by lonelysheep 19 Replies latest jw friends
As was mentioned, comfort with the material is very important. You definitely want to rehearse it. Also, remember that everyone else will be just as nervous if not more nervous than you.
I agree with R.F.'s good points. Just a word of caution. It is possible to over-rehearse, IMHO. You don't want to fall into memorization of words and phrases. That'll get you every time.
Preparation, preparation, preparation.
Yes you can over prepare too. To the point where you are too mentally tired to remember your own name.
But that us rather rare.
So LSheep, how did it go?
Dave
I have the same nervous feelings Lonelysheep, somebody gave me a great bit of advice once - just imagine that they are all dead. Or naked. Whichever you prefer. I preferred the dead scenario. Also, I try to devote a few minutes beforehand to just looking at myself in the mirror and laughing at myself hysterically.
Rejoin the Theocratic Ministry School.
How did the speech go?
Ahhh, I lucked out. I get there, and the entire floor (including the classroom carpet) was flooded....LOL!!!!! Class started 20 minutes late and more than half the class didn't even "get" to go tonight. Good thing, since I also forgot a videotape for myself. So, I'll do my cooking demo on Thursday. I'll be as good as Rachel Ray, if not better, I hope. I am now confident my content is exactly as it should be. It's the delivery I'm a Nervous Nelly about. I will update this thread afterwards.
ALL of your posts are so very much appreciated!!! I need a little help from my friends.
Ok...so, it went well. I got a B and the professor liked it! Perfect speech gets an A (NO one was that good this first time). It didn't feel too bad, but I was definately not as calm as I should've been. I kept looking at the food I was preparing and not at them enough! Now for the information speech, I was thinking, "Signs of Cult Behavior"! LOL
WTG! :-) You got a "G"!
I've given a few talks about my master's topic at a local, regional and national meetings (society for applied anthro, society for human ecology...that type of thing), and have given advice to other grad students who told me it worked great for them.
First step: like your topic. Sounds pretty basic, right? Even if you don't get to pick your topic, find something in it that you think is cool and interesting that you'd like to share with others.
Second step: practice just talking about your topic. Informally. Tell people about your topic every chance you get. Corner strangers on the street. Do this often enough, and you learn 2 essential things:
1. what people are interested in about your topic (use this to keep your talk interesting)
2. what you need to say to explain your topic
3. (very important) what you can leave out and they'll still understand your point. (don't overexplain once your audience 'gets it') - learn this by paying close attention to what questions people ask when you give very short 'sound bytes' about your topic.
This is a multi-stage process and works best for thse who work with the same topic over a long period, but you can corner friends and family members for 'short term' topics too.
relax and enjoy telling people 'cool stuff' about a topic you like.
