Public presentations / speeches

Hey,

I am wondering how comfortable are you when it comes to public presentations either in school or at work. More importantly, how do you deal with fear or nervousness?

I used to be pretty scared of public presentations, especially when I was still in high school. But now that I am in college, I got used to them, mainly because there is a lot of them - and after a while I just realized that it's pointless to worry about how presentation will turn out, and if I will be able to remember to tell everything.

The thing is that I will be having a lot of these presentations in the future - college and later in work. So I am wondering if you ever lose the nervous feeling before them? Even tho I am now generally comfortable with speaking in front of a large crowd a small part of me is still afraid and nervous.

Do you ever lose that small fear and nervousness that you feel just prior to the start? Or is it always there?
Maybe even any tips how to minimize it to as much as possible?

I guess this question is aimed at those who do this regularly (maybe a teacher, company's salesman or any other line of work which requires you to speak and present something in front of a crowd).

Well, about two weeks ago or so, I had to give a speech infront of 800 people for the first time in my life.

Now, I've given speeches in a classroom to my classmates...but I had to give a speech to the entire school staff of my county.

And I wasn't really nervous at all...I did really good too! I had the whole crowd laughing and stuff. It was great.

I guess I was shier in high school. I recommend practice with people that you know. I've been a karate teacher for several years now so I've gotten used to being in front of a crowd, and my public speaking abilities have improved greatly from it. I will be speaking publicly in a few days for the democrats and can't wait. Nervousness goes away if you know what you are talking about and are excited about it.

well i used to have stage fright so bad. i hated giving speeches in front of anyone. i have learned to deall with it better, but my fear and nervousness is still there.

Although I have been giving frequent seminars in psychology and philosophy, there will always be an initial nervousness until the same seminars come up. Then it becomes routine and sometimes boring.

I believe it all depends on the content of the presentation. If it is novel to you, especially in combination with the novel experience of presentations, then it will be anxiety driven. However, if you have given multiple presentations and now giving one on familiar content.. there will likely be no nervousness..

What do you present on..?

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