Freaking Out over Public Speaking

I have to do a 10 minture presentation for my Magic and Politics in Early Modern Europe paper on Tuesday and I am FREAKING OUT. I HATE public speaking and its also proving bloody difficult to squeeze a 10 minute speech out of my two primary sources. I'm so stressed about it, I just dont know what to do!

 

Start out with a joke.

 

Slur it out in a rapid opiate induced haze. Then if it doesn't make sense to someone, call them Un-American.

It's made Rush Limbaugh millions.

If that wasn't helpfull, just pretend your audience are idiots, and just cover the basics, and emphasise what makes you intrested in it.

And never be intimidated by idiots. It's hard to teach otherwise.

You'll do fine. Just really love your subject, and try to enjoy the speech.

 

Have a short list of key points that you work around to - then if you run out of steam on one point - just jump to the next one.

or imagine the whole audience is sitting in the nude

 

I do PA's alot, I also do stand up *no pun intended*. Its not that bad, believe it or not some actually listen to what I have to say, because in reality its reflecting on them too.

Just know what you're talking about, and know what will get that specific crouds attention.

 

I guess the main thing is the people who have already done theirs have done SO WELL, and as I'm sitting here struggling to make mine decent, I'm scared I will look like at an idiot in front of all this spastically intelligent people.

 

I would rather get a tooth pulled than give a speech. But, I somehow aced my public speaking class. Just talk slowly-when you're nervous you speed up w/o knowing it. Be careful not to say um to fill space. Look mainly at the people in your class that you are most comfortable with. Props are also good.

 

practice, practice, practice. when you are prepared and not flustered you will do a lot better. I practiced my speeches til i damn near memorized them and this always put me at ease cuz when you're nervous you're quick to lose your train of thought and you dont wanna do that up there. don't worry, won't be so bad. try not to look directly into people's faces and remember to look @ the audience every so often if you're reading off notecards. good luck!

 

be prepared

remember to breathe (seriously, when pple are stressed, sometimes they actually forget to breathe! you cant concentrate if you're short on O2! and taking a nice deep breath will help your body get out of the adrenaline reaction flight/flight response too)

you can picture everyone in your audience naked. this isnt for everyone, it might be too distracting if you're trying to concentrate on the content of your presentation, but if you can visualize something really silly, like everyone being naked, it can help you relax.

also, make eye contact with one person at a time in your audience, and talk directly to them. it'll make your speech seem more personable and genuine. and definitely make frequent eye contact with the person who is grading you.

 

I've always hated public speaking... ack. Don't know why... always got really nervous.