Class Presentations and Public Speaking

"According to most studies, people's Number One Fear is Public Speaking. Number Two Fear is death. Death is Number Two!!!

Now, this means, to the average person, if you have to go to a funeral, you're better off in the casket than doing the eulogy!!"

- Jerry Seinfeld

Amazing but true. Some people would probably rather die than speak in public. I understand completely.

Now, there are those special few who don't get nervous at all about public speaking. You guys can all give yourselves a big pat on the back and rejoin me for my next blog post.

Today's post is for normal people.

Last week I thought about writing a blog on this subject, so I wrote in my agenda as a note: "Class presentations - Public Speaking". The funny thing is that every time I glanced ahead in my agenda, I experienced a familiar sinking feeling in my stomach for a split second just at the sight of the word "PRESENTATION".

I did a little bit of research on public speaking and I found a few things from http://www.toastmasters.org/tips.asp
Here are a few of their tips and my thoughts on them:

#3) Know your material.

- I think this may be the most important tip when it comes to speaking in public. It is much, much easier to speak about something that you know about than something you are only partially familiar with. It also really helps if you are actually interested in the subject you are speaking about. I think this is what makes certain speakers so powerful - they are interested and excited about what they are presenting to the audience.
I realize that it may be hard to get pumped up and excited about 'The war of 1812', 'Dentition in Early Hominids' or anything else your prof. decides to make you present on. (Those were just a couple of the exciting presentations I have had to make). But if you can choose something that you are interested in, know that it will often be much more interesting to your listeners.

#5) Visualize yourself giving your speech.

- Being a basketball player, I have heard this story many times: A number of years ago there was a study done where scientists observed to groups of basketball players. Both groups had similar skill levels. The first group went to the gym everyday for a week and practiced free-throw shooting. The second group spent the same amount of time each day in a classroom visualizing themselves free-throw shooting. At the end of the week both groups were tested to see how many free throws they could make. Oddly enough, the group who had not even picked up a basketball for an entire week beat the group which had spent all week practicing in the gym.

If this can work for sports, it can most certainly work for presentations.
Visualize that you are at the front of the room and you are looking very good. (Hey, don't knock it 'till you've tried it!) Then see yourself looking relaxed and happy and giving the presentation in a conversational way, making brief eye contact with the audience and using hand gestures.

( Now, as far as making eye contact with the audience, I find that when I'm making a presentation I usually have certain things memorized and a specific order to present them in. Often, making direct eye contact with individual members of your audience can distract you and throw off your rhythm. Usually your classmates will not be smiling and you may start to wonder 'What are they thinking of me?' This can be a huge game-killer. Instead, shift your gaze slowly back and forth across the room not focusing in on any individual or, if you prefer, look just beyond the back row at the wall or out the window. )


And finally,

#10) Gain Experience.

-The only way to overcome a fear, or at least minimize it is to face it head on. Over the Christmas break I was asked to do a reading at a conference I was attending in Quebec City. I knew there were going to be about 500 young college students at the conference, and I was complete strangers with about 490 of them. First I thought "Thanks, but no thanks, I don't want to have to worry about this" - But then I realized that this was a chance for me to get out of my comfort zone and do something that would allow me to grow.
The long and short of it is that I was quite nervous, but I managed to do a good job. A few strangers even came up to me afterwards to give me positive feedback.

My advice is to look at presentations as opportunities to grow and gain experience. Of course we'll still be nervous, but no one is expecting you to be perfect, and most of the students in your audience are only thinking about what the heck they're going to do once it's their turn.


Until next time,

- Isaiah

Image courtesy of http://farm1.static.flickr.com/27/45689184_fedfa80e86.jpg?v=0