<p>I absolutely stink at presentations. I get nervous when i speak in class, even raising my hand. I'll probably crap my pants when i do my speech in class tomorrow. anyways, its either because i am naturally shy or that because such cliques were formed in school that i feel inferior to others.</p>
<p>itll all change in college? unless im stuck in that same inferior group...im not weird or anything, i play sports and have a great social life, but the whole class participation/presentation is killing me...</p>
<p>I want to go to a business school called Babson, where its all presentations and stuff...</p>
<p>Prepare for your presentation. Search online for tips.
You will only overcome your fear by confronting it...getting a few good experiences under your belt will go a long way.</p>
<p>First: Realize that no one likes to see a presenter do poorly. The audience actually wants you to do well, and will be pulling for you. If you are nice, they will forgive a lot. I strongly suggest you not call them names; that would be a bad move for a presenter.</p>
<p>Second: Rehearse what you are going to say. Give yourself landmarks along the way by thinking about the logical divisions/breaks in your presentation. </p>
<p>Third: It's not really "public speaking." For some reason, people hear "public speaking," freak out, and say they cannot do it. So don't think of it that way. Don't even think of it as a presentation, if you feel your stomach start to knot up at the word "presentation." What you are really doing is teaching. You have information the audience needs and wants to know; you will teach them what you know. You are sharing your knowledge with them. It's fun to share something cool you've learned with someone, isn't it? Yes, it is! So.... teach your audience what it is you've learned, give them the information you have.</p>
<p>Fourth: Don't be afraid of silence. A period of silence usually seems longer than it is. There will be times when you will want to use silence; you can make an audience nervous, or make them impatient, or eager... silence can work for you very well if you are thoughtful about how you use it, and more importantly, let it work by being silent for however long you need to be to get the audience to feel what you want it to feel.</p>
<p>Fifth: Rehearse your presentation in your mind, and as you do so, break it into small pieces and visualize yourself doing each small piece well. For example... you have to give a presentation tomorrow. That's the big thing. Might seem scary. But that presentation is a series of small pieces, each of which I'm certain you can do. The first small piece is going to the front of the classroom. Can you do that? Of course! You have to put your notes in front of you on the podium. Can you do that? Of course! And so on. One small piece leading to the next, and then the next and the next and the next, and then, you're done!</p>
<p>Confidence is the key to a good presentation. You have to be confident about what you're talking about and view yourself as the expert of that subject and don't doubt your ability. View everyone in the class as your friends. Treat it like a normal conversation with people you know.</p>
<p>You might try taking a public speaking class because I've heard those help a lot.</p>
<p>I sucked at presentations too...i always became nervous.
Then, a couple of my friends helped me out. Basically..they forced me into befriending everbody. Do this..when you go to class...(beginning of the year)..talk to everybody..if possible..talk to 2 new ppl everyday(for a change)....even hey or hi is good...When you know everyone int the class, everybody will be cool wit you and you won't have a problem. Also, stop stressing abt present....think about it as a mere conversation. That is what I did, and I don't even really rehearse anymore to get over the anxiety. i only rehearse to memorize or to figure out mistakes.</p>
<p>if you get really nervous when speaking
the thing making you nervous might be seeing the reactions you are getting from the class
don't look at the whole class when you're talking</p>
<p>either find one friend you can look at the whole time
or just find look at the back wall of the room while presenting</p>
<p>this obviously isn't the best eye contact method, but it will help you build confidence
its hard to build confidence without at least presenting successfully a few times
then once you gain confidence you can present more naturally, and then good eye contact will then come more naturally</p>
<p>These might not work for you, but they've helped me a lot:</p>
<ul>
<li>Rehearse with one or two friends. Going over the speech in your head is not enough. When rehearsing, speak the way you're going to speak in the real thing. It'll seem like you're talking way too loud, but you'll need it when you present to more than one person.</li>
<li>I've found that after two or three times running through the presentation out loud, I naturally start to break it into pieces in my head, and the pieces start running together naturally.</li>
<li>When presenting, talk to the back of the room. Projecting is key, especially if you're in a large space. If you need practice projecting, find a large, empty lecture hall, go in, and start talking to the empty seats. Talk as loud as you can without yelling, and listen to your voice filling the room. That should help you develop a good public speaking voice.</li>
</ul>
<p>Plus, eventually you'll become "addicted" to the rush of public speaking. It happened to me, although my thing wasn't speaking. I played in a band. The first couple of times we played live for big crowds, I felt like I was going to throw up and tried to delay the gig as much as possible. But eventually you get used to it, and you feel you need it (lol...I'm such an attention whore lol)...hopefully the same thing will happen to you.</p>
<p>i got good at being outspoken by hanging out with shy and painfully quiet friends. because then, when there are awkward silences, whatever you say is gonna be good. for the most part.</p>
<p>babson is a 5 minute drive from my house >_>.</p>
<p>I swam at their pool 4-5 days a week during the winter months every year for the past 4 years, as my highschool doesn't have a pool so our swim team practices at babson's.</p>
<p>Sorry for that, just felt like saying. Anyway as people have said, practice. I also wasn't very good at public speaking so I joined my high schools speech and debate team sophomore year and got much better.</p>