Public Speaking... I have a speech on Wednesday.. Helpp!! !

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On Wednesday morning, as part of my speech class, I have to give a 7 to 10 minute informative speech in front of a class of 30 people, and the teacher is videoing it. I'm the 3rd speech, only 2 people are going before me. Every time I think about giving my speech I start getting anxiety and panic attacks, and thats just from THINKING about giving the speech. I started getting anxiety attacks when the teacher was telling us about what to do when we speak, how long, etc. And even worse, my teacher was telling us that we lose points if we stim, or say "uh" too much, or talk too fast, or talk in a monotone.... and these are all things I always do, and things I do more when I'm nervous... What should I do?? Please Help!!

Breathing and pacing are very important.

Practice breathing from your diaphragm - let your ribcage expand to pull the breath into your lungs. When we're nervous our breathing tends to get shallow, our throats tighten and our voices get higher pitched. Do breathing exercises from now on, and hopefully that will help calm your nerves in the meantime as well.

Plan your speech carefully and have planned breaks for a thoughtful pause. This will let you take a deep breath, maintain a steady pace - not too fast, not too slow, and will let your audience absorb the information you have just given before you move onto your next point.

Type it out in a large font so it's easy to read and break it down into short paragraphs. This should help with your pacing. If need be, make a note for yourself to pause and breathe.

Think about which words or phrases you want to emphasise and embolden or underline them, so that they stand out and you remember to emphasise them as you speak.

Using a mixture of long and short sentences will make the speech less monotonous. Long sentences are good for giving information, shorter sentences for summing up individual points and for emphasis. If possible, use groups of three words or phrases to emphasise particular points. That's a very old rhetorical practice. Politicians use it a lot.

If you get a chance before the class, do some upper body stretching exercises - tension may be felt in your neck and shoulders.

Drink water before you start, and if you can, sip water during your planned pauses.

I hope this helps. Remember, everyone else will be nervous as well. Most people hate speaking in front of a large group. Going third is good, as you can relax for the rest of the class, having done it.

I dreaded speech class in college..but honestly..its not bad..we had to do 3 speeches for the class, 10 minutes long each...the thing that kept me cool was knowing that everyone else around me was nervous as well..Everyone is nervous, and we seem to think that they are all judging us, when in reality college students are either day dreaming, texting on their phones, or nervous over their own speeches. I used to not like doing speeches, now i could care less and i try to use my excellent vocabulary to my benefit.

I am a public speaker. I used to fear that idea, I NEVER thought it was possible but I became manic and started having racing thoughts about "changing the world for the better." I am trying to spread disability awareness and inspire people that just because you have a label on your head, it shouldn't stop you from pursuing your dreams. I want to spread that message. I was always nervous when I had to do presentations in school. Now I love getting up and speaking. I talk 24 hours a day anyways, so might as well use it for good and get paid while doing it! Yes, some well known speakers get (check it up if you don't believe me) between $5,000-$50,000 a speech and there can be multiple speeches in a month. Since I am a beginner they are paying me by giving me a booth. Usually booths at conferences are very expensive, I'm talking over $1,000. So my speech in May basically they are paying me $1,000 because I get to sell my art and the Hollywood art show (its called "Heroes for Autism") would be done so we'll have pictures of me with the actors and that should sell my prints like crazy! And after they hear my inspiring speech, they will all go to my booth!

It's not bad, the best thing you can do is practice your speech several times by yourself and a few times, before like a family member or a friend to help you with your nerves. Everyone is nervous and a lot of people mess up. I did my 1st of three speeches last week and I got a 95 on the speech and 100 on my outline. The only thing I got docked for was looking at my notes a little to much, but at least I didn't read it like some people.

My 2nd speech is going to be after spring break, and I am doing an informative speech on Aspergers Syndrome.

Top tips:

A presentation should have three parts.

Introduction: Say hello, introduce yourself and tell them what you're going to tell them.

Main section: The information you need to impart.

Summary: Tell them what you told them.



There are two different ways of doing it.

* You could write out the whole thing and try to memorise it or use a script. This isn't really recommended, because this can come across as quite stilted and, erm, too 'scripted'.) Bear in mind that - roughly speaking - normal speech is about 180 words per minute, so that should give you a rough idea of how many words you need to write. That's the rough estimate that broadcast journalists work with for television and radio news scripts, so it's perhaps a little bit slower than some people's conversational rate, you don't want to sound like a horse race or other sports commentator, you want to talk at a steady pace, clearly enough for people to understand. Another thing to watch out for, if you're reading a script, is the length of sentences. 20-25 words maximum. If your sentences are longer than that, you'll need to break the sub-clauses down into separate sentences, re-phrase it if necessary. Otherwise, you'll run out of breath before the end of the sentence. And think about how you speak, it's usually different to the way people write, by which I mean that people use contractions in speech. For example, when writing, you would normally write "cannot" but say "can't", you would write "do not" but say "don't," so if you're going to say something, write it how you'd say it. If in doubt, read it aloud, practice, and you'll know whether or not it sounds right. If your handwriting isn't that good, it might be better to type it up, maybe double spaced and 12 or 14 font size so it's easier to read, and print it off (but don't leave this till the last minute in case the printer runs out of toner and you end up panicking). And try to remember to look up from the script occasionally, look round the room sometimes, gain eye contact with people. If you get flustered and lose your place, that's okay.

* For someone who's not used to public speaking, it's perhaps better to start with a full script, and then as you grow more confident in your delivery, summarise the main points into bullet points that you talk about and elaborate on naturally in ad-libed speech. And then you write those bullet points on index cards, so that you don't have a sheets of A4 paper to hide behind (don't hide behind them, btw). This method is good if you're more confident and able to talk off-the-cuff.



And then you summarise what you've told them, just the bare key points, the main message you wanted to get across. And thank them.



And don't worry too much about it, everyone will be quite nervous about it, it's only natural. Just try to remember to speak clearly and not too quickly, and to look at people, gain eye contact every now and then, and smile! You'll be fine!