Speech due next week...

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Ive got a Level 2/Year 12/Not sure of the American equivalent(16 year old curriculum) speech due next week D:

Was just wanting some help from fellow aspies as to how to make it easier to give a speech without getting unbelievably nervous?

What helped you in the past? Our teacher has talked about stuff like that but its a lot worse for us aspies...

As it happens, I am in the same boat in a manner of speaking, year 12, have to give a seminar with a visual aid(Not sure when my seminar is due, though).

Anyway, I find it terrifying too, but what helps is:
Talk about something you are really into, it will help you act in a more passionate way.
Build up confidence in general, personally I have basically been the 'top student' or just about in English and answer all the teacher's questions so I feel good. Get to know people in the class who will be supportive. Not sure if you can do these ones in a week, though.
Practice, I suppose. Write the speech well so that you feel like you need to present well. Pretending you are practicing does not work for me because I am supposed to look around at everybody, and in the eye. You could get around looking in the eye by just skimming over faces. Teacher should have told you to talk loudly, slowly and clearly with pauses in good places.
My Classics/History teacher told us that she used to faint while giving speeches and things while in school and university, but now she is great. Presumably you just need to practice.
I have no idea if this will help, but maybe you could ask the teacher if you could stand in front of the class and have everyone stare expectantly at you, to get a feel for it. Just an idea though, ask someone more reliable than me.

Hopefully this will help. Others can probably help better though. It occurs to me that acting in typical Aspie fashion could have an effect by alarming people (and therefore catching attention) by lack of body language or voice change, but I doubt this will work well or get you good marks.

Even if other students in your class appear to be nonplussed by their upcoming speech, it's probably just a front: the majority of people in the world have a fear of public speaking - you are not alone.

There's even one "statistic" that claims people fear public speaking more than they fear death (I can't find the evidence to substantiate that claim, but it is oft repeated).

Remember this: you may think it will feel like the longest few minutes of your life, but that's all it really is, a few minutes and before you know it, you'll be done!

If skimming faces still makes you nervous, then look just above the faces of others - don't actually look at their faces. If, towards the end of your speech, you're feeling particularly brave, start looking at the faces of people you'll know will be more friendly to you.

And yes, talk about what you want to talk about: even if the teacher has assigned a particular topic area, find the bits that you like the most and talk about them. Make it interesting to you and at least one other person will find it interesting too.

Finally, remember that your classmates are going to fall into 2 major camps:
1) the first group are really nervous because they haven't given their speeches yet and that's all they can think about, so they're not really listening to you.
2) the second group have given their speeches and are happy that they're done and now they're thinking about lunch or their homework that they haven't done for the next class or whatever - in other words, they're probably not listening to you either.

So there's little reason to worry about people who aren't even going to be paying that much attention, right?

The one person who will listening (I hope) is the teacher. Just do your best and understand that (as someone who has taught public speaking) we teachers want you to succeed!! !! I always loved hearing a student get excited about a speech - it may not have been perfect, but I could tell that the student was interested in the topic and I could see the look of relief when everything was said and done. You can do this and it will be alright - seriously.

One final thing: One minor change in someone's position in a room can skew their perspective completely - it can be rather disconcerting if you're used to sitting at a desk in the room and all of a sudden you're at the front and nothing looks the same, you know? So, before your speech next week, if you could pause at the end of class sometime this week and just stand at the front of the classroom where you'll be giving your speech, then you'll already know what it feels like and looks like to be standing there - it won't be such a shocker when you have to do it for the first time next week.

Good luck - you'll be GREAT!! !! !

_________________
Diagnosed with High Functioning Autism well into adulthood.
It's never too late to get a diagnosis.
Hell, I thought I was just weird.

i can (obviously) come off as really abrupt and my tone can sound sharpish, so feel free to ask me to clarify

thanks guys this helps a lot gonna get Excellence(NZ equivalent to an A) hopefully

After a required college speech course, speeches were a codex of rules that usually are common sense. I got around the nervousness by believing it was my duty to act out the hyperness and smile. I don't usually end up doing eye-contact though; I look over their heads; or at their chins.

Remember not to read the speech you write. Unless it is really a last-second ordeal. Get familiar with your written speech enough that you can BS all of it from your note-cards; that way it sounds more authentic.

Don't forget to act out that hyperness.

For making eye contact I don't scan the crowd all the time, sometimes to emphasize what you're saying, make eye contact with someone - avoid the far sections to the side, but centerish pick one person who's near others, make eye contact and 1.. 2.. 3.. and break it. Then repeat that for the more important parts of the speech (different person each time). This helps make the other person feel a more personal connection to what you said, like you're speaking to them and not just into the room. It also helps to distract you from the fact that you are speaking to a whole lot of people. Think of it as a psychological trick, it's not just about connecting to the audience, it's also about separating them from one another so you can deal easier.

It might sound obvious to say don't chew gum and don't try to talk while eating or drinking anything, but I've sat through a few speeches being given by someone who was in the middle of some very enthusiastic gum chewing so mentioning that too.

Don't be afraid to pause either after paragraphs or if you have to flip pages. Not a long pause, but speeches are the exact opposite of casual conversation.. you're better off with a full stop and a little silence than an ummm or aahhh. Umms and ahhs make you sound indecisive.

Stand up straight, or as straight as you can without seeming like you're playing a statue. Gestures are fine, but keep it controlled. Stone aspi statue is bad, but wildly stereotypical Italian cook is even worse. This part can be tricky, I don't know how good you are at that stuff. If you have trouble think of the gestures as underlines, but for spoken language.

Don't think of people in their underwear - you may be giving speeches to people who are scary enough clothed but disrobed they'd be downright terrifying. But do remember that they're probably obsessing over their own stuff, short of going up there in a gorilla suit and setting the stage on fire you're probably not going to do so badly they'll remember it for very long. The worst speeches aren't given by people who are nervous but by people who know exactly what they're doing and realize they have a captive audience to inflict upon.

If things go wrong, don't panic!! But do laugh. You can turn all but the most outright hostile crowds around if you just go with it a bit. If someone says "Wait, didn't you mean the seagulls pick up the fish from the barrels rather than the fish pick the seagulls up?" yes, you made a mistake and are mortified at it, you think your speech is ruined and no one will ever want to hear anything you say ever again.. but.. just laugh it away even if you must fake.. "So I did, so I did..... Great mental image though ain't it? fish hunting down seagulls... well if you're a fish. But as I was saying.." or "You're right. I'll forget my own head next, it's still up there right? hehe, well good. Now as I was mentioning.." and move on. People can still have a good impression of someone who has absolutely no clue and is messing up their own text so long as they're good sports about it. Same goes for technical stuff happening, things breaking, falling down, so on, laugh it off and no one will care nearly as much as if you get flustered.

I'm sure there's more, but this is all I can think of for now. I used to be terrified of giving speeches, now I can do that easily. You get into a mode if you do it enough times and it starts to feel, maybe not natural, but familiar enough you know what to expect. Now if only I could mingle with the crowd afterward with the same success!

Well? How'd it go? What'd you talk about? Tell us!!

_________________
Diagnosed with High Functioning Autism well into adulthood.
It's never too late to get a diagnosis.
Hell, I thought I was just weird.

i can (obviously) come off as really abrupt and my tone can sound sharpish, so feel free to ask me to clarify

oh right sorry

i only got achieved (C in american curriculum) because i spoke in monotone, but at least i passed !

I talked about rugby, its the only thing i know well

Oh my slides broke down so i took KBerg's advice, just laughed it off thankyou

Thanks for all your help everyone i really appreciate it!