Public Speaking

[Hunter_destruction]

The title is self-explanitory - How do you feel when it comes down to public speaking. As I here it Public speaking is feared more than death. Are you nervous or do you have no problem at all?

I get relaly nervous and I blush and even studder and say some uhh's and umm's I hate public spekaing....

 

[Undead_Lives]

Meh. Doesn't bother me, but I'm not too fond of it. So, I just avoid it.

 

[Fladian]

I already talk with "uh" and "um" in all of my sentences. I can't talk without them. Well, I can, but if I do, hardly anyone understands what I'm saying and I often don't understand my own words.

As for public speaking itself, well, that depends on the situation and especially my own mood. Would you ask me this two years ago, I'd say I couldn't. I just couldn't. I was too shy and too insecure to do anything like that. I forced my personality to change a lot in a short amount of time, which resulted in a very incosistent personality. Though that changes overtime.

Therefore, could I speak in 'front of a crowd' comfortably? Yes, and no, again. Another factor which plays a large role is my personal insecurity. Because of an event a long time ago, I pretty much "forgot" my real voice, therefore naturally adjusting to every situation I am in. I often noticed that when I am in front of a lot of people I am not familiar with, my voice automaticly becomes heavier, which involves me being very hard to understand. In opposite of that, when I am in front of an amount of girls I know, my voice becomes quite high and it has a very friendly tone, especially the last one according to them. There are more examples, but this all that needs to be told.
Therefore, standing in front of a crowd of unknown people, I'll probably start talking, but not many will actually understand me.

But on the other hand, when I happen to be in a (very) good mood or just in a happy state I usually am the first to stand for a crowd and start to talk about stuff. My voice becomes very understandable and the pace of my speech increases a bit. I am no longer nervous when I started and everything usually goes just fine.
But when those people are a lot older than me, I might just get some problems. Especially those around the fifty/sixty seems to get me quite stuck. Only when a lot of them are together that is.

But on a normal day, I usually avoid it. If that is not possible, I try to focus on something specific.

On a bad day, I usually get quite nervous. The biggest problem of myself is, unfortunately, I get red quite fast. Even when I'm only a bit nervous, I quickly feel the blood rising to my head. I'm more embarrassed because of that than anything else.

But as I said, I (still) have an incosistent personality though not as bad anymore as two years ago. So, it usually depends a lot on that.

If you didn't mean talking to a crowd, then it falls differently. I have no problems talking to people I know, even if I met them only once. But I cannot start a conversation with someone I never talked to before. If we said 'Hi' to each other before, I can easily talk with that person, about... whatever comes to mind. But if that person and I never said a word against each other, I'm at a loss for words. I either need one heck of a good reason to talk to that person or... well, I can't otherwise. I noticed that a short time ago. That's why I hate calling.

 

[refl3ction]

well if i get up infront of a crowd that can fit into our auditorium i would probbably crack and start to shake, sqeeuk and miss up my words.

but i have no problem gettin up and speaking to a class of around 30 kids

 

[Fladian]

About a year ago, at the school I'm on, there was a big 'debate.' Everyone was looking forward to it, maybe because someone from the politics would come by or perhaps they just found it interesting, they were at least looking very forward to it. Or at least, that was the case until the teacher asked my class who is going to be the representative, where everyone backed down off quite fast. Though it came to mind, I never took the job. Three other classmates of me back then took the job, and one of those three was a quite big help in the 'debate.' When they decide to do so again, I'll probably accept it. Though I actually wonder how I am going to act when I stand in front of 300+ students from my own age, including a few people I try to keep an act up for, or a girl (or two) I try, or tried to impress.
The big "boo's" and "yay's" were quite well heard in that hall where the debate took place. That important 'politic' guy kept everything quite well ordered though. I don't think many people understood how hard his role actually was, therefore, I am quite impressed. I was pretty ticked off by the sound of his voice though. It felt like he kept his nose closed all the time, giving him a very squeeky voice.

In the end, the debate went quite well. The subjects were exceptional interesting and I would be more than willing to continue a conversation with any of those subjects at pretty much any time. It was also interesting to see how other people thought about those subjects. There was only one bad part about it where everyone agreed upon, which includes both the students who only followed the debate, as those who kept it, the problem was that they gave too little time. I think it was fifteen minutes a subject and there were three subjects. The start of every subject was a little rough and quite slow, but after about 5 - 7 minutes, they got started and the discussion became interesting. During the 13 - 15 minutes, everyone lost their shyness and are more than willing to throw their opinion in it too, unfortunately, that's also around the time the next subject has to come to mind, which results in starting the situation all over again from scratch.

What is my point? If it is a subject you can talk about, there is nothing really to be nervous or shy about. A proper push in the back takes care of it and... pride isn't that important.

but i have no problem gettin up and speaking to a class of around 30 kids
[/b]

In that case, it will depend a bit on what kind of... uh... "kids" they are. I don't think I can keep lil' kids interested for a long time. Lil' kids as in, 6 - 12 years old.

But all in all when you are talking in front of people? What exactly is it that makes you nervous and miss your words? Shyness? Nothing to be shy about. You are either forced to say something in front of that amount of people, which usually involves that others will have to do the same. Otherwise, it involves that you need the attention for... whatever reason you may have, but if clearly explained, very understandable.
On my senior year, I kept a presentation about a hobby of mine, something many people in my class were not familiar with. I was the first, and only one who decided to keep it without using any ways of helping myself. Oh, no, wait, that's a lie. I had one scrap of paper in front of me that had exactly two words on it that had no particular reason. I just had to have something to look at when I was thinking of how to continue. Using a scrap of paper did the trick quite well.
I scored the highest possible result out of it, no one managed to keep it without using their notes or entire reports for that matter. The teacher at that moment found it remarkable how I kept the attention by making a joke halfway or involving people from the audience from time to time. Also my: "If you want to laugh, feel free to do so, but try to delay that until I'm done... 'keey?" was accepted quite well.

 

[Kem Rixen]

I used to be horribly shy and anti-social, but last year I became friends with someone was very outgoing and between the summer and when I came back to school I became much more social and nearly all shyness was gone. By now I have no trouble talking to anyone really, its all good now.

 

[Fladian]

Being very shy and anti-social is something to describe me quite well back then. I recently found a little book that was writen by my classmates of elementery school. Which came back in just about everyone's uh... story, was that I always was "calm and quiet" (and sick during camp ). Though the "calm" is still the case, I'm not so "quiet" anymore.

Though just about all of my friends are pretty to very outgoing, I always was the one who kept himself a bit in a corner. I forced myself to change an amount of time ago because I couldn't stand my own personality any longer, which has a long history behind it.

 

[Tenebrae]

Public speaking is feared more than death.
[/b]

ha ha, never heard that one before. I don't fear death, just the process of dying.

Anyway, back on subject, I had to get up and speak in front of my church one time, and I probably could've handled it, except that I was about to fart, and I managed to hold it back, but the suspense nearly killed me. Now I try to avoid public speaking.

Y'know what's worse than public speaking? Singing a solo in front of a whole crowd, because, while you might sound pretty stupid in a speech or something, it's hard to hold the rythm and tune when you're having a nervous break-down while singing in front of four-hundred people.

So anyway... yeah... I've always been pretty ani-social, but I recently made friend's with this kid who can't seem to stand the fact that i'm not like him: the biggest social freak in the world. Everytime I sit at lunch (I usually try to sit alone), he comes over and starts badgering me about socializing with people. The problem is, he seems to think that switching from loner to social-freak is like flipping a light switch....

...But whatever.... Public speaking: not good

 

[Hunter_destruction]

I do a lot better infront of strangers than i do infront of people I actually know because with people I know I think "I'll never see them again, so no worries if I mess up" while with people I actually know I get more nervous because I'm worried stuff will happen that isn't all that likely...

Sigh...I wish I could become more social, I'm just worried about making a fool out of myself...

 

[Undead_Lives]

Saying "uh", "um", "like", and "you know" are all signs that you have no idea what you are talking about.
I really hate people that will say like OVER AND OVER. They say it (I'm sorry for saying this) like 20 times in one sentence.

 

[Fladian]

Oh no, it's not like I don't know what to say. My improvisation and creativity is good enough to keep on talking non-stop unless I am uncomfortable with the situation. I just can't talk without saying "uh" and "um" during my sentences. I mean that literally. I really can't talk without them. They are not a delay of the sentence because I don't know what to say.

 

[N00byStance]

I use them frequently aswell.

 

[ragingspeedhorn]

I do not fear speaking infront of a large crowd of people which I do not know, it is more when I have to stand up in the classroom and say something that I do not like it. But maybe that is because I hate 90% of my current classmates

 

[Fladian]

Well, not knowing or not liking do have a world of a difference, I must agree with that. Though I also must admit that I am not sure how I would act if I had to say stuff in front of a lot of people I don't like. I don't make natural enemies and I make sure there is no one, or at least not many, that have something against me. But that's my personality.

There are a few people that I can't do much with. We often avoid talking to each other, but whenever necessary, we are not afraid to go to each other and talk or anything similar. But because of the small number of people that think the way I just described to me, I never experienced anything like you, Raging, said.
It's only quite unfortunate that someone who thinks the way I just described is one of the best looking girls I've ever met and is still single. Unfortunate, indeed. ("If I tried to make a move on her, I already would've done it last year. Or did you already forget that I was a classmate of her last year too?")

 

[Raiju]

I talk too much, especially if there is a crowd listening

In fact, im the "enemy of the shy people", a classmate of my said that to me once. Why? I hate to see people with shame of speakingand releasing themselves, so i actually put them in a situation they are obliged to do it.

I KNOW many people doesnt like it, but i feel im making something good, and funny :infernal: