I'm not exactly great at speaking about a topic in general, I would say my communication skills are about average - sometimes worse. Public speaking, or any presentation to a group scares the absolute s*** out of me. So much so that have actually been quite resourceful in avoiding any type of these situations at my work for the last 10 years or so. My dad (who's a doctor) says he's the same and does what he can to get out of these sorts of things.

Now I'm thinking its time to grow some balls and try to face this fear and gain some 1337 presso skillz.

Has anyone here had much experience with public speaking courses or communication courses? I've heard of toast masters but I reckon I'd f***en choke big time in front of a group of strangers. Anyway, has anyone here gone to a session and have any stories to tell?

I'm no expert, but I don't reckon those courses will help you a great deal in overcoming that fear - they'll help that a little, but their purpose is to improve your skills, not help you overcome the initial fear. Yes, having improved skills will actually help to allay that fear a little, but as I say, only a little in my opinion.


Some things I'd recommend you do to address that specific fear:

- practice reading aloud in front of a mirror - look at yourself in the mirror while you read, practice not getting stuck in your notes by learning to write them down in such a way you can quickly glance at them as a reference point and get right back to audience eye contact

- make an audio recording of yourself doing the above and play it back - suss out your voice, is it monotone, or too animated? if so, try it again, record it, repeat. I suppose making a video from an audience's perspective might be an idea too, the ability to do that wasn't readily available to me years ago when I was doing public speaking :)

- once you feel a bit comfortable with your efforts, ask some family/friends to be a test audience while you practice on them - easy way to ease yourself into the position of addressing an audience without as much humiliation :)

- hearing your voice coming through a PA when you're not used to it is a bit weird the first time you do it - see if you can have a go with a PA _prior_ to actually addressing an audience so you don't have to deal with that weirdness on top of it all


I used to get a little jittery beforehand, and for the first second or two as I came out on the podium, but pretty much as soon as I started, it would all fade and I'd be as happy as larry. It's different for everyone though

picture all the hot chicks in their udnerwear

I did a course put on by AIM for presentations and it wasn't that beneficial when I finished it. It mainly focused on how to say things (mannerisms, tones, etc) , how to present material, etc and had nothing to do with overcoming a fear of public speaking.

I reckon with any fear the best thing to do is just jump in the deep end - sink or swim philosophy.

last time we tried that you ended up walking weird for a week and I gotta say, I wasn't exactly walking tall myself

Learn kung fu and karate chop anyone who heckles you. It's sure to make you feel better

As an advocate in the industrial relations commission all I can suggest is two things:

- the more confident you are with your topic (preparation, preparation, preparation) the easier you will find it;
- experience. nothing beats experience and practice.

One of the best experiences I have had was joining a political party, but if you're not political, toastmasters is probably the next best thing. I have a mate who did it and they are very supportive because they are all there wanting to conquer their fear of public speaking too xD

get in the game.

i find the best technique is to

- know the material well enough that you don't need to read off anything - helps to remember summary and not try to learn the thing by rote
- speak in your own natural voice, don't speak like a newsreader that sucks
- if you do write down your speech beforehand try to write like you speak - speech is more freeflowing - i've seen a lot of people who sound like they are reading an essay they wrote (in a newsreader voice)

oh yeah, the 'icebreaker' seems to be a common technique to break tension too, personally i can't be stuffed

While I was at high school, I did a toastmasters course; which was great because it helped to give me the confidence to speak at the drop of a hat.

While the toastmasters course did have a few handy hints and tips, I think far and away the best part, and the reason it worked so well for me, was that it just got you in a situation where once a week I was giving a presentation, prepared or otherwise, to a group of people. I think this is one area where the old adage practice makes perfect fits the bill.

I'm glad that I did get the confidence to present - because now as a part of my job I'll find myself doing a presentation at least weekly. So if I hadn't addressed it early on, work would be much harder.

Thanks guys, I'll take it all on board. I was also wondering if anyone knew anyone who was really bad and that then improved considerably through practise/courses etc.

I've gone downhill speaking out loud. In high school I was pretty good at talking fluidly without pausing, now I talk like captain kirk, pausing all over the bloody place. I swear the internet has made me stupid.

the best method i have found is to make sure you keep in mind just how f***ing awesome you are

if you're too s*** scared to talk in front of groups of people no matter the situation (thus u cant get any practice up), do toastmasters. even if you f*** up completely it doesnt matter 1 iota. it will certainly help.

i used to rock hard at public speaking all through high school but i seem to have lost my touch in recent years due to lack of practice.. thinkin i might even come with ya just for laughs

an interesting lifehack article about the virtues of Toastmasters International

I was already a pretty good public speaker, but I thought that Toastmasers was pretty good (I did it in Grade 11, 1997)

There were units on overcoming fear, and it did help some of the people who had taken the course for that reason.

From my experience, the best thing you can do to help your public speaking is to know what you're talking about. That way you just need some bullet points to keep you on track and make sure your presentation flows. If you know what you're talking about you'll also seem more natural and fluent.

We looked at this briefly in one of my Psych courses this semester and the best way is pretty much exactly what Jim said to do.

Knowing what you're talking about definitely helps, but I'm more the sort of person who prefers just improvising (but still having good knowledge of what I'm talking about).

Breathing is the most important part of public speaking (or in my case sometimes, performing:O). Be aware of your breathing, and practice your breathing. You want to be blowing out as much air as you can and breathing in without raising your chest or shoulders. If you can control your breathing it will help a lot to keep you relaxed, and it will make you sound much better.

Do toastmasters or whatever so you choke infront of random strangers instead of people who actually matter?

What you should always keep in mind is that the audience is there to listen to you! They care about what you have to say! If you're sufficiently prepared and have rehearsed adequately pretty much nothing can go wrong, and even if it does, everyone is adult so noone really cares all that much.

I did debating and public speaking all through high school and am currently back into debating at uni. Uni debating is 30 or 15 minutes preparation before speaking.

What people have said about practice is completely spot on in my opinion. I've seen people who have never debated/publicly spoken before but who persevere throughout the semester. By the end of semester they might not be the best debaters (due to a lack of knowledge) but their competence as a speaker has skyrocketed because for them getting up in front of complete strangers with little preparation is a *weekly* occurence.

I believe that if you keep at it and make public speaking a regular occurence then you'll defeat the fear of it very quickly. Then you can focus on becoming a good public speaker.

i did toastmasters through highschool and even presidented it for 2 years, and it seriously helped my public speaking. i was not able to deliver with any form of emotion or passion before hand, and since then noone can get me to shut up!

oh yeah and i was debating captain in year 12 too :o

This might be of interest to you guys, just saw it on uq ws

http://www.josh.net.au/images/albums/userpics/10001/speechcraft.JPG

strange rash - hit me up on msn... ministryofnat at hotmail dot com

it's just practice.. i used to hate presenting and get nervous.... one of my uni courses every single tute we have to give a presentation ... now it's just another thing i do every week... practice = less nerves = win.

also, if you're skilled at public speaking, you can bet your arse you'll earn a lot more money.

Yes, having improved skills will actually help to allay that fear a little, but as I say, only a little in my opinion.

Learning skills on how to prepare and deliver a public presentation and then continually practicing those skills will help most people discover ways to mitigate the effects of any fear of public speaking that they might have.

and then continually practicing those skills