Have you appeared or spoken in public?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I was always a ham. I played piano very early, and learned quickly. People would often applaud when I played. I’d see a piano somewhere and go play it. I’d be completely absorbed, then stop and look up, and there would be all these people there!

From as long ago as I can remember, I wanted to speak into microphones. I used to hang out in the principal’s office at public school. This is where they kept the PA system. It was so cool! It had a mixer with a mic, a turntable and an open reel tape recorder connected. Somehow I finagled my way into being responsible for pushing the button that started the tape playing “God Save The Queen” and “O Canada” as played on the piano by Mrs. Lougheed. Everyone sang along to it. Eventually, I read the announcements. This continued in high school, where I read the announcements sometimes, too. (Hadn’t thought of that in eons!)

I entered some public speaking contests at school, and won several rounds. One year, I talked about how TV works, and the next, how radio works. I was always fascinated by TV and radio. Not the programs themselves, but how they were made. What went on in front of the scenery with the cameramen and the directors and operators in the control room. I thought for awhile that I might like to be on TV someday. Then I started to become a teenager, and I was exposed to Top 40 rock radio, and I became addicted. I wanted to be a part of that.

So I started making friends with DJs on the phone. Soon they’d invite me to come to the station and sit in with them and watch. I would watch and learn, and after they knew me, the guys would let me go down the hall to the production studio with some records and play DJ. My voice was on the radio for the first time in 1974, when students at my high school staged a sit-in. The strait-laced principal was going to ban jeans and long hair. My father told me that if I participated in it, he’d kill me. So I covered it for a radio station in the next city. I called the news director, and he recorded me reading the story I wrote. It played on the afternoon newscasts. When it aired the next morning at breakfast, my mother said she missed hearing me, she was waiting for the announcer to finish. Mom, that announcer was me! Anyway, I didn’t participate in it, I covered it, so I didn’t get punished. The principal backed down. Life went on.

I started playing in groups when I was 14. Bass, piano and keyboards, then drums, and as I got better at it, guitar. I’ve never had stage fright. I’ve known people who had to throw up before they went onstage, from nerves. I’ve never faced thousands of people, but I don’t think it’d be a problem.

After some twists and turns, I am back in radio, where my voice is heard all day as the local announcer and the guy who does the top of the hour ID. I don’t have a big head about it. I’ve been on the station for four years (worked there for five) and have only had my voice recognized in public six or seven times. I’m actually anonymous to the point of invisibility. That’s OK with me. I get to play with thousands of dollars’ worth of cool technology every day. That’s my idea of fun. They pay me to do this stuff!

How about you guys? Have you done public speaking? Played in public in a group, orchestra or school or military band? Acted in a play or musical? Been on the radio or appeared on TV? Been on a record that’s been publicly available or on some chart? Been mentioned or pictured in the newspaper?

Please discuss!

2

I did forensics in high school, specializing in radio broadcasting but also doing a few dramatic reads and a few comedy reads. I really wanted to do a bit from Whoopi Goldberg’s Broadway show but the coach decided that having it done by a black girl would give us a better shot at winning (which, admittedly, it did; the girl went to state with it).

In college I did a lot of speakers’ bureaus in connection with being president of my school’s gay and lesbian alliance, was the on-call homosexual for the local media (I did TV interviews it seemed like every month for one queer thing or another) and if you count crashing school functions at the head of a protest and giving diatribes then I did that too.

From age 5 to about age 20 I was in one chorus or another, through various churches, schools, community-based groups, etc. Last performance was as part of a 200+ chorus performing Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.

A few years ago I got involved with a group that did re-enactments of old-time radio shows but that group just sort of drifted apart, which was sad.

3

I was in band from 1983 - 1993. I was in my church choir and had debate in college, where I also majored in Broadcast Communications. (I got my BA in BS, as we said.) While in college I was on our college radio station 4 nights a week. My Junior year, thanks to an overzealous newspaper editor, I got to be on KDKA-TV defending one of his editorials. (He got booted and the paper nearly got shut down.)

Then I had a stint at my local hometown paper. I had the city beat, covering wedding announcements, church announcements and city council meetings. You think the Springer show was bad? You ain’t seen nuthin’ til you’ve been to a city council meeting!

After college I went into broadcasting, working in both AM and FM in the Greater Pittsburgh market. At WMBA-AM in Ambridge I was a producer for Pirates Baseball & Penguins Hockey games. At WORD-FM I was the overnight dj (Midnight to 6 Saturdays & Sundays.) I forget the call sign for WORD’s AM sister station but I had to do start-up activities there until the morning jock showed up. If the weather was really bad I had to pull a double shift. In winter months I was frequently at the station from 11 pm to noon and then right back at 11 pm, possibly until noon again. Sleep? What’s that? Pop in another loooong song and catnap!

When I moved to WSHH-FM I was a line producer for Delilah After Dark, as well as the voice of Parkway Center Florists and Shiseido Perfume. (Pittsburghers - I got to work with Chilly Billy! I grew up watching him!)

In TX I worked for Carnival Cruises in Galveston. I would routinely address 300 - 2500 (not a typo) people at a time for embarkation, 4 days a week.

All this from someone who nearly puked her guts out when giving a senior speech in English class. I guess my speech teacher did her job right! :smiley:

4

I am more of a director/man who shouts guy, but I have done the broadcasting and public speaking things I guess a few times. Since it doesn’t bother me, I don’t really remember anything, besides the times I used to do the daily announcements at our school. As the co-pres for student body, we would rotate every other week, so I was doing them with some regularity until I was canned. Turns out, I was an embarassment to the organization. Something about my monotone, robotic voice and cutesy phrases.

There is always ham radio, I suppose.

5

In answer to the OP, yes. On behalf of a community-based organization that I was involved with, I did “promotional” appearances on television newsprograms, radio and newspapers.

In my work, I fairly routinely speak before some type of group or other, which may be internally or externally directed, and the groups may be small or large, and have differing degrees of receptivity.

As long as I am prepared, I enjoy it.

6

I was on the Bozo The Clown show when I was eight along with the rest of my Girl Scout group. I was called up out of the audience to dig around in the Yuckit Bucket for a prize. Whee!

I’ve also spoken in front of quite a few large groups. The bulk of them have been tourists visiting the museum at which I work, and I’ve also taught a few classes.

7

Nearly every work day - introducing planetarium shows for public and school groups. I’ll do question and answer sessions with the school groups too, which is where I’ve learned to expect and be able to react to really strange questions. Saturday afternoons I do star talks, about 45 minutes long on average. Whatever stage fright I might have is almost completely eliminated by the fact that the room is dark and I’m standing behind the audience, so nobody’s looking at me.

I’ve been on TV a few times - back in college with a student written/produced sketch comedy. More recently folks in the Nashville area might ocassionally see me on local access cable giving a brief tour of the museum’s web site, for the benefit of area teachers. Something we taped about a year ago.

And I was on MTV for approximately 30 seconds about 11-12 years ago, doing jumping jacks in front of my dorm along with maybe 15 other students and MTV VJ “Kennedy”. That was a weird day.

I’ve always wished I had a voice for radio, but I don’t suspect I do. All the same, some day I’d like to take some voice lessons along those lines.

8

I go to court on a regular basis, and sometimes I’m the guy on the court-house steps getting questioned by your colleagues with the mikes. I specialize in appellate work, not trial, so it’s a lot of long arguments to the bench, rather than cross-examination of witnesses. Some of my court appearances have been on CPAC (Canadian equivalent to C-SPAN, I think?), but the cameras have always been unobtrusive. Besides, even if it’s going to be broadcast, the immediate audience is pretty small - the panel of judges that you’re addressing. When I’m on my hind legs, and the argument’s going well (by which I mean an engaged bench that’s asking lots of questions), it’s a blast. I just tune out the cameras and the folks in the galleries behind me.

I’ve also taught courses, at the local College of Law and internally with my employer - I think the largest group of warm bodies that I would have addressed would be ~100. I always enjoy it.

Then there’s pleading a case in French - only done that a few times, but it’s a real challenge - getting the law right, the vocabulary right, the grammar - and trying to be persuasive on top of it all. And then going out onto the court house steps and giving two interviews, one in English and one in French - c’est bien fun!

9

Yes, many times:

  • as a singer at concerts, weddings etc;
  • as an actuary lecturing at university; and
  • as an actuary, speaking professionally at conferences. I’ve got another next week.
10

I performed music in various groups from garage band to university symphony orchestra to NYC clubs for 30 or so years. Being onstage with a band - no problem. I love it. Solo - stark raving terror. I was solo only a couple of times, though.

I like to play fingerstyle guitar but I never perform in front of more than a few sympathetic friends. I wrote a song for my friends’ wedding and when I played it at the wedding things were going well until I made eye contact with someone. Then the adrenaline hit and I began to panic. I got through it, but just barely.

I had to give a presentation to 200+ people for my job. Big room, big stage, nice sound system, the whole nine yards. I was dreading it and very nervous before hand, but once I got started, I felt very comfortable, said my piece, answered some questions, and that was that. It’s like the mic was attached, I went up to the podium with my notes, there’s another mic at the podium, there’s the big screen for my slides, a smaller slide monitor, the slide controller, all this stuff. Within twenty seconds I forgot about the slide monitor and my notes, and just assumed a comfortable stance at the podium and things went pretty smoothly from then on.

11

I must have the ham gene, too:[ul][li]I was in my first school play at the age of 13, and got bit pretty good by the theatre/acting bug. I went on to be in most of my high school productions (including the lead senior year in Guys & Dolls), and did a lot of community theatre in high school as well.[/li][li]In high school I became a lector in my church (a person who does one or more of the readings), and I continued to do that until just after college.[/li][li]My theatre jones also continued in college, but I gradually got distracted by radio. I DJed at my college station all four years, among other radio-related stuff.[/li][li]In college I had my first experience singing live on stage with a band. At first I had to be drunk, but soon enough I realized that I was much better when sober. (I have never had stage fright or serious performance anxiety, but I always get just a little nervous. Still.) Since then I’ve been in two bands that had public performances.[/li][li]The Mid-Atlantic region got hit with a blizzard in January 1996, and I was doing public relations for the Maryland State Highway Administration. I was put on the radio with a local station to give them an update, and one of my friends’ moms heard me![/li][li]I was the soloist at my friend’s wedding, at the same friend’s father’s funeral several years later, and at my grandmother’s funeral.[/li]Just over two years ago I joined Toastmasters International. In addition to giving speeches in front of my club I’ve also competed in speech contests, and I currently have a leadership position within the organization that requires me to address other clubs in my area on a regular basis. I enjoy public speaking.[/ul]

12

I coach high school Forensics, so…yes. :smiley:

13

I regularly perform at weddings. Usually 3 or 4 every weekend.

14

I just did my first law school moot a couple of weeks ago. I was only a moot, but it was just as you describe–I managed to engage the bench, got them asking questions, and it truly is a blast. Afterwards, when we were getting feedback from the panel, one of them asked, “You’ve had a lot of public speaking experience, haven’t you?”

Yes, Milord, I have. I’ve lectured at a community college, and I’ve trained others in a variety of corporate settings. I did a few years of radio some years ago, and I’ve honed my speaking skills through continuing ed courses.

In terms of vocal music, I sang for a number of years in church choir, supplied lead vocal for a former employer’s charity band, did a stint as a karaoke host, and was in a local community theatre’s musicals. And, most recently, I sang in our school’s annual law show. Instrumentally, I used to fill in for friends whose bands were performing and who needed somebody who could play the instruments I did (flute and percussion).

Bit of a ham? Yes, I guess I am!

15

I’ve had a few short radio features, all very quirky, aired on the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), and I’m currently working on another that should be finished in April.

For a few years, I also hosted two community radio shows. I actually started a thread about it once called “Ask the Radio Host” or something similar.

I also played in orchestras (french horn and trumpet) for seven years. And when I was twelve, I was in a TV commercial for a local science conference.

I’ve also performed numerous drunken renditions of “King of the Road” at local karaoke nights, but that might not be quite what the OP had in mind. :slight_smile:

16

I don’t really count high school choir because I was onstage with 3 dozen other people, plus my weak-ass voice was usually drowned out by the other baritones (when I wasn’t just mouthing the words).

My fifteen minutes of fame took place in college when I was an intern for a planetary science program jointly funded by my school and NASA. I was an apprentice to a fairly well-known planetary scientist for nine months, and my job encompassed the more menial aspects of analyzing photographic data from the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft.

After the internship, I was expected to give a fifteen minute talk about my experience to an audience of 200-300 scientists and students. There were roughly 20 other interns at the symposium who also gave talks, but it didn’t matter because I still had to get up on stage. Alone. In front of everybody. And talk. For fifteen minutes.

I’ve always been shy and it comes with the territory that I have a terrible case of stage fright. I’d been dreading this talk for months and as the date drew closer, I actually started losing sleep over it. The last few days were torture – I stopped sleeping completely, I stopped eating. I spent hours obsessively preparing my presentation. Unfortunately I was not yet aware of the gift from the gods known as Xanax, so I suffered way more than I should have. I thought of ditching the talk. Or running away. Or killing myself. It was about this time I started to suspect that I had something a little worse than mere stage fright. Stage phobia, maybe?

Somehow I managed to drag myself to the lecture hall when the time came. I’d probably gone 48 hours without sleep by that time and I was in a complete daze. I was also so pumped up with adrenaline that if somebody had tapped me on the shoulder, I probalby would’ve whipped around and snapped their neck without even blinking an eye.

Finally the moment came and my name was called. A strange calm fell over me. I was no longer in control of my own actions. The terror was gone. I got up on stage, put up the first slide, and just started talking.

I’d written notecards beforehand in case I got tongue-tied, but I never used them. I knew the material so well that each new slide triggered a deluge of new information.

From my out-of-body perspective, I slowly began to realized that I wasn’t doing half bad. I became more animated. The sentences just flowed out of me, unrehearsed, as if I’d been giving lectures for years. 15 minutes sailed by. Then 20. Then 30. By the end of the question-answer session, I’d hogged nearly 45 minutes of stage time.

Afterward several people complemented me on the eloquence of my speaking. One professor even hunted me down just to tell me that my talk had been by far the most informative and engaging of the entire symposium. Bravo! I hope you decide to pursue a career in teaching. :rolleyes:

I got no pleasure from any of this though. I simply wanted to go home and sleep, which I did at my earliest convenience. For 18 hours straight.

I don’t know how I got through it, but I’m proud that I did my job well. Needless to say, I’ve avoided all public speaking since.

17

I give public speeches on local history around the Auckland region. Got four more gigs coming up before the end of August.

I used to do public speaking in school, and also debating. Various life-knocks to my confidence had me starting from scratch around 2003. Now the poor souls ring me up to book me in for their societies, clubs, etc. I must do all right. :slight_smile:

18

Oh yeah. My father, who is a kind of inventor , appeared on TV four-five times when I was a kid, and I used to go with him to exhibitions and explaing his work to the public, even when I was eight or nine years old.

I’ve always liked to tell people about my opinions and about things I was enthusiast for. I just forget myself when I do. I’ve never had fear of public speaking, and when I found out that was an advantage, I used it.

I’ve been:

  • appearing on national TV as “youth with an opinion” twice when I was a student;
  • a tourist guide in the Maastricht Caves;
  • lecturer on botany and the Dutch landscape;
  • organized several youth-and-nature clubs;
    (that had articles about them in the regional paper)
  • been a spokeswoman for my volunteergroups for local TV and radio;
  • have often made speeches for my work (environment)
  • a contestor for the Dutch Jeopardy on national TV (two rounds).
  • and currently I often help out a friend of mine who needs an voice-over for the local TV.
19

When I was in elementary school, probably no more than 8 years old, I was chosen to be the lector for our school Masses. I was the best reader of my class, and I wasn’t afraid of being in front. Later I went on to be a lector for Sunday Masses, in front of a few hundred people, I guess. I’ve also given presentations in front of executive committees, that sort of thing. It never bothered me.

Once I called in to a local radio prgram to find out info about a song and the DJ was sure she knew my voice and thought I’d done radio work. I speak clearly and have good diction, because as a child I had a speech impediment and had speech therapy. Besides that, my mother always insisted we speak properly and clearly, even as young children.

StG

20

I once performed in Carnegie Hall in front of an audience. Really.