Thread about public speaking

[Kyriakos]

Well... I would not say that i like public speaking (even by now), but in the first two presentations of the second run of my lib program i had to lecture for at least 50 min (10 were questions/other) to crowds of around or over 30 people in each library. Granted, this won't be the norm later on (cause the first time more people come so as to see if what the program is like is of interest to them), but lecturing in this setting has a number of issues.

Thankfully by now i am quite relaxed (apart from the relative experience in this gained from 35+ hours of the program already run), and even more helpful to me is that i am backed by my own 120 pages of the program, and the tied bibliography, so there is little chance that i won't have things to say in an hour, even if i speak non-stop.

However it is equally obvious that one cannot (moreso in this informal, ie non-uni, setting) actually go into depth on philo issues when the people are as many and are not expected to be familiar with philosophy in the first place.

So i look forward to more logical numbers of those participating in the next week, and i think that up to 15 is very practical

-You can discuss about your own experience with public speaking, if you need it for your work, and how you go on about it. Maybe mention some tips as well.

 

[azzaman333]

Public speaking is easy as piss if you understand what you're talking about. Simply, know your topic and your knowledge will be apparent in your speaking, and no question will trip you up.

 

[warpus]

I used to get crazy anxiety problems when I had to present or speak in front of people. I'm not quite sure how I got over it, but I made a point of speaking at my sister's wedding.. My speech wasn't very good, but I got the whole place laughing big time.. I was super nervous, drank a lot of wine, forgot a lot of the stuff I was going to talk about, forgot about the toast, but in the end nobody seemed to care. I was nervous partially because everybody else doing a speech had an amazingly beautiful speech written out word for word - and they were reading it from a piece of paper. I just had a point form list of things I was going to talk about - but then I didn't even really touch on most of the things I had down on it.. I guess several key jokes really worked very well - so everybody was laughing and didn't care about all the problems with my speech. The experience gave me a lot of confidence about social situations. Later that night I owned the dancefloor (I also used to have big problems trying to dance and not feel anxiety and panic attacks hitting me) and danced with 2 hot Polish girls for most of the night (my cousin was my wingman and I as his). A lot of lessons learned that day.

Anyway, my advice is to bring a point form reminder type thing to talk about, instead of reading something word for word that you have prepared. Definitely do not show slides and read the slides word for word.

I've done a couple presentations and speeches at work since my experience at my sister's wedding, and sometimes I get nervous, but it's much easier now. Exposure therapy can work wonders.

 

[Kyriakos]

^ +1 W

I do not read stuff (by now), i just present from memory cause the program has already appeared for a full run in two libraries before (12 meetings in each one), therefore i can move from one point to various other ones which are to be more focused upon/elaborated in future weeks.

You know, if one is nervous then it can be even dangerous (stage death is horrible for anyone), but personally i just treat it as a job cause that is what it is, ie i am not there to present my own self but a synopsis of philo issues which i am aware of, and note that they are based on the given bibliography but other than that every thinker inevitably uses his own point of view.

Of course one has to be good with the specific material. I am sure people would not like it if i made stuff up (or stuttered, etc).

 

[warpus]

You know, if one is nervous then it can be even dangerous (stage death is horrible for anyone)

To explain how I used to feel when being faced with the prospect of having to present in front of my peers in high school.. it was the exact same feeling I felt when faced with heights, looking over a railing with a long way down, etc. I was mortified that I was being judged and it scared the crap out of me. It scared me so much I was unable to focus on anything, which made my presentation worse, which made me more anxious, etc. - a self-feeding cycle of stupid proportions.

The buildup to my sister's speech was similar in many ways to the couple hours leading up to that cliff jump/swing I did in New Zealand.. but at that stage I had already done a bit of exposure therapy (though I didn't know that's what I was doing) so I was more ready for a public speech than I had usually been in high school and university. Plus there was unlimited wine and that really helped too.

My opening line seemed to be the most important part of the speech. I got up there, looked around the crowd, said: "Ladies.. Gentlemen..." .. then paused a tiny bit and added "Everybody else". Everybody went wild and for the rest of my speech everybody was basically laughing no matter what I said. I think if my opening had been not as well received, I would have died up there due to all the social anxiety. What in the show biz I think they call "Grabbing the audience by the balls right off the bat". Getting such a great reaction instead my fear of being mocked and ridiculed did wonders for my confidence, for the rest of the speech, and beyond. I didn't know if my opening line was going to be good.. and it came out much much better than anticipated. In fact, it was amazing. The experience made it a lot easier for me to want to try things I'm afraid of - because it showed me first hand how wrong I was about what was happening and made me realize that fear is such an irrational thing - and that in some situations forcing yourself to face your fears can be a very rewarding experience.

I still suck at public speaking though.. I can give relaxed enough presentations in front of colleagues, but I still trip up every once in a while and sometimes I feel bits of anxiety here and there. I mask it well and it's not a problem anymore, but I definitely feel remnants of my super social anxious past when I speak in front of people.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

What's wrong with this thread?

 

[azzaman333]

What's wrong with this thread?

It's Kyriakos. He posts the same thing every month or so. Just roll with it and get that precious PC+1 I say.

 

[BvBPL]

What's wrong with this thread?

Or this one?

 

[azzaman333]

Or this one?

It's Kyriakos. He posts the same thing every month or so. Just roll with it and get that precious PC+1 I say.

5 chairs.

 

[Kyriakos]

Just run this program:

10 look for #localhopelessburncenters
20 print list

 

[azzaman333]

Just don't feed the toerl

Fun fact; if you google toerl, it autocorrects to towel.

 

[Kyriakos]

To explain how I used to feel when being faced with the prospect of having to present in front of my peers in high school.. it was the exact same feeling I felt when faced with heights, looking over a railing with a long way down, etc. I was mortified that I was being judged and it scared the crap out of me. It scared me so much I was unable to focus on anything, which made my presentation worse, which made me more anxious, etc. - a self-feeding cycle of stupid proportions.

The buildup to my sister's speech was similar in many ways to the couple hours leading up to that cliff jump/swing I did in New Zealand.. but at that stage I had already done a bit of exposure therapy (though I didn't know that's what I was doing) so I was more ready for a public speech than I had usually been in high school and university. Plus there was unlimited wine and that really helped too.

My opening line seemed to be the most important part of the speech. I got up there, looked around the crowd, said: "Ladies.. Gentlemen..." .. then paused a tiny bit and added "Everybody else". Everybody went wild and for the rest of my speech everybody was basically laughing no matter what I said. I think if my opening had been not as well received, I would have died up there due to all the social anxiety. What in the show biz I think they call "Grabbing the audience by the balls right off the bat". Getting such a great reaction instead my fear of being mocked and ridiculed did wonders for my confidence, for the rest of the speech, and beyond. I didn't know if my opening line was going to be good.. and it came out much much better than anticipated. In fact, it was amazing. The experience made it a lot easier for me to want to try things I'm afraid of - because it showed me first hand how wrong I was about what was happening and made me realize that fear is such an irrational thing - and that in some situations forcing yourself to face your fears can be a very rewarding experience.

I still suck at public speaking though.. I can give relaxed enough presentations in front of colleagues, but I still trip up every once in a while and sometimes I feel bits of anxiety here and there. I mask it well and it's not a problem anymore, but I definitely feel remnants of my super social anxious past when I speak in front of people.

Public speaking (in my view) is better to be done when the speaker is there for some specific, at least somewhat over-arching, reason, and not for self-promotion. Even in a book-deal (which it can help with here). Else one can get anxious, cause they start to try to calculate what can be gained/lost, and then they already have lost.

I recall some professor(s) in my university, who were very obviously not comfortable with their speeches even to the class (not in the amphitheatre). And those people were in a setting where their crowd was already expected to know some stuff (but maybe some of them felt even more nervous due to that cause they did not really like what they had to present ).

 

[azzaman333]

Just run this program:

10 look for #localhopelessburncenters
20 print list

You can't ninja edit me m8, your post's already been quoted.