How do you feel about Public Speaking. | INFJ Forum

How do you feel about Public Speaking.

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Jan 24, 2009
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Most of the time I love it but I prefer it not be too formal so that I can tell some jokes to loosen up myself and the audience. I'm usually pretty quiet and avoid attention from large groups, but when that attention is in a controlled environment I feel better. I still get nervous as hell but I think overcoming that is part of the reward. The whole process is one of building then releasing tension; like a suspense novel, orchestral symphony, or sex with a lion.

Just keeping you on your toes. :)

Anyway it's kind of a weird thing I noticed since I consider myself pretty introverted.
 
I can talk to big groups of people and be goofy and be myself when it is naturally. However when it is a 'presentation set up' in front of large people, I absolutely DIE. My hands shake, my intuition tells me I'm gonna die or that something horrible will happen, and my voice can get shaky.
 
Hahahaha yeah I'm a nervous wreck. I almost always found a way to avoid it back in Middle School/High School when we had to make some kind of presentation.
What can I say, I'm a reeeaallly shy person.
 
Don't get me wrong. In the moments beforehand I still feel like I'm on death row.

Maybe I'm just a masochist. :evil: :whip:

I have a problem with it when it has to be really formal and serious though. I had to do a presentation in front of about 100 hundred people for an assignment last year. It was about proposing to an (imaginary) client about building an e-commerce system for them. We wore suits and everything. That one sucked.

Until our Power-Point slides stopped working.

Well you'd think that would make it suck even more. But at that point our expectations and the expectations of the audience had crashed. The audience was made up of other students who also had to make a presentation by the way. I realised that whatever we tried our presentation would suck, and that somehow made it fun. There was less pressure. I started joking about how they had to use their imagination for the diagrams that I couldn't show them anymore. I could be myself.

The rest of the people in my group who did the presentation wanted to kill themselves. I kinda feel bad for them. I probably just made the grade worse for them by not taking it seriously. :(
 
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I act so shy and nervous when I am in front of people. Singing in a choir help me to be more brave though.
 
I was soooooooo closed off into myself, in middle school I went a year without talking. I was forced to go into a speech class by my parents--and it helped. In high school when I had to present, I would shake so bad I thought I was going to faint. In college I took another speech class and I'm just about over my fear entirely.

Public speaking makes everybody nervous, but I've learned not to let my personal insecurities get in the way of what I'm trying to say. I do a lot of rehearsing so I'm comfortable once I'm up there and about to begin. To anyone who hates public speaking, REHEARSE your speech at least a dozen times before you go up and I promise you, there won't be a problem, lol! Also, try striking up conversation with strangers. The more you do it, the better you'll be at speaking.

Nowadays, I strike up conversation with anyone who starts talking to me first. I like doing it, it's a fun challenge.
 
I may be full of it... maybe I'll find out at my next opportunity to present..

but..

I think I REALLY enjoy public speaking. My only stipulations (2) are that I need a script of some sort and I need to be able to practice it. I can't go in cold turkey. I need to feel comfortable with what I am saying. I get nervous beforehand, but if I know what I am doing, once I get going, I think it's fun!

And if I feel passionately about the subject.. woohooo! Sometimes I wonder if that could be my life's work somehow. Occasionally I wonder if when I do my master's degree, if maybe I'd enjoy it so much to continue onto a phd or teach with a master's. Except that I feel inadequately smart (i.e. stoopid - lol) to feel like I have anything valuable to say at times.
 
I was soooooooo closed off into myself, in middle school I went a year without talking.

I hear you. I was basically mute throughout elementary school, even gr. 7 and 8. And still socially mute through high school.

What is a speech class TK? Do they have them for adults?
 
Of course they do. Your local community college should have a "public speaking" course. It's where I took mine. There are all sorts of seminars out there (usually floating around colleges) you can take. :D There are advanced classes and beginner's classes. :D
 
Oh god, I could never take a Public Speaking course. I'm way to shy for that. I'm so glad my major or my school doesn't require it as a pre-requisite.
 
As long as I'm talking about a subject I know intimately, I've got no problem at all -- if it's in my forte, I shine like a star.

Now, if it's something I don't care about, or not in my forte, then my legs shake like the dickens.
 
As long as I'm talking about a subject I know intimately, I've got no problem at all -- if it's in my forte, I shine like a star.

Now, if it's something I don't care about, or not in my forte, then my legs shake like the dickens.
Lucky youuuuu. Even if it's a presentation about something I love, I still freak out and get extremely nervous. v.v
 
I may be full of it... maybe I'll find out at my next opportunity to present..

but..

I think I REALLY enjoy public speaking. My only stipulations (2) are that I need a script of some sort and I need to be able to practice it. I can't go in cold turkey. I need to feel comfortable with what I am saying. I get nervous beforehand, but if I know what I am doing, once I get going, I think it's fun!

And if I feel passionately about the subject.. woohooo! Sometimes I wonder if that could be my life's work somehow. Occasionally I wonder if when I do my master's degree, if maybe I'd enjoy it so much to continue onto a phd or teach with a master's. Except that I feel inadequately smart (i.e. stoopid - lol) to feel like I have anything valuable to say at times.

I completly agree. I love doing public speaking! I find it interesting that I am the reverse of most of you. If it is a formal situation, I do so so much better, and feel way more confortable. However, if it is non-formal, such as with a random group of friends, or at a party, I feel terrible and get incredibly nervous. I also do much better once I am around more then like 20 people, I feel best when I am around like 100 or more actually. Too small of a group and I get very nervous.
 
It's just something I've grown up with from a young age. I am not sure I could go so far as to say that I love public speaking, but I am comfortable being in front of a group and talking. I am often nervous when I start, but more often than not ease into it within a few minutes.

I'd never joke or act goofy to try and relax myself in front of a crowd. For me, that would be quite unnatural and out of character.
 
Ok if I am well prepared for the topic. Not good if impromptu.

Yeah that's what I mean about a controlled environment. You can prepare yourself for it beforehand.

I think I do public speaking better than normal communication. I rarely even make eye-contact when talking to people face-to-face I can be that shy.

Maybe I have tricked myself somehow into being confident in front of a lot of people. I'm really not a self-confident person. Maybe the only thing that actually feels good about public speaking to me is being myself for a change instead of closing myself off to the world.
 
As long as I'm talking about a subject I know intimately, I've got no problem at all -- if it's in my forte, I shine like a star.

Now, if it's something I don't care about, or not in my forte, then my legs shake like the dickens.


It sounds like you are describing me too haha :) I'm the same.
 
I may be full of it... maybe I'll find out at my next opportunity to present..

but..

I think I REALLY enjoy public speaking. My only stipulations (2) are that I need a script of some sort and I need to be able to practice it. I can't go in cold turkey. I need to feel comfortable with what I am saying. I get nervous beforehand, but if I know what I am doing, once I get going, I think it's fun!

And if I feel passionately about the subject.. woohooo! Sometimes I wonder if that could be my life's work somehow. Occasionally I wonder if when I do my master's degree, if maybe I'd enjoy it so much to continue onto a phd or teach with a master's. Except that I feel inadequately smart (i.e. stoopid - lol) to feel like I have anything valuable to say at times.

I relate to you 100%. I LOVE public speaking. I still get really nervous, but once words begin to come out of my mouth my nerves go away completely. Some of my most enjoyable and fulfulling moments in high school happened during the interschool debating competition.
 
I love it, because it gives me something different. It makes you step outside of your comfort zone and just shine. I love the feeling I get right in the middle of a speech and once all the people clap. And the stuff afterwards. Then I get to go to sleep feeling warm :).