Public Speaking

If there was anything that I dislike more than I dislike conflict it would be public speaking. Whether it's a talk, a prayer or a presentation for class I get an overwhelming amount of anxiety over public speaking. Some people are naturals at it. They get up there and are super personable and it's like they were born to public speak. Not me. I'm like a robot when I get up there. And not even a good robot. I'm a broken, out-of-date robot that stutters when speaking and says uhm a lot. Although I try to avoid public speaking as much as possible there are always gonna be teachers or employeer who want you to give an oral presentation. This is why I have to work really hard at public speaking.

During the class lecture the thing I took away most was that you have to start with a creative introduction. I know that I personally always start with the "Hello, my name is Madison Fosse and today I'm going to talk about...". I think that if you can come up with a creative introduction it will set the tone for the rest of your presentation and give you more confidence. Also, it makes people interested in what you're about to talk about. Another point I think is really important is having stories in your presentation because they show that you put time into your presentation and have personal interest in the topic.

The part of public speaking I think I need to work the most on is flow. I tend to talk really fast as is and when I get up in front of an audience I talk at a super speed. Because of this I think my brain doesn't always go as fast as my mouth is and I end up loosing my train of thought a lot. This leads to an extreme amount of uhms in my presentation to try to figure out what I was about to say. What I have to work on is slowing down when I talk. Because even though I practice the speech, once I start talking really fast I can't remember what I was going to say. In all, I just need to work on public speaking in general, but I know that if I practice I could get good at it.