I suck at speeches. Help!

[handsome]

So I have a 7-8 minute long presentation tomorrow on an economist by the name of John Galbraith. I pretty much have all the notes I need, but my delivery sucks. I get nervous, my voice starts trembling, and my mind often goes blank while I'm speaking. Yea, it's pretty bad.

Any advice/encouragement would be appreciated.

[PoBoy321]

Pretend you're Bill Pullman and you're about to save the world from aliens.

[Claunchy]

A couple whiskeys and a Vicodin oughta do the trick nicely.

Allow yourself to be animated. This both hides nervous twitches and allows you to stay calm. You also should work some levity into it... this will loosen you the hell up... which is the goal.

GL!

[Bradyams]

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A couple whiskeys and a Vicodin oughta do the trick nicely.

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually a beer or two (depending on your alcohol tolerance) should help out, and not hurt anything.

Definitely will help... just dont forget yourself and stumble into class after downing a 6 or two.

[diebitter]

Practice to yourself, and then to one person.

This not only helps delivery, but timing.

forget reading from notes, move to cue cards that have big friendly words on that remind you of each bit, and just talk freely, and when you are done, go to next cue word.

[IHateKeithSmart]

[ QUOTE ]
Practice to yourself, and then to one person.

This not only helps delivery, but timing.

[/ QUOTE ]

Definitely. I typically practice a few times in front of the mirror (or cats/dog if they are around). The dog usually looks a little uncomfortable after a few minutes.

[IggyWH]

[ QUOTE ]
So I have a 7-8 minute long presentation tomorrow on an economist by the name of John Galbraith. I pretty much have all the notes I need, but my delivery sucks. I get nervous, my voice starts trembling, and my mind often goes blank while I'm speaking. Yea, it's pretty bad.

Any advice/encouragement would be appreciated.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you have to sit around before your speech, don't think about your speech. Just sit around and enjoy what's going on around you (other people giving speeches, prof talking, whatever).

When it's your time to do your speech, take a couple deep breathes. Breathe deep into your diaphragm, hold for a second and then let it out. Clear your mind, look out into the audience, smile and go at it.

[gamblore99]

I used to be really bad at presentations but have come along way these past few years. Some things I find very important.

1. know material very well
2. for notes/cue cards, make them as simple as possible and very easy to read. The idea is they CUE recall, not actually have the information. Since you have practiced the speech alot, the speech will come naturally and nicely.
3. For me (not sure if this applies to everyone), speak as slow as possible (I usually speak very fast).
4. If you use a powerpoint presentation, or overheads, keep as little on these as possible. It gets really confusing for the audience trying to read all of your display, and hear what you are saying at the same time.

Hope that was helpful. Good luck