Speaking of anxiety #2; just did a public speaking dry run
 

Damn

I just did a dry run to friends to check timing and content.
I hate it. I did okay. Friend says I looked mildly nervous. I felt really nervous. I think with practice and repetition I’ll get way better.

I still have two months to practice and improve my presentation

Video tape yourself. Have a written script, memorize and practice, after you're sort of smooth, start adding pauses, inflection, hand motions. Then reduce script to list of key points and phrases, so you're not "reading". If you'll be using a mic, practice speaking into mic; if no mic, practice projecting voice. Depending on audience, have a few optional bits - if audience really responding to X then add Y, if X is flat then delete Z.

I really enjoy public speaking. Weird huh.

I get nervous about prepared remarks before a large group, but can do a Q and A on my feet with no problem.

Now, it's been awhile since I've had to give prepared remarks before a big crowd, but for me the most important thing is to slow down my speech, pause, give people time to reflect. I can easily get through what should be an hour's worth of words in 10 minutes and no one will understand it or process it. I also find that once I find my rhythm, I seem more comfortable and that makes people more comfortable asking questions (which is important for the things I'm usually attempting to do).

I was terrible at that when i first started speaking in front of a group. I got better.

The more you do it the better you'll get at it, the less stressful it will be, and eventually you'll actually like it.

I hope I relax.

If I took a crap; it would look like silly string. I’m uptight as hell.

I never liked formal public speaking, the key for me was to just learn the content so well that I could talk about it in a casual manner. No notecards, reading a Powerpoint, or teleprompter (lol). Ultimately it makes the speech better too, because nobody likes a dry reading from a Powerpoint slide. With that approach I was very successful in business development work, where I was typically pitching my company to a prospective customer that was both questioning the honesty of everything that I said as well as half annoyed to be there. I also did 6 presentations per year to senior leaders of my Fortune 500 company that were hellbent on picking me and my content apart and making me look like a fool.

What Matt said. It's like everything else, the more you do it the easier it becomes. I was actually never a public type person, but after years of teaching lecture classes, giving workshops, & proposals, it sort of became a natural thing to do. After a while you develop a perception of your audience and the ability to mix and match your content and presentation. One employer commented after I left that they still remembered the workshops and presentations I gave. I was a bit surprised at that.

A few things, and I used to speak at a lot of conferences (I am on self imposed exile):

- Get in front of your co-workers with the brief, on a projector. If your organization feels strongly enough to pay you to go speak, they should support the time for you to get pilloried by your co-workers. No tougher crowd. You will learn.

- Toast Masters in your area: https://napatoastmasters.org/ Do it, you have two months.

Other than those two, go to a Comedy Club. Go watch the real masters. I had a series of briefs to give in San Diego when I was a puppy. Important stuff in my mind. I went to the Comedy Sewer/Cellar/Station with my girlfriend to see Richard Belzer - long time ago.

After his set he was standing by the end of the bar and I decided to ask him how he managed to control the crowd. I was in earnest and he didn't seem surprised at my question...I leaned in, awaiting his response:

"How the **** do I know".

Best advice I have ever gotten concerning public speaking, because, like Dire Straits sang:

Sometimes you're the windshield
Sometimes you're the bug
Sometimes it all comes together baby
Sometimes you're a fool in love
Sometimes you're the louisville slugger
Sometimes you're the ball
Sometimes it all comes together baby
Sometimes you're going to lose it all

Just the way it is.

LOL many years ago i was doing a presentation to the leadership team on a familiar subject that was dry and technical, the kind of thing that has them fading out within a few minutes.

As I often do, I really got into it and was animated, moving around the room and varying voice levels, cadence, etc. to emphasize certain points and to prevent droning on and to try and keep interest.

I was picking up good signs from the audience considering, but I could tell I was losing a few of them. After about 15 minutes I wrapped it all up with a reinforcing conclusion.
"Any questions?"
My general manager asked if I had forgotten something, and pointed to the power-point slide presentation on the screen that was still on the first slide.

Looking around with a smile, I said:

Ready for the test?" waiting for their groans.
"Oh, don't worry. It's a test for me, not you. How about if we go through these slides and see if I got any details wrong or left anything important out?"

I asked them to speak up if they see anything they can bust me on. And they tried.

Afterward, my manager apologized for calling me out like that but said I recovered well.
I asked if he noticed how everyone was studying those slides carefully, reviewing every detail on the presentation trying to see if i screwed up.
Ye said: "yep, amazing considering (it was the leadership team)."

So I showed him my notes, it was all planned out that way.
If I had played it straight and just did another boring tech presentation, they'd pick up maybe 10% and probably get half of that wrong.
Within a week they wouldn't remember much at all.

But having them review the info again after I presented it, and actually paying attention, made a difference.

The word got out that I had tricked them and a few sneered by most thought it was cool. A couple of them told me later that they had tried it too.


Now I wish I could say that I thought it all up myself but i didn't, my old boss from a long time ago pulled that on a group I was in.

Being prepared and having a strategy and having fun with it goes a long ways.

Beat me to it, I don't have a need to speak in front of a group but found out my neighbor (who does speak to groups) goes to toastmaster so I asked to tag along. Like I said I don't do public speaking but I like to find ways to stretch myself. It was pretty cool, wish I have kept it up.

Just put a towel around your waist and picture all the good looking women in their underwear. I'm not sure if that'll help with the public speaking, but I can't see how it can hurt either.

It gets easier as you go.

Ok that’s pretty funny. Who’s going to be in the audience for your presentation? Remember that if you’re the subject matter expert, no one will know if you make a mistake. I give talks all the time now and I keep that in mind which helps me relax. You’ll never get rid of the butterflies though but you don’t really want to because you’ll come off as bored or boring.

I have o problem with it if I am teaching or explaining something I do. It’s when I’m expected to be entertaining that I seize up.

I just presented a pretty technical and very dry subject to a large group. At the worst transition, I interned the most confusing graph I could find from the internet.

I told them to get out pen and paper and copy it.

I waited three seconds and then laughed as the graph was indecipherable.

It broke things up.

Some good cartoons help also.

It is tough, I find that if I know the product and believe in it it’s way easier but I have to mentally slow myself down from talking fast.

So of the best speakers I know tell jokes about themselves, ask questions or do polls to get audiences involved.

Good luck

For me, I never did much in the way of prep. Trying to memorize a presentation was a recipe for disaster for me. If you're truly an expert in the subject matter you're presenting, you should be able to just stand up there and start talking about it with maybe a postcard-size outline in case you go off on a tangent. It is far more important to know your subject matter then to focus on the presentation itself. If you're not 100% confident in your knowledge, that's an entirely different matter and I'd recommend a good bourbon or 3 about an hour before showtime.

The largest group I spoke to was around 400 for about 50 minutes. That was strange because it was impersonal and almost like speaking to an empty room compared to much smaller venues with 20-40 and/or courtrooms. Expert testimony was, obviously, much tougher than presenting at a seminar or conference because there was an attorney on the opposing side who aggressively contested every single word of your presentation. You won't have that so you can just BS your way through it if needed :D But again, if you know your subject there's not much prep needed. It's all about self-confidence.