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Montana House Bill 252 comes up for a hearing tomorrow and I'll be speaking on the behalf of those that have chosen not to speak publicly. My speech is about 2 1/2 minutes long-and I tend to speak too rapidly under stress so perhaps it'll be closer to 2 minutes. It will be directed at the 18 members of the committee hearing this bill as well as the 100 members of the state legislature. Eeeek. Oh, and my mother is a legislator so she is planning on introducing me to the house (and it's mandatory for them to applaud my presence simply because I'm related to her) which translates into me turning every imaginable shade of red on LIVE public television!!!!!!!!
So, for those of you that are good at this sort of thing, do you have any pointers? Suggestions? Any idea how I might offset the full body blush I will no doubt experience? How to slow down my speech so normal human ears can decipher it without a code?
-K
So, for those of you that are good at this sort of thing, do you have any pointers? Suggestions? Any idea how I might offset the full body blush I will no doubt experience? How to slow down my speech so normal human ears can decipher it without a code?
-K
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Re: Public Speaking...er, MY public speech tomorrow morning
Sun, February 15, 2009 - 8:07 PMknow your speech, inflect where you mean to inflect etc. have faith in it, know you've done your homework and understand your as important as any of the people you're talking to. most importantly relax, relax, relax. Self talk whatever you need to self talk in order to relax before you deliver it, prepare for what will transpire, but it sounds as though you've already done that. good luck! ;)
As for my credentials I've spoken in public dozens of times, giving poetry and prose readings, acting and including being rushed at from behind and in front while delivering a political speech to a hostile audience - lol I still managed to deliver the entire speech!
the only other thing know of comes from a brady bunch episode - imagine them all naked! -
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Re: Public Speaking...er, MY public speech tomorrow morning
Sun, February 15, 2009 - 11:19 PMXanax.
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Re: Public Speaking...er, MY public speech tomorrow morning
Sun, February 15, 2009 - 11:47 PMIf at all possible, say something funny to get the ball rolling, then take a deep breath and pause for a couple of seconds. That will get their attention and put you more at ease. Try to isolate someone at the back of the crowd and speak directly to them. Just try to get your message across to that one person. If they get it - everyone will. And remember, it will be over before you even know what happened, sort of like a roller coaster ride.
Good luck. -
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Re: Public Speaking...er, MY public speech tomorrow morning
Sun, February 15, 2009 - 11:50 PMYeah, good luck, Kryssa. Public speaking is hard, but you can do it.
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Re: Public Speaking...er, MY public speech tomorrow morning
Mon, February 16, 2009 - 7:56 AMI hope it is not too late for this response.
First as others have stated know your speech. A good speaker also will "work the room". I tend to divide the area into about 3 sections and move between them in a meaningful intentional manner at least with my eye contact.
In terms of slowing down... Remind yourself this is not a race to the end of the material. You have your time. Use it. For a speech to be persuasive you need to slow your cadence at point in which you want to make in order for your audience to connect to the point. Give em half a chance to absorb it.
I know you have already written it but for future. Don't sweat the word for word recitation. Use cards to write down your key points and the basic flow of the speech then talk to your audience. Any time I would have to quote data, or a quotation or something like that I would write it on a different color card. Otherwise I use more of an outline type form.
Know your material. If you get stuck you may need to invent a segue way on the fly... Make sure you have the background to do so.
Most of all relax. They are here to listen to you. To be in front of them is an honor not a source of embarrassment.
I used to be a competitive speaker and debater on the national level... I spent way too much time doin this stuff.
JSin -
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Re: Public Speaking...er, MY public speech tomorrow morning
Mon, February 16, 2009 - 9:10 AMJSin, you took the words right outta my mouth. "Slow down" is great advice.
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Re: Public Speaking...er, MY public speech tomorrow morning
Mon, February 16, 2009 - 8:41 AMGood luck -K -as I tell anyone nervous about performing, you have a choice between excitement and anxiety. It's the same energy just looked at with either joy and positive expectations or fear and negative expectations. Decide you're going to rock and this is a very exciting thing to do, take a deep breath and tell yourself you're excited, smile, walk on stage, smile some more, take a deep breath again and then start talking. Hopefully this will help. And if you're so energized you're shaking, then do something physical like jump up and down or shaking your arms or anything that reconnects you with your body and the energy in a positive manner to get your message across :-)
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Re: Public Speaking...er, MY public speech tomorrow morning
Mon, February 16, 2009 - 9:33 AMProtein. A supplement drink or bar. Somebody recommended it to me on here awhile back for nervous situations like speaking in front of a group. Apparently your body can use the protein you just ingested without having to send your whole body into shock to gather the resources to deal with the reaction. Or something along that lines. It made more sense when they said it, but it did help. -
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Re: Public Speaking...er, MY public speech tomorrow morning
Mon, February 16, 2009 - 10:16 AMLloyd - No doubt the protein helped you out but I suspect it may have been more of a placebo effect (though I could be wrong, I don't even play a doctor on TV ;-) What usually happens during a fight or flight response (it's not shock, that's a different response) is that you don't digest food (you may also need to poo really badly though). You get amped up on adrenalin and all the blood rushes from your torso and organs to your limbs in preparation for intense, fast physical action (so no blood to your stomach for digestion, it's one reason that indigestion tends to be a side effect of stress and anxiety). This energy is experienced as anxiety when we're thinking about something with fear or negatively and it becomes excitement when we're looking forward to something with joy or anticipation. Same energy, different interpretations.
However, eating protein earlier in the day may well be a good thing to do because it means you'll have energy reserves and protein gives a slow release of blood sugar (eating candy or donuts will just acerbate anxiety and then result in a sugar drop when you really want a smooth energy release).
Nothing wrong with soothing rituals and placebos either - both can be very useful when dealing with social anxiety.
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Re: Public Speaking...er, MY public speech tomorrow morning
Tue, February 17, 2009 - 11:58 AMso -K, how did it go? -
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Re: Public Speaking...er, MY public speech tomorrow morning
Wed, February 18, 2009 - 9:41 AMIt went GREAT!!!!!
I was even approached by the public policy director of ACLU Montana inquiring if I'd ever considered a career in politics! So, who knows...perhaps this will become the impetus for a whole new direction in my life.
-K -
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Re: Public Speaking...er, MY public speech tomorrow morning
Wed, February 18, 2009 - 9:43 AMCongrats! It's always nice to conquer a fear and kick some ass. Way to go. -
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Unsu...
Re: Public Speaking...er, MY public speech tomorrow morning
Wed, February 18, 2009 - 10:06 AMI had this 2 to 3 minute speech all written out, mostly memorized and even discovered a built in joke to get things rolling. My mother stapled my and a few others testimonials together for me but placed them in the copier the wrong way and they stapled on the bottom right corner. So, I handed them out to the committee members and apologized for the upside down and backwards stapling job, stating that my mother was a much better legislator than office assistant. Laughter all around.
Sadly, the committee chairman said that if I had written testimony I shouldn't use my time to reiterate that testimony as they will be reading it anyway. So, I had to scrap damn near everything I'd already prepared! Eeeeek. But, I managed to pull it off somehow. I even spoke at a normal human rate (I think) because a few folks came up to me afterwards and quoted my words back to me (suggesting they actually heard them) and engaged me in further debates and conversations and that's when the ACLU gal said my closing sentence was really powerful. A closing sentence I wouldn't have even had if I'd simply recited my prepared speech.
It went something like this:
"So, I urge you to please vote on behalf of your constituents and support HB 252 in order to acknowledge the amazing advances we’ve already made toward a just and equal society, as well as to support the ongoing efforts necessary to make “justice for all” a reality for all and not just for a select majority".
So, all in all, I felt it was a great success. Quite the adrenalin rush, and I can see how political activism could become an addiction in its own right. (Having participated in other areas of activism I think I prefer this method...it's almost intoxicating).
-K
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