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Public speaking/performing. Terrifying or fun? I'm all ears!!

I have no problem getting up in front of a crowd and doing my thang.
Just the once, when I kept saying "oranges" instead of "origins" over and over...

Katastrophe1969 6 Mar 15
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6

Funny you ask this today; I'm headed to a convention in Biloxi for the weekend, and they have me speaking on four different panels over three days.

Personally, it's only nerve-wracking for me when the room is very full, and I am the only one speaking. Either give me a small crowd, or a big one where I have others to play off of, and I'll be fine!

@Katastrophe1969 thanks so much!

5

Really depends on the situation! I teach a class of 170 and love acting I have no problem doing so but if I need to present a paper I a ball of nerves.

I'm so lucky! The "papers" I present are continuing education programs for Medication Aides and nurses. Pharmacology has to be the theme, but I get paid to do a 4-hour rant! I do a lot of research for each topic, even if it's a re-run, but oh, how I love inspiring people to doubt the medical status quo and the pharmaceutical industry!

5

I don't like to be in the spotlight but there are times that its required in my current profession (court representations, presenting to directors, auditors, training classes). I am comfortable doing so as long as I am prepared. Spur-of-the-moment presentations are hateful to me & I have no qualms asking questions & making it clear in correct instances that their lack of foresight does not constitute my emergency. In actual emergency fill-in situations, no problem.

5

It's always scary right before, just gotta get rolling.

5

I used to act since Junior High School through Community Theatre in my twenties. I still have recurring dreams about performing and not remembering my lines. Took Dale Carnegie in my 30s and built a sales and marketing career with public speaking skills. Got used to speaking to groups and incorporated it into my personal businesses.

Thanks.

5

Public speaking must have been in my blood. Speaking to five or five thousand doesn't matter to me. I gave 120 talks in three months when pushing for a library tax. Once you do it the next will be a little easier. Just don't over think it. Expect to make mistakes and know there are a lot of people who are thinking, "I couldn't do that!"

BillF Level 7 Mar 15, 2018
4

Important advise on the topic:

@Katastrophe1969 IDK- Mr. Brady doesn't strike me as the smack the boys around type. If anything, maybe a fuck the babysitter type POS, but not hitting anyone...

4

When I firest started speaking in poublic, I was so scared that my voice would shake. I would have to talk to myself in my head: "Get a grip on yourse3lf Walt! You can do this."
Little by little I got used to it, then actually enjoued speaking before groups of up to 500 people. It just takes practice and preparation.

4

I gues both. I am a bit scared to get up in front of people because i anintroverted and a bit reclusive, but once up there and started, I enjoy doing it.

Kind of liek with acting I hated auditions,but loved actually performing.

@Katastrophe1969 A most interesting observation. Although I once (no time at present) greatly enjoyed the performance and theatre scene and am confrontational with anyone who asserts faith as a pathway to truth, I generally stay clear of people and, aside from daily YMCA (gym), devote my free time to this website and hobbies at home.

@Katastrophe1969 Yeah. Al Pacino is a reclusive. Many great actors have had reclusive tendencies. I don't think I'd have been a "great" actor, but I di denjoy doing it.

4

Of course I used to be terrified of public speaking! But once I became a teacher within my nursing practice, it started to be more fun than frightening. I took the advice of a nurse-teacher I liked and admired: "When I'm doing a presentation, I don't just get up there and lecture. I put on a stage production."

4

It's always been terrifying for me; so at work I volunteer to do safety training and new hire quality training. It's gets me out of my comfort zone and confront that insecurity.

JimG Level 8 Mar 15, 2018
4

I used to be terrified of speaking in front of a group of people. I just made a choice to get over that fear and slowly worked on it. I still get nervous, I just refuse to let that fear control me. Start small and slowly work on overcoming your fear. I can do seminars and speak in front of a large group now.

@Katastrophe1969 Yes I did. It kept me from accomplishing some basic goals in my life. One example was when I first went to college, and
In some of my classes I had to do a presentation in front of the class. I would withdraw from that class rather than do it. I got 2 imcompletes from two courses that turned into C's and an F because it was too late for me to withdraw from those classes. I had to overcome that fear.

4

I'm terrified by normal social interactions and fortified by public speaking/performances. Because I'm a freaky alien.

Hey, that might be my problem.

Same here. I was a public speaker by profession. A lot of people assumed that since I was so comfortable and personable presenting from the stage that I would be similar on a personal level. Then it always just confused them when I was interpersonally awkward. I'll take a room of 5,000 over a room of 5 any day.

2

For those who are nervous, I just stumbled upon this gem:

"My research indicates that only three people have died while making a speech. Since twelve billion people have lived and only three of them died making a speech, I’d say it’s a fairly safe thing to do. If you’re a little nervous, consider this: You could lead a mule into a crowded room and he would be so calm that he would almost go to sleep standing up. A thoroughbred in the same situation would be as nervous as a cat. If you’re a little nervous, just be grateful you’re a thoroughbred – not a mule. So face those inner feelings, stand up and speak up with confidence. When you do, I’ll SEE YOU AT THE TOP! " - Zig Ziglar

2

For me, it's a lot of fun.

2

Lots of fun playing in orchestra pits or the stage, (thespian or musician (solo or part of the band/ orchestra or production)

I openly debate theists and have managed to help a few spectators, after dozens of hours of conversation, rise from the darkness of superstition (religion) to the light of reason.

2

I’m decent, as long as I’m prepared.

@Katastrophe1969 I value conciseness lol

2

I imagine it’s only hard when you don’t know what your talking about!

That sounds rude when I reread that. I meant that when you have knowledge of the subject your speaking on the information pours out without any thought. Speaking on something you know a lot about is easy and doesn’t require a lot of conscious thought!

2

Never done "public" speaking, but I used to regularly get up in front of between 10 and 200-300 people at work because of the various aspects of the jobs I had there. It was a bit intimidating at first, but became relatively easy later on.

@Katastrophe1969 well, in all honesty it was at work, and a pretty "safe" environment.

2

That was about the one thing that I gained from religion. I became comfortable giving public talks but never that good at it.

gearl Level 8 Mar 15, 2018
2

I have struggled with that for some time. Despite not usually getting the extreme adrenalin response I used to, public speaking still causes some difficulty. What I have come to realize is that in such situations, I tend to allow my tongue to get too tight in hyper preparedness for each consonant so that I can't transition from syllable to syllable as fluently as normal. I am having some success learning to keep my tongue better relaxed and also to move it with it better efficiency. It is something you have to experiment with and play around with, and this also increases your awareness of actions you were once oblivious to. It also helps to slow down.

Another way to handle it is to act as if the audience is supposed to impress you.

2

If I've had enough wine I have no problem being the center of attention! Otherwise, my hands shake, my heart nearly pounds out of my chest, and I sweat like crazy.

@Katastrophe1969 Well if the doctor says so, I must at least try!

2

I've done public speaking, but I really have a hard time with it.
Once, I had to address a plaza full of protesters, and I delivered a 3 minute speech in just under a minute and a half. One of my friends said it sounded like I'd delivered the whole thing in just one breath. I'm okay in small groups, or on the radio, but in front of large groups, I get horrific stage-fright.

2

I once did a charity performance of "Three Little Maids From School" (from the comic opera "Mikado" by W S Gilbert and A S Sullivan) in front of an audience of 750.

Myself and two other guys (one with a rather magnificent beard) - dressed as schoolgirls.

"Three little maids from school are we,
Pert as a schoolgirl well can be,
Filled to the brim with girlish glee,
Three little maids from school!"

And I sang the roll of 'Yum Yum'

"One little maid is a bride, Yum Yum,
Two little maids in attendance come,
Three little maids is the total sum,
Three little maids from school!"

Thankfully @Katastrophe1969, 750 people did exactly that - well, not JUST for 'Three Little Maids', there were other comedy acts too - and we ended up raising a lot of cash for good causes, and had a bloody good laugh into the bargain.

"From three little maids, take one away,
Two little maids remain and they,
Won't have to wait very long they say,
Three little maids from school!"

Strangely enough, I did that performance many, many years ago - and it must be at least a year since I've listened to The Mikado - but when posting this response the words came back to me almost without effort.

2

I have suffered with such unreasonable "stage fright" all my life. It was always the most terrifying experience for me growing up. I have somewhat gotten over most of it but it is still an issue. I could NEVER do Karaoke even to this day. I would be so terrified that I would lose the ability to think, have difficulty breathing, have difficulty speaking, heart racing out of control.

@Katastrophe1969 I am reasonably certain that "stage fright" is NOT America's #1 fear by any stretch of the imagination.

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