Public Speaking: help me survive this

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

In 27 hours I will be giving my speech on Mountain Dew to a class size of about 20 students, mostly 18-20 years of age.

A lot of SDMB members have already helped me greatly in composing my speech-- thank you all so much.

Now all I have to do is present it to the class.
I’m scared shitless.

Please help with any tips aside from “picture everybody naked.”
I am a nervous wreck right now and I know it’s not helping to keep thinking about how much I’m probably gonna mess it up.

Any stories/advice-- your experiences and anything relevant to public speaking you’d like to share to help me succeed is appreciated.

I’m not looking for excellence-- only trying to make it through the speech without sweating profusely, passing out, crying, or laughing uncontrollably.

2

Know your material, but do not over practice. It will sound to rehearsed, and stiff. Remember it is a class of students learning to speak in public. They are nervous also.
Avoid any caffeine that morning, it will make you jittery and rushed.

GO SLOW… you will be nervous,. and the nerves will cause you to speak faster than normal. Make an effort to slow down.

Relax… everyone, including your instructor knows you are there to learn and develop this skill.

No one expects you to come off as a polished speaker.

Relax

3

grading rubric

If it helps

I’ve read it many times… it just feels overwhelming to be expected to do all of this simultaneously.

4

Up until high school, public speaking scared the hell out of me. When I got to high school, I was in some classes and extracurricular activities that required public speaking – and I knew that I’d have to do it for another four years. I decided that it would be something that I’d get really good at.
[ul]
[li]I wrote and re-wrote my presentations so that they were as good as I could write them – I had to believe in what I was saying, so that I could appear ultra-confident.[/li][li]I became extremely familiar with my presentations (to the point of memorization) so that I was confident that I wouldn’t screw up the delivery.[/li][li]Practicing in front of a mirror (or a video camera) is a must – look for consistent times in which you stumble or appear unsure.[/li][li]Be self-assured but not cocky: the confidence that you exude will come across in a very positive manner.[/li][li]Bottom line: confidence, and the steps you take to become confident, is 95 percent of a successful public presentation.[/li][/ul]

I was very successful in high school (in school, regional, and statewide speaking contests), and went to college on a partial scholarship for competitive public speaking.

ETA: **
Tread’s** advice about relaxing is very important. You almost have to force yourself to slow down to what may seem like an unnatural pace; if you don’t, you’ll undoubtedly sound rushed. Also, imagining your audience nekkid really does help.

5

Thanks. It is so hard to slow down speech. I can’t help but overthink it. I’ve memorized my speech and rehearse it every day in the mirror, but I think this is making my anxiety worse.

6

I think confidence is probably the issue. How am I supposed to master the art of faking confidence in less than 27 hours? I have thought about taking a shot or two of alcohol prior to the speech.

I think a big part of it is that we have to dress in formal attire-- I have some nice button up Ralph Lauren shirts and slacks, but I feel like I look like a Ruby Tuesday’s waitress in them. I don’t feel comfortable wearing this and speaking in front of a group of people.

I feel like I’m just making excuses because it’s easier to do than to just man-the-fuck-up and do the damn speech.

I can’t relax.

7

  1. Know your material.

  2. Know your material.

  3. Know your material.

8

If you’re familiar with your speech and you’ve practiced enough that you’re reasonably familiar with it, then the tough part is over. It’s time for you to relax, knowing that you’ve written a good presentation and that you’ll present it well. At this point, you need to take your mind off of it for a while – go see a movie, read a book, whatever. Worrying about it for the next 27 hours isn’t going to help.

One other thought: if there are other people in the class that you can practice in front of (and you can offer to listen to them practice as well), that might help your confidence. If not, try practicing in front of friends or family. Or a potted plant. My cat in high school, Sam, got to listen to me practice a lot of speeches.

ETA: silenus’ post reminded me: I’ve read somewhere that it’s important to know your material.

9

Half the class did their presentation last week. The speech is to “introduce someone (or something)”. Everyone who gave their speech last week, except 1 person, gave a speech introducing someone they know.

I chose Mountain Dew because I could talk about facts-- not how great Grandma’s apple pie was. I wanted to give a speech that would introduce the audience to something they already know on a deeper level.

Now that I’ve seen half of the class present on one of their relatives or friends-- I feel like my topic of Mountain Dew is inappropriate even though the professor said it’s okay for me to use this as my topic.

I feel like the class is going to be thinking “wtf? Is she in a soda cult? Why the hell did she choose mountain dew?” The whole time I’m up there… but there is no alternative. I refuse to speak about people that I know because no one else knows them so why would i give my interpretation of them?
I am beginning to second guess the appropriateness of my speech and I am just afraid to look like a weirdo because my topic isn’t the same as most of everyone else’s.

I am halfway inclined to rewrite my speech and just introduce someone that I know. But I know that if I introduce someone that I know instead of this soda-- I will probably paint an inaccurate picture of them and bore the audience to death.

TLDR: I’m nervous because my topic isn’t the same as everyone else’s.

10

It helps me to speak as though I were speaking to a small child - slow and deliberate. While it seems to me as if I’m dragging, to my audience I sound normal (I’m usually a very fast talker).

I personally like to make eye contact with at least one member of my audience. Most people in the audience want you to do well, and if I smile at my chosen person, they’ll usually smile back, and that gives me confidence. If I start fumbling or faltering, I’ll seek out the glance of my chosen person and that seems to get me back on track.

Public speaking is tough, but once you get a few tricks mastered, it’s not as terrible as it initially seems.

11

I think the Mt. Dew is a fun idea.

You will get nervous, talk too fast and forget to breathe. BREATHE. Stop and take a real breath if you feel like you’re losing it. It well feel like you’re pausing forever; I promise you’re not, your audience won’t eve notice.

Sicks, who will be presenting a few hours in front of a couple hundred people tomorrow.

12

I wouldn’t, at this point, change the topic of your speech. especially since you know that the professor has approved the topic. You’ve invested too much time and energy into the Mountain Dew topic (and, having just read the original thread on your speech, I think it sounds great).

The fact that other students in your class went against the professor’s instructions isn’t a valid reason for you to do the same.

Seriously, just relax. Go do something else besides think (and post on an Internet message board) about this speech. You’ll do great.

13

Humor is hard to pull off right, but can be an invaluable tool. If you can insert a little humor about your choice of Mountain Dew instead of a relative, that might be a great way to quell any questions.

Overall, my advice on public speaking is to stop thinking of it as public speaking. You’re just having a conversation with a good friend, coworker, fellow student, family member, etc. Maybe my strategy is not so great for rallying the troops or the State of the Union, but for a classroom speech on Mountain Dew, stop thinking about the public speaking aspect of it. Imagine that you have just sat down to lunch with your friend, and you want to share with them the new things you learned about Mountain Dew the other day.

Going back to writing the speech in the first place, I always start by speaking it first… if possible, I speak it with an actual person in front of me, and record it. Then I write that down as my first draft, time it, revise it, practice it, etc. That way I’m working from something that was always meant to be spoken, rather than trying to adapt something written to a speech.

14

As long as your topic has been approved by your professor, you should feel good and confident about having a topic that is different from everyone else’s. People will be getting tired of hearing about other people’s grandmas, and will welcome the opportunity to hear about something unusual.

I once competed in a speaking contest for a scholarship. Our topics were directed, and eight of us chose to speak on the same topic, while one person chose a different topic. The person who spoke on the unique topic was the winner. We all felt that speaking about something different made his speech more engaging and memorable.

Be confident that your speech will be something that people are interested in hearing. You’ll do great.

15

I’ve missed the preamble to this thread, so I don’t know your exact circumstances, so this is just general advice, hope it is of some help.

To start with introduce yourself, explain very briefly what you are going to talk about, and why.

Your audience seems to be a small-ish class, and maybe you know them all already, but if not just ask them to quickly introduce themselves to the group. My name is, I work/study at etc.

Doing that brings the group in, lowers the barrier between you and them.

You know your material, right? Of course you do! Make it a regulated conversation between you and the audience, make it easy for other people to contribute. If someone asks a question you don’t immediately know the answer to, open it up to the group, and if that doesn’t work, get contact details afterwards and reply later.

Make sure you have your absolute, must-hit topics bullet-pointed in front of you (I like it on paper after a catastrophic tech failure many years ago)

When you think you need to move on, don’t be afraid to say so, and just do it. Remember, you are the one everyone is listening to, and taking their cues from. You’ll see who in the group is most involved - if you need to change the subject, address one of them with the new topic.

Don’t just stare down at your notes, or look at the projection of the slides on the wall behind you, with your back to the audience. Just don’t do that, look at the audience. It doesn’t even need to be eye contact, just face them when you are talking.

Most of all, in large friendly letters:

Don’t Panic!

16

Thank you all for your help so far, I am feeling more at ease.

I am wearing my black button down shirt now and the slacks that go with it. I’m rehearsing again while wearing this and looking in the mirror. Not that bad.

I am going to add in an explanation of why I chose Mountain Dew in the beginning as dracoi has suggested.

How does “I’m not in a Mountain Dew cult and I only drink this stuff occasionally, but I appreciate the soda’s rich history and would like to share it’s background with you” sound?

Or if someone can rephrase that to sound less robotic… i feel robotic

I am rehearsing now by slowing my speech down almost awkwardly.

Thanks again for the suggestions so far. I am feeling better already.

17

Public speaking used to give me panic attacks, so I feel for you. Now I do it with ease.

Your topic is fine! Don’t worry that it’s different. That’s a good thing. Do you have a friend in the class? I used to find it helpful to focus on a friendly face. Go slow–and breath.

The underwear thing really does help too.:cool:

Nothing is more anxiety producing than trying not to be anxious. Just know that you’ll be nervous, and that’s okay, it’s just the way it is. Keep your upper body as relaxed as you can–spend a few moments before class quieting your mind and relaxing your body if you can.

I knew a woman who got so nervous that just prior to her speech she projectile vomited into a nearby trash can. And then carried on! You won’t do that, so you’re already ahead of the game. Good luck and as with most things it does get better.

18

How about: I couldn’t decide what to talk about today, so I took a sip of my Mountain Dew and realized that you probably don’t know it started as a mixer for moonshine cocktails.

19

Be well rehearsed! Also, something I never see mentioned is that no one is actually paying attention! Notice how many people have a blank look, or are checking their phones, or reading, or have their heads down.

20

Perfect.

Oh thank God. I hope this is the case tomorrow.