Keep Calm: It's Only a Speech

A speech in front of hundreds of people about a difficult topic. That's the position I found myself in earlier this week. Because of my position in student government, I had to give a speech to open a presentation. Confession: I hate public speaking. I'm not good at it. I've had 2 classes. I dont have it down. Here are some of my survival tips.

1. Do not look at the crowd beforehand. Trust me, I still regret it.

2. Don't write paragraphs. Use an outline. I learned this the second time around, which taught me the big difference between public speaking and public reading. 

3. Don't move your feet, keep them planted. I learned this the hard way when a teacher commented on this freshman year. yikes.

4. Keep your hands glued to the podium. Seriously, I fiddled with my hands in my sweater pockets and I still feel dumb about it.

5. Lastly, be able to laugh at yourself. If you say something wrong, let it go. If some technical difficulty happens, just smile and laugh. It's much less awkward that way.

What are some other tips y'all have? It's an important fact of life that we're always looking to improve!

xoxo,

A+C