I’d much rather talk to 1,000 people than mingle at a cocktail party. I’ve seen ratings of my talks from our feedback cards, and they are pretty positive - in fact I got perfect speaking scores for one talk (n = 20 of 100 in the audience, which is our usual return rate.) My daughter and I co-taught the second part of an all day tutorial and we got slightly better scores than the guy who taught the first part, who is a professional trainer.
When my daughter was acting I noticed that professional kids shared the ability to turn on when the cameras started to roll, which I think is the secret. You can put yourself in another place. Works great for interviews also. Smaller audience, same energy.
I stumble over words that, for reasons I don’t understand, I have trouble remembering. Once I understood this to be my personal stumbling block I just make sure to work the words into the visual presentation or note cards. I can easily ramble on for an hour as long as I have those words highlighted in some manner where I can see them I’m good. Then I just need a watch to know when to stop talking.
I definitely agree, but the difference for me is one of purpose. If you gave me the assignment of making sure everyone in that cocktail party knew there was a pool table downstairs, I’m your man. I’ll be charming, thorough, quick, polite, humorous and maybe even enjoy doing it. This is one reason I host parties rather than attending them. Aha! I know what a host does. I’m pretty damn good at it.
But otherwise, I’m stumped. There’s enjoyment to be gained standing around making small talk with strangers? You can hold a drink and eat off a plate at the same time? What is the purpose of this thing you humans call a cocktail party? 
I don’t, generally. It’s a decent-sized chunk of my job. I say generally because I just did a presentation on a pretty personal topic to the Chief of Defence Staff. That gave me a bit of pause.
I’m curious - was it the topic, or the audience, Poysyn?
(for our American posters, the Chief of Defence Staff is the top soldier in the Canadian Armed Forces, equivalent to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff)
It’s never bothered me; and in fact, I enjoy it.
It’s always nice to be prepared, but there have been a few times I’ve been called in at the last minute (the scheduled speaker had to back out due to illness, etc.), and I had to “wing it.” Thankfully, I knew the topic, so I was fine.
When I took a speaking class years ago, we had an interesting exercise: the instructor held out a hat, in which were a number of slips of paper. Upon each, was a simple topic that anyone could speak on: “My Favourite Movie,” or “The Time I Met a Celebrity,” or “My First Pet,” or similar. When he called out your name, you went up, pulled out a slip, and spoke on the topic, right then and there, before the class. No preparation, and for five minutes, at least. It was a great exercise, and went a long way towards getting us all over any fear of public speaking.
I also enjoy speaking in public, and never understood the fear so many seem to have of it. Shoot, at my church lay people read the Scripture lessons and sometimes it’s hard getting fresh blood to do it. This is a short, familiar passage one doesn’t even have to memorize, and it’s in front of people who are supposed to be friendly to you!
I may not always be good at public speaking but I don’t mind doing it. It can be fun, question and answer things especially.
I’m fine with live people. I discovered if you put me in a studio with just a host and a TV camera and a few staff, and I’m not so good. (And this was the basic cable, community access, shows at 3am show!) But then, I only got to do it once. Give me a dozen trials and I’m sure I’d improve.
Instead of a double negative, try a positive. You’re trying to avoid thinking about pink elephants: you need to think about blue flying elephants.
Not a problem with public speaking here. I even prefer oral exams to written ones because with very rare exceptions I can read the teacher and tell if I’m doing ok.
As far as I can tell, its purpose is the extinction of little foods on a stick. It’s taking longer than we thought.
Back in my churching days I had to give a few impromptu sermons and Sunday school lessons.
One Sunday I sat down in the congregation as usual only to be called up to the front of the chapel to give a sermon right there on the spot. Apparently I hadn’t got the note, but I just rolled with it. I don’t remember the topic I spoke on, but it wasn’t preparedness. It came off OK, and a number people commended me for it later.
Another time I was asked to fill in for someone who was sick that day, so I just prepared my talk while the preceding speaker was delivering hers. Again, no problems.
Honestly, I almost always do get a little nervous doing public speaking, but it can also be a bit of a rush and, truth be told, I kind of enjoy the attention. So long as it’s a topic I’m familiar with, it’s never a big deal for me. My main anxiety is slipping up with the language if I have to speak in Japanese.
I have seen people in church and at work who are clearly terrified of speaking before even a small group of people, and display obvious signs of anxiety such as trembling, faltering voice, speaking too fast, etc. I’m always intrigued to observe this kind of anxiety over what doesn’t seem, to me, to be such a daunting task, but I can understand that for some people it is a very intimidating thing to be the focus of an audience.
Like **Grrlbrarian **suggested, I do find it helps to look back at your audience and focus on a few individuals. That way you feel less like you’re under scrutiny and more like you’re sharing a conversation with other people.
This would annoy the piss out of me in my job, because part of my job is making regular presentations, in front of all classes of society, and you knew that when you took the job! And I have had people try to foist off the responsibility because they’re too “scared”.
I am willing to step in to a point, but really, after a point, it’s just part of adulthood. Know your stuff, and take a public speaking class or two if you need to, and find tips and tricks that help. I am not going to squash you if you are merely nervous, but I do think it’s an important skill everyone should know!
I’m good in front of an audience. In fact, I have become something of a ham.
Which is really odd, as I have always suffered from almost crippling levels of shyness. (My friends and co-workers laugh out loud when they hear me say that, as I my public persona displayes the worst case of overcompensation you have ever seen.)
In grad school, I was offered the choice of a research fellowship or a teaching fellowship. The research fellowship would have been easy. The teaching fellowship terrified me. I deliberately chose the teaching fellowship specifically to force myself to deal with my shyness. It worked. I love standing in front of a class full of students and teaching, and am quite comfortable standing in front of other groups and speaking on almost any topic.
(The old joke about “How long to prepare a fifteen minute talk? Three days. How long for a one-hour talk? One day. How long for a three hour talk? I can do that right now” is, I find, more true than not.)
Speaking to a video camera is a rather different skill from speaking to a live audience.
I find public speaking to be enjoyable (at least for me, who knows about the audience) whether I have time to prepare or not So long as I know the subject I can wing it just fine. My issue is that time seems to fly by when I’m speaking, so I tend to go over my allotted time limit.
Consider taking Propranolol before you have to speak. It’s used to calm performance anxiety. It won’t necessarily help your mental state, but it will help block your body’s physical reactions like sweating, flushness, trembling, high voice, etc. This can help you stay mentally calmer since you don’t have to worry about stuff like sweat dripping from your face.
I kind of enjoy it, depending on the topic. But I tend to do better if I am a little nervous beforehand.
I preach at church occasionally, and I have changed from writing it down beforehand to writing a page or three of notes to using an outline that I don’t look at. And I have preached (praught?) on five minutes notice - the pastor was sick on Sunday morning, and they couldn’t find anyone else on short notice. No problem - I read the texts, and did the usual “preach about the Gospel, preach about Jesus, preach about ten minutes”.
But I know all those people very well. Likewise presentations at work - I know the stuff very well, and I know the people.
The one thing I can’t do is review my speeches beforehand with someone who knows the material, or knows me. My wife is a pastor, and I cannot let her see or hear me before I actually deliver the speech - the only time I did it, I went absolutely flat when it came time. It didn’t feel fresh.
Regards,
Shodan
Absolutely no fear of public speaking! I’ve always been comfortable in front of an audience and decades of teaching has erased any trace of speech anxiety.
Public speaking I’m fine with. There I know I’m supposed to be talking, and presumably know what to be talking about as well. It’s casual conversation that’s much harder.
I give about one to two dozen talks per year. Audience sizes ranging from a few dozen to several thousand people. I’ve probably given over 300-400 talks in my lifetime; maybe more.
I’ve never been nervous or concerned about public speaking. I just don’t have that trait. The first talk I ever gave in grad school seemed like my hundredth - it just flowed out. My PI was amazed.
It gotten to the point that I don’t even know what I’m going to say exactly until I get up there and open my mouth. I know my slides and my talk organization, and the words flow naturally.
I can give a talk on any subject within my general or specific knowledge areas with about a minutes notice. Its a useful talent.
I’ve been known to give a talk with a beer in my hand on more than one occasion.
I love public speaking.
If I ever had a fear of public speaking, it is lost in the mists of time. I remember volunteering to read aloud in 1st grade.
I worked as a substitute teacher in a high school for 10 years. If you can walk into a room of 30 to 40 surly teenagers and take charge, you can do anything.;)