Public Speaking

paky

I was just wondering what your thoughts were on public speaking? I never really had the b.alls to stand up in class and give a presentation or ask a question but when I have, i've left feeling quite confident and calm. So I was just wondering do people get good at public speaking by public speaking and why is there such anxiety associated with this?

Odysseus

I think the anxiety is subjective, I lecture I'm anxious before every or paper I deliver. I give my students the choice between an essay and a 10 mins presentation. They always pick the essay.

I used to have severe problems speaking in public, a mixture of having to do it in work and 5 years of a psychoanalytic analysis, help me stand over my I, which means my voice.

paky

thanks for the reply
would you say some people would be better at getting their point across through a oral presentation rather than a paper assignment?

Odysseus

paky wrote: »

thanks for the reply
would you say some people would be better at getting their point across through a oral presentation rather than a paper assignment?

That would be subjective. I give the offer as it is easier for me if they do the presentation and give me a hard copy of it;)

Putting together 12X3hrs lectures is a pain, if I can get things easier on the assessments it would be a benefit

paky

Odysseus wrote: »

That would be subjective. I give the offer as it is easier for me if they do the presentation and give me a hard copy of it;)

Putting together 12X3hrs lectures is a pain, if I can get things easier on the assessments it would be a benefit

that makes sense.

Odysseus

paky wrote: »

that makes sense.

paky, I would love to get in a good psych discussion about the causes of it, but I'm ill the past few weeks, so I'm not up to it. But maybe someone else...

JuliusCaesar

paky wrote: »

and why is there such anxiety associated with this?

The reason that people get anxious is fear of what others will think of them. It's important for us to get on well with others as we are a social species. Whereas other animals will turn on an animal who doesn't fit in with the group, humans gossip. That's why our reputations are so important to us. Nobody wants to be known as "creepy"! When we do public speaking, we are putting ourselves up to be evaluated.

paky wrote: »

do people get good at public speaking by public speaking

Yes. But only if you are fairly successful at it! You habituate -or you realise that you're ok at it and people are not thinking any the worse of you.





(I've come across some really boring lecturers though.....and their audiences have been restive. Maybe they just don't pick up on the cues?)

metrovelvet

It's a matter of practise.

Your only responsibility is to deliver the information. So think BrianCowen and do the opposite.

THere is no point in worry about what people think because those are all YOUR own fantasies in YOUR head about other people's thoughts. Not your right or your responsibility.

hotspur

I recommend reading something on Clark and Well's model of social phobia. Here's a good book chapter by Clark on it:
http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/class/psy394U/Bower/12%20Anxiety%20Disorders%20/CLARK-SOCIAL%20PHOBIA.pdf

p.pete

You can get good through through practice, and you can habituate and not progress at all, as has been said above. You can improve at anything or stay the same with practice, it's a matter of approach and learning style and motivation. If you actually want to improve, and pay attention to what went well, and try new things, then there's no reason not to improve.

mikemac

Find somebody to model

Without getting political here, I think Tony Blair is a good public speaker so I watched youtube videos of him.

Even now years later I catch myself doing the hand movements he always does.

Find somebody you think is good and practice

paky

feelingstressed wrote: »

Find somebody to model

Without getting political here, I think Tony Blair is a good public speaker so I watched youtube videos of him.

Even now years later I catch myself doing the hand movements he always does.

Find somebody you think is good and practice

When i think of good speeches i think of this video. It might be a bit extreme but its very effective

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q-6H4xOUrs

KyleMyers

I was never much of a public speaker when I was growing up. I was born with quite a bad lisp and when I went to speech therapy to correct it and I ended up with a stutter. The irony is delicious.

I find age gives you far more confidence with public speaking although perhaps it's not so much that i've gotten older and more the change in my personality that's led to this conclusion.

I find the best way to approach public speaking is to think hard about it and to question: "What's the worst that could happen?". Most of the time the reason people don't speak out is because they're afraid of the consequences that may occur when they do so but this is totally harmless.

Express yourself and don't be afraid of other people judging you. Their opinions about you mean very little when taken into the context of the big wide world.

looksee

If you really know and understand the material you can kind of go onto automatic pilot so that you don't think about every word you say, just keep steering a bit.

One time I would have been in a knot before speaking, but as I have got older I find I really don't give a damn what people think of me. It's important to get the information over in the most efficient and interesting way possible, but self consciousness has been removed from the equation and I am totally relaxed.

It is possible for lecturers to be boring of course, but you can give exactly the same talk to two different groups, including questions and bits of discussion. One group will listen and respond, another group will sit gazing unresponsively, contribute nothing, and have no more idea what you have been saying at the end of the talk than they had at the beginning. So don't get too hung up on it being your fault if they look bored - you could do full scale entertainment and they would not respond.