HI,
Tonight I am a guest speaker at a presentation one of the firms I work for. Oddly, I am the closest to the venue too, but that’s immaterial. I’ve not done this kind of thing before, and to say that I am apprehensive about it is an understatement. I have a shed load of notes and files, so I am prepared for my slot.

The thing is that the other chap - the main presenter who will be topping and tailing the event is ill, and may not be able to make it. There is the distinct possibility that I will have to carry the whole show on my own. I am really hoping that right this moment, I will not be left to handle this all by myself (just spoken to The Boss, and he doesn’t want me to carry it all by myself either). If I had some experience under my belt, I could probably do this.

So at the moment, I’m wondering how people cope with this kind of thing - that is lengthy public speaking (with it seems a lot of improvisation) - the time I have to fill has gone from around 45 minutes to 1.5 hours if they can’t fill the gap. I’ve already said that the event will be shorter.

I usually cope with things by mapping out in my mind what I am going to do and say, and I have been doing this with my segment, so I’m OK about that part. It’s the start, Questions/Answers, competition (which I don’t think will happen as the prizes are way too far away to get to me on time now) which I am totally unprepared fro as it was not on my list of things to do.

Any advice? What’s a good strategy to get rescue such a situation?

The distinct possibility is that when I’m actually under way, I’ll get on a roll and carry it off. But right now, I’m not feeling that positive about it.

Not sure about you, but when I do public speaking I tend to rush what I'm saying, so try to keep it slow and concise.

i do that too, unless im drunk, but thats not usually a good idea

last time i found out i had to do something in front of lots of people, i ran off and hid in a play park until someone said i didnt have to

I know I gabble when I am nervous. I can also slow right down – again part of me thinking that I am speaking at a speed that lets others keep up. I also “over explain” which means that I will go into detail that I think is important, but which other may find too deep. I have no idea I am doing it at the time.

Usually when I am doing video tutorials, I can edit the gaps, crap and spurious nonsense out and get it to flow well. This time, I am very much aware that there is no edit, and certainly no Command-Z.

If I know what I am going to say, I'm usually OK, rehearsing it in the mirror and around the house helps, also if you can rehearse it on the stage before you do it you may feel more comfortable.

If I don't know what I'm saying, I have to try and think I'm someone else, who does know what they are saying...Not being myself helps me to feel less embarrassed because the person who I'm pretending to be is the one who's standing on the stage...If that makes sense...

I did a long speech, had it all planned out and printed in big text. I practiced it and got myself ready...

Then, when I got there, I had to do the speech without any visual aids. I quipped "I feel naked here, without my PowerPoint slides." Everybody laughed, I relaxed and I did the whole speech, error free, without having to look once at the notes.

If you can find a good off-the-cuff type quip to get your audience to laugh and relax, it will help you relax as well.

I found the same thing when I was lecturing. Get the audience in a good mood and I automatically relax.

Deep Breath and count to 10 before you start. For the first minute or so concentrate on speaking slowly, it stops that babbling which most of us suffer from until you get into your stride.

I've done a little too much public speaking over the years. I always try and get a little humour in early on to settle myself as much as anything else.

I use prompt cards with headings of my major points, so I don't miss anything important.

I take my watch off and put it where I can see the face easily so I know how time is going.

Good luck and make sure you've gota bottle / glass of water available.

Rehearse your "speech" multiple times. Remember the important phrases that you need but don't fuss over the small detail too much. You should know your material inside out. Put the important phrases on cue cards. Use them to jog your memory only and don't read from them.

Most important of all, give yourself a tommy tank before you go in.

Same goes for job interviews, although I don't think the receptionist was overly impressed!

:etc:

A tip I was told is to count to 3 between long sentences/points. Slows you down and allows the listeners to digest what you have just said.


Haven't tried this out personally :/ I have a suspicion that I always do my presentations with a terrified look plastered on my face ¬_¬

Didn't get that handrail polishing job then? Maybe you didn't have the right technique

It's interesting how many people are saying that rehearsing helps them.

I find that rehearsing doesn't help me, and infact if I rehearse too much then I get a bit flustered if I either deviate or forget where I am.

For me, at least, just remembering main points that need to be covered and flowing with the rest seems to work best. I do practice it, but certainly not rehearse. It's usually different every time lol.

Good luck to you though, it's certainly not much fun!

Well, I’m back and I survived. No amount of rehearsing would have prepared me as I veered off course drastically.

There were two of use, so I didn’t have to handle the whole event. What I had prepared was interesting, but probably too advanced for most oft he audience. I piked this up after a couple of questions, so I changed tack and did more basic stuff in my demo. The two of us had a longer Q and A session, and I was able to answer questions and show at the same time. This seemed to work better for me as I know enough about the app in question to just show and talk about it. Hopefully the gear change wasn’t that obvious.

Feedback from various attendees was positive afterwards, and apparently my nerves didn’t show. I made a joke about being rather nervous about the whole thing as I’d not spoken in front of an audience before. I did feel that I was stumbling over every word, but that could just be me.

So I feel a bit mentally battered afterwards, but I know if I have another crack what level to aim at. I should be more relaxed about the whole thing.

Thanks for all the advice - I did take note of it.

Happy to hear it worked out successfully. Have you opened the wine yet?

I didn't offer any advice because I'm a useless wreck in front of crowds. I didn't think that information would help much

Well done Paul,

I did an OpenSolaris presentation to the first years back at uni in October, and I think that went over their heads...There should have been lots of questions, but there was only one or two which weren't really about what I was talking about....