i don't do very well with public speaking. i try to avoid it as much as possible. i'll do it if i absolutely have to for an assignment, but other than that i try to avoid it as much as possible.

 

[Aslan]

I really enjoy public speaking! I used to be scared of it but one day I became a lot more comfortable when people told me they enjoyed my speeches, and I learnt to worry less about how other people perceive my speech. I enjoy presentations and speeches as assignments and I no longer feel worried over them. I think it also helped that I did public speaking for a while in primary school, so I became comfortable with it a lot earlier on.

 

[Zeostar]

I was good at it because I had to do it so much in high school. Though I recently became nervous when asked again.

 

[strangerhypno]

With prep time I'm a great public speaker. Could do my own ted talk

 

[Mab]

i dunno what would be considered public speaking, i really like doing presentations in school but i've never spoken in front of like an auditorium sized crowd.

 

[Taemin]

It made me want to throw up, and once I almost passed out and after that I never did any public speaking in school ever again.

LOL

Nowadays, I dunno, I've never had the experience since, but I run a whole workplace from the front lines, so I doubt my anxiety over speaking to a crowd would be as severe now!