Speaking In Public or Trying To Speak

I can barely speak in front of small groups, even an audience of more than one or two people makes me extremely uncomfortable. I would never speak in front of a large audience, you couldn’t pay me to. I have flunked classes before because I’m too afraid to do oral presentations. I don’t speak at work meetings unless I’m forced to and then it’s maybe one or two sentences and I’m done. I have nightmares about being on stage and not knowing my lines even though I would never willingly go on stage in real life. Public speaking is one of the most common fears. However, I have social anxiety disorder so for me the fear is intense and debilitating—I would not wish this condition on anyone. It wreaks havoc on your life when you are so afraid of speaking in front of people. I get paralyzed with fear. It feels like tunnel vision of my body, mind, and soul. My mind goes instantly blank; even when I’ve planned out what I want to say, I totally forget everything and become physically unable to t... Read more

Yes, it gets scary, especially for someone like me who draws a lot of attention when I get up on a stage due to my height. On the other hand, I would think it would be more embaressing for the people who spit into the audience when they are speaking on stage.

I've been in front of audiences ever since I played Abe Lincoln in a second grade play. I've been a corporate trainer and spent many years on stage in the theater. My biggest audience was 7000. Breathe...

Not really liked speaking or even standing in front of large groups of people looking at me since I fell of the stage once during a performance of Romeo and Juliet whilst at High School. Since then I've tried to avoid it whenever possible, with the exception of when I've had no choice but to. The last time I did was at University doing a talk of the importance of testing - but I somehow managed to get through the talk without making a mess of it (a friend kept insisting I could do it, so I guess that's what helped!)

I'd always heard the old adage that if you are afraid to speak in public you should try to imagine that your audience are all sitting there stark naked and that they are the ones who feel uncomfortable. That advice, it turned out, was of no value when I got up to make my very first public speech when I was running for the board president of the local nudist colony.

I can't do it, it's imposible for me to speak in public. I there's more than 3 or 4 persons in front of me, the words run so fast in my mind, but my mouth have some problems to talk. My heart starts running so fast, my body starts to trembling... and if there's a lot of people in front of me... I have to talk in some judgements, and all the times I had to close my eyes and try to remember why I was there to be able to talk. It's really a problem to be afraid to speaking in public.

Depends on the situation, who I'm speaking to, and what I'm speaking about. For lack of a better word, I "hosted" an event in front of a few thousand people and everything went great. On the other hand, I read a poem I wrote in front of a hundred or so people at a wedding and, for various reasons, it was about three minutes of hell.

I have run in several elections, and making a speech to a crowds always gives you a little catch in your stomach. If it doesn't, then you had better quit.

Very scary!!!

Surprisingly the larger the group the better I am.

It really depends what I am speaking about. If I really know the subject matter that I am speaking about, I have no problem with it. But when some of the people that I will be speaking to know considerably more than I do about the subject, then I have to say I can get fairly nervous.

Ever do a presentation on a weapon system for Japanese officers? I did. I fear no beer when speaking is involved...

Not at all, and like Ridge, I can't remember a time I have been. Either formally, or off the cuff, its all the same to me.

Very scary. I am fairly shy. I hate to talk in front of a group. I tend to feel panicky and then I tend to talk real fast, or say something stupid.[or at least I feel like I am a total dweeb].I always seem to lock in on the person who looks bored or rolls their eyes.ugh.

I hate public speaking.  I always feel like I am going to make a complete fool of myself.  Whenever I have to do publice speaking I tend to talk really fast so that I can get it over with as fast as possible.

I used to fear this a lot more but do you want to know what helped me to overcome this fear? It was knowing the fact that most people are terrified of public speaking and there is a high chance that the majority of the people in the audience are also afraid of public speaking. So if you can overcome the fear of public speaking, you will be admired. That feeling of wanting to be admired and the fact that other people are in the same boat has helped me to overcome this fear. People think you are absolutely great if you don't fear public speaking and are all confident. Remember that if you don't know something, act confident because it is not what you know that advertises competence, but how confident you are. Because I have known of people who are confident but know nothing, whom people think are absolutely great! But you could get a shy person who knows a lot, but because they are shy, people tend not to have as much faith in their competence. Confidence can even make rubbish so... Read more

Not a problem, public speaking is something I do often. I can understand how some may dread it though. Being prepared is the key.

I don't know anyone who's worse about this one than I am. I almost fainted the last time I had to speak in front of my class. They had to have someone else come finish my project presentation and had to send me to the clinic with 2 people on each side of me to hold me up.

I've read in front of classes and have performed in a number of skits and plays. So I've been over my case of stage fright for some time now.

When I was a kid in school I would rather have recieved an F then give an oral book report. When I became a manager at Boeing, several years ago, I had to overcome my fear of speaking in public. My father always told me Know what you say, and say what you know, and this is what I stuck with. It has served me well. I have spoken many times in large crowds and given many eulogies. I have learned that it is okay to make mistakes, and it is okay to say I don't know. Just don't B.S. people, they know. Because I am hard of hearing, or as they say now, hearing impaired, I had speech defects and insecurities to overcome. I attended special schools for the deaf, although, I am not deaf. Then when I went to regular school, I had speech therapy up until ninth grade. I still slip a little with Th's, S.s and Ch's. but I don't worry about it so much. Like everyone I still get a little nervous before speaking, and that is why I give this a two.

I used to be afraid of this...but I gave weather reports for over 5 1/2 years through the intercom at my middle and high schools. I gave reports at open house and at a pep rally and was even interviewed by a local television station by meterological aspirations! Even more, I've done skits and read amusing stories in front of my class too.

There was a point in time when I would have preferred Russian roulette to speaking in public. But I expressed my fear to many people in order to pick up some tips. Here are 3 which I have found helpful: 1) Don't make eye contact with anyone in your audience. You do need to look at your audience but do so by scanning the room. 2) Pretend everyone in your audience is in their underwear. This will help belittle your audience making you feel superior and knowledgeable in your subject area. 3) If you've tried it all and nothing helps, there's nothing like downing a couple shots beforehand. I very much dislike whiskey, as it burns going down, but it will ease your stress.

Being forced to give speeches back in 10th grade speech class made me nuts! It didn't help that there was a boy in my class who had driven me up the wall on the bus ride home during jr. high (apparently he liked me but he was sure going about it in a very strange way). When I was around 20 I worked for a short time as a tour guide and, once I got use to the schpeel, I was okay with it. But the only way for me to truly overcome my fear of an audience is to play a role rather than be myself. I managed to make up for a few speeches that made me cringe to look back on by doing cuttings from plays for extra credit. Give me fantasy over nerve grinding reality any day!

Public speaking can make me nervous, but if I'm really riled up and am passionate about what I'm talking about, then the anxiety dissipates.

Public speaking has never really frightened me at all. What's the difference between going in front of a group to speak versus talking to someone one-on-one? It's just a question of scale. That's nothing to fear. If you're afraid, have a drink of water, stretch out, take a deep breath and plunge in. Shyness shouldn't be something that hinders you from saying what's on your mind.

Speaking in front of a large crowd, makes me nervous.

I don't think this is an issue for most RIA reviewers.