I will participating in a speech competition early next week and I am feeling extremely anxious. Help?
April 10, 2012 12:16 PM Subscribe
I will participating in a speech competition early next week and I am feeling extremely anxious. Help?
I'm a college student and am taking a speech class. I was one of several in my class to be nominated to compete in a speech competition. The preliminaries are Tuesday, a week from now, and if I make it, the finals are end of April.
I am extremely anxious to speak in front of people. I am also very passionate about my topic and feel that I cannot afford to be nervous. I not only want to win the competition, but also I genuinely want people to know about my topic. People in my class say they can't even tell that I am nervous, so that is good, but I still have a lot of practicing to do.
Ideally, I could get myself to practice two hours a day until Tuesday. The speech is only 5-7 minutes long, plus I get to use a powerpoint, but I am dreading practicing. So I've been putting it off. This Friday I will get to give my speech for the second time in front of my class. My class has only about 20 people in it, and we are all pretty comfortable with one another, so that won't be so bad, but oh my goodness, my palms are sweating right now thinking about this whole thing.
Help me relax and win this thing!
I'm a college student and am taking a speech class. I was one of several in my class to be nominated to compete in a speech competition. The preliminaries are Tuesday, a week from now, and if I make it, the finals are end of April.
I am extremely anxious to speak in front of people. I am also very passionate about my topic and feel that I cannot afford to be nervous. I not only want to win the competition, but also I genuinely want people to know about my topic. People in my class say they can't even tell that I am nervous, so that is good, but I still have a lot of practicing to do.
Ideally, I could get myself to practice two hours a day until Tuesday. The speech is only 5-7 minutes long, plus I get to use a powerpoint, but I am dreading practicing. So I've been putting it off. This Friday I will get to give my speech for the second time in front of my class. My class has only about 20 people in it, and we are all pretty comfortable with one another, so that won't be so bad, but oh my goodness, my palms are sweating right now thinking about this whole thing.
Help me relax and win this thing!
I'm going to repeat myself from this thread:
The best advice I ever got for public speaking is: Come up with an agenda. I don't mean an outline or list of talking points, but rather a list of things that you want to see occur during your time speaking: You want to get two people to laugh more than once; you want to see at least one person write down something that you said; etc. Whether you get these things to occur or not, you're watching for them, and you make a note of if they occurred, and if any item on your agenda didn't happen you focus on how you can get it to happen next time.posted by shakespeherian at 1:20 PM on April 10, 2012 [2 favorites]
What this does is that it gives you something to think about other than stressing out about whether the words emerging from your mouth make any sense and whether you are the worst thing that has ever existed and whether you want to crawl into a hole and die somewhere. It gives you a set of criteria by which to judge your performance that is objective and based somewhere outside of your own neurotic impression of how poorly you did.
The more you practice the less likely you will stumble over your words or mess something up, that should help you feel more confident.
Get a new pair of earrings, a haircut, a manicure, some thing that will help you feel like you look your best. Get your outfit dry cleaned if it needs it. Polish your shoes. Then you'll feel like you've done all you could. (Along with the practice, of course.)
Make a backup of your presentation.
posted by TooFewShoes at 2:17 PM on April 10, 2012 [1 favorite]
Get a new pair of earrings, a haircut, a manicure, some thing that will help you feel like you look your best. Get your outfit dry cleaned if it needs it. Polish your shoes. Then you'll feel like you've done all you could. (Along with the practice, of course.)
Make a backup of your presentation.
posted by TooFewShoes at 2:17 PM on April 10, 2012 [1 favorite]
Visualize! This helps me a lot. What will you look like when you're at the podium? How will you start? What will your voice sound like? How fast will you speak? You can go through your presentation in your head as often as you like (any time and anywhere) in the days leading up to the presentation.
posted by stompadour at 2:27 PM on April 10, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by stompadour at 2:27 PM on April 10, 2012 [1 favorite]
Know your material inside out. If rehearsing your speech terrifies you right now, the one thing you can do right now is to continue studying your notes. Open up the Powerpoint presentation, and mutter your speech as you go through each slide. Do this several times. I also find it more effective to think about the talking points throughout the day with a couple of rehearsal-type practice sessions in the evenings to practice timing and posture.
If you know the venue of the competition, it may not be a bad idea to take a look at it beforehand so you can visualize yourself in the space, or arrive early on the day of the competition to familiarize yourself with the room or stage.
It's okay to feel anxious. Don't think that you absolutely have to get rid of ALL your anxiety before you can even do your speech justice. A little bit of anxiety can be a good thing, if you channel that energy into mastering your material and persuading your audience. I enjoy public speaking and I generally receive good feedback, but I'm extremely anxiety-prone. I've never taken the stage without clammy hands and a weird feeling in my stomach. I worry about my voice quavering. But the one thing I have complete control over is my speech. You have a topic you're passionate about, and you were selected to take part in the competition, which means you must be pretty good to begin with! The odds are totally in your favour. Good luck and all the best!
posted by peripathetic at 3:22 PM on April 10, 2012 [1 favorite]
If you know the venue of the competition, it may not be a bad idea to take a look at it beforehand so you can visualize yourself in the space, or arrive early on the day of the competition to familiarize yourself with the room or stage.
It's okay to feel anxious. Don't think that you absolutely have to get rid of ALL your anxiety before you can even do your speech justice. A little bit of anxiety can be a good thing, if you channel that energy into mastering your material and persuading your audience. I enjoy public speaking and I generally receive good feedback, but I'm extremely anxiety-prone. I've never taken the stage without clammy hands and a weird feeling in my stomach. I worry about my voice quavering. But the one thing I have complete control over is my speech. You have a topic you're passionate about, and you were selected to take part in the competition, which means you must be pretty good to begin with! The odds are totally in your favour. Good luck and all the best!
posted by peripathetic at 3:22 PM on April 10, 2012 [1 favorite]
but I still have a lot of practicing to do.
This is really the only thing you can do. Don't fear your own anxiety, it is your friend.
posted by Ironmouth at 5:46 PM on April 10, 2012
This is really the only thing you can do. Don't fear your own anxiety, it is your friend.
posted by Ironmouth at 5:46 PM on April 10, 2012
I think the point of speech competitions is to confront this anxiety, get used to feeling it, and learning to perform in spite of it. It's not about the speech.
posted by BusyBusyBusy at 7:53 PM on April 10, 2012
posted by BusyBusyBusy at 7:53 PM on April 10, 2012
1) Anxiety and excitement are the same physical experience. Anxiety is the prediction of a negative outcome and excitement is the prediction of a positive outcome. The physical experience is a change or a challenge.
2) Since you mentioned anxiety, you are probably focusing on the negative potential outcome(s). Why? People give speeches all the time. Some are great, some are not.
I was at a conference where a fellow gave an absolutely miserable speech. My god it was awful. He was so pleased with himself as he walked off. I spoke with him afterward and he was happy just to have been up there. He knew it sucked. But he said "Now everyone knows who I am." He was there for business development, not applause. Over the next two days, he went up to everyone, for there was no barrier of introduction. They all knew who he was, where he came from, and what he was selling. If he had been after applause, he would have been crushed for there was none. But that's not what he was after.
Further, next time he gives a speech, he will suck less. And the time after that, he will suck less.
3) Practice, practice, practice. Let's say you practice three times, and each time, it's shit. You will still be infinitely better off than not practicing at all, for your mind will be trained in the content and the progression. You may surprise yourself.
The best speakers practice their speeches extensively. Often, they're not naturals. I remember one chap saying that by the time he's given a speech, he's practiced it 40 times. 40 times!
4) Practice better. Videotape or webcam yourself. Watch your body language. Listen to your intonation. Often, anxiety comes from not knowing how you will look when your're giving the speech… What will they see? Well, have at it. See what they will see.
5) Visualisation is an awesome suggestion. Sit down and close your eyes. Imagine you have just finished the speech. There is a moderate appluase, and you feel alive. You feel a rush of energy within you. As you walk off, someone in the crowd winks at you. They got the point.
6) Most importantly, if you hear yourself make a mistake, forget about it. Don't get flustered, just keep going. Hell, make a joke about it. But don't get caught in it. Listen to any famous speaker and they'll make a mistake. They'll mispronounce a word. Or they'll take a long pause in the middle of a sentance. Just keep going. Keep your eye on the prize.
posted by nickrussell at 5:45 AM on April 11, 2012 [2 favorites]
2) Since you mentioned anxiety, you are probably focusing on the negative potential outcome(s). Why? People give speeches all the time. Some are great, some are not.
I was at a conference where a fellow gave an absolutely miserable speech. My god it was awful. He was so pleased with himself as he walked off. I spoke with him afterward and he was happy just to have been up there. He knew it sucked. But he said "Now everyone knows who I am." He was there for business development, not applause. Over the next two days, he went up to everyone, for there was no barrier of introduction. They all knew who he was, where he came from, and what he was selling. If he had been after applause, he would have been crushed for there was none. But that's not what he was after.
Further, next time he gives a speech, he will suck less. And the time after that, he will suck less.
3) Practice, practice, practice. Let's say you practice three times, and each time, it's shit. You will still be infinitely better off than not practicing at all, for your mind will be trained in the content and the progression. You may surprise yourself.
The best speakers practice their speeches extensively. Often, they're not naturals. I remember one chap saying that by the time he's given a speech, he's practiced it 40 times. 40 times!
4) Practice better. Videotape or webcam yourself. Watch your body language. Listen to your intonation. Often, anxiety comes from not knowing how you will look when your're giving the speech… What will they see? Well, have at it. See what they will see.
5) Visualisation is an awesome suggestion. Sit down and close your eyes. Imagine you have just finished the speech. There is a moderate appluase, and you feel alive. You feel a rush of energy within you. As you walk off, someone in the crowd winks at you. They got the point.
6) Most importantly, if you hear yourself make a mistake, forget about it. Don't get flustered, just keep going. Hell, make a joke about it. But don't get caught in it. Listen to any famous speaker and they'll make a mistake. They'll mispronounce a word. Or they'll take a long pause in the middle of a sentance. Just keep going. Keep your eye on the prize.
posted by nickrussell at 5:45 AM on April 11, 2012 [2 favorites]
I have done speech competitions in the past.
1. Practice about 10 hours, at least.
2. Speak very loudly. The audience associates loud speaking with confidence. This will feel unnatural at first, but you must do it.
3. Speak slower than you expect. Pause a lot.
I suggest watching MLK's "I have a dream" speech to see how loudly he spoke, and how much he paused. During some of the pauses, I thought my recording had broken, but it turns out it was just an extremely long pause.
posted by cheesecake at 8:56 AM on April 11, 2012 [1 favorite]
1. Practice about 10 hours, at least.
2. Speak very loudly. The audience associates loud speaking with confidence. This will feel unnatural at first, but you must do it.
3. Speak slower than you expect. Pause a lot.
I suggest watching MLK's "I have a dream" speech to see how loudly he spoke, and how much he paused. During some of the pauses, I thought my recording had broken, but it turns out it was just an extremely long pause.
posted by cheesecake at 8:56 AM on April 11, 2012 [1 favorite]
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i do lots of public speaking and there are only 2 things that make/made me comfortable:
1. doing it. lots.
so thats a tough one here, but even in class helps.
2. be comfortable, knowledgeable, and passionate on the topic.
aha!! you've got this part in spades.
mostly, on the day of just use very standard relaxation techniques. deep breath. sip water, often. wear comfortable clothes or shoes. heck, keep a lucky charm in your pocket. just stay calm, and remember that you aren't jumping off a building or going to war. just speaking (as you do all day every day) to a group of people (which you do in many situations anyways). Its natural.
posted by chasles at 12:34 PM on April 10, 2012