Uncomfortable

Hi Sugar104,

I'm sure your presentation went better than you think, - sometimes we are harder on ourselves than our audience is! And just maybe your Professsor should think more about encouragement than sarcasm! That said, please check out my post on todays date under 'Are you scared of Public Speaking, - you may find it helpful. Don't give up!

kind regards,

Tony James - 'The Coach with the Friendly Approach'

Hi sugar104,
I am completely aware of what you are feeling. I feel the same way when presenting in front of large groups of people. I think you are just being hard on yourself and did better than you think. I am starting to overcome my fear of public speaking by taking deep breathes in before the presentation, looking around the room and avoiding the stare of other students. If you think of your presentation as a thing of the moment and that it will pass then you are less likely to get anxious. Hope everything works out for you and good luck!!

Don't forget, of course, that it may not have been sarcasm, but him (her?) genuinely checking...

If you ran short of material, or delivered it as badly as you seem to think you did (I doubt that, by the way) it would be perfectly natural to check you'd finished... many people just fade out at the end of their presentations if they're nervous and so on.

If you're anxious about things, it's easy to mis-interpret what other people say.

Of course, you might be right and your professor could have been being a pillock!

If there are a lot of presentations in your course, have you thought about getting some training in the field? Or asking your professor for help, taking the initiative?

S

Your definitely not alone when it comes to this fear. A lot of people suffer at the thought of having to go up and present. It perhaps stems to a level of conciousness that is associated with fight or flight. The thought of fear causes us to immediately associate a situation with this decision. Do we tackle this issue, (fight it) or do we flight and give into this fear. Perhaps the only way is to practice and practice. And always remember, it's all in our head. Most of the time, our audience wants us to succeed and woe the crowd.

Hi Sugar104, I can see where you’re coming from and I can really sense the sadness, many of us has really issues when it comes to public speaking. How many times have you caught yourself saying that there could be no other solution to that problem – and that problem leads to a dead end? How many times have you felt stumped knowing that the problem lying before you is one you cannot solve. No leads. No options. No solutions.

But you should not believe that there is no solution to this problem sweetie, as long as we live there is room for improvement.

There is so much to know about conversation that anyone, even I, could ever realize. You can go though watching talk shows; radio programs; clubs dedicated to public speaking; ordinary conversations; certain rules still apply when it comes to interaction through words. It may sound tedious, I know, but even though it's your mouth that's doing the work, your brain works twice as hard to churn out a lot of things you know. So what better way to start learning to be an effective communication is to know the very person closest to you: yourself.

A little bit of humor can do wonders to lift the tension, or worse boredom when making your speech. That way, you'll get the attention of the majority of the crowd and they'll feel that you're just as approachable, and as human to those who listen.

Here are some tips that might help you overcome your fear of public speaking. You are afraid that your audience might not like you.
You need to be perceived as a nice person. People are then more likely to believe and follow you.

Here are some tips that might help you release some pressure:

1.) Meet, greet, and shake hands before your speech starts!
2.) Smile!
3.) Concern for your audience! Show how you share concerns of your audience instead of just simply lecturing!
4.) Don’t dash off! Talk to people after your speech is done! Answer questions! Interact! Communicate!
5.) Show your audience that you are having fun! People like being surrounded by fun people!

I hope some of these tips help! I am ready to answer questions anytime!

Don't worry about performance, everyone started at the point with fears when having public speech. Some people just don't put too much importance on them, so they have better chances to get relaxed in the flow and adaptation process.

It should help you for the next time to prepare yourself good, especially on the intro, which is the most important to get you through the adaptation phase.

You might try to tell a joke for a start or ask people a question so that they make interaction with you, this way it will be much easier to go on after transaction. Also, the factor that has a lot to do with anxiety and is the most important, is how much you think how terrible would it be when it goes bad. It helps if you make this belief more flexible and tolerating, this way you will be more relaxed when performing next time.

Also, more practice and practice and you will soon get used to it.

It's possible that your presentation was going so well that you shocked your instructor by ending abruptly.

Sometimes presentations can be too short when we rush through them due to our nerves. When I first started speaking publicly I had a tendency to talk much faster than necessary.

Have you followed up with your professor to see where you could improve? He or she would be the best critic in this circumstance to your improvement.

---
Devin Ambron
Leadership and Lifestyle Development Expert
Founder of The Daily Inspiration

I often feel the same way when I have to present in front of people. I find that it depends on what I am talking about. If it is a formal presentation about business and figures, (humorless)I would probably faint before I made it to the stage.

However, if I did a presentation about public speaking, my fears would probably be moderate. However, I could probably play it off with a little bit of humor.

I still find it hard to believe that public speaking is the greatest fear of people. I could see it being my number 1 fear, but... I guess I'm not such a wierdo after all.

Sugar104 wrote:Hey, so I'm new to the forum. I figured this would be a good place to share my anxiety on public speaking b/c sometimes i feel like i am the only 1 in the world with this fear. I know some people that say they have the fear but when they speak in front of groups they do just great! However, when I present in front of a class my words start to make no sense and my face blushes and I talk all quick and funny. Today I gave a presentation in my grad class and it went terrible..at least i think so! The topic was on a personal development and I feel really uncomfortable taking about personal things in front of people, thus and rushed my presentation and when i quickly finished my professor says, "thats it?!?" and that just made me feel even worse and even more embarrassed. I wish i had the confidence to talk freely about myself. I also need to start participating more in class, i dont want my professors to think im a lazy grad student

its weird because sometimes i get up in front of an audience and i'm totally fine. and then other times i get a little self conscious and my hands start to shake or my leg will start to shake. and then i get preoccupied with it and get more nervous and it just throws everything off! anyone deal with this?