[hechicxxrr]

As others have said, it gets better with practice. I know a few really confident people that were like that when they were younger. One guy I know used to spend a lot of the time leading up to a presentation on the toilet, because he was so nervous. But you would never know it hearing him speak now.

[nabsgood]

I was like that too, until I had to start speaking in front of people (Speech and Debate class ). After the first time you're in front of a bunch of people and speak well, and your pants didn't come undone (which happened to my friend [rofl]) you'll realize that it's not as hard as you're making it out to be.

The first time though, just pretend that no one else is there in the room with you. To this day, I still do that. I'd die in any kind of presentation I have to give to the people I now work with if I starting looking at them while I was speaking. NOT to say look at your feet while talking- that's bad. Just concentrate on what you are saying. Even when I look out into the audience, I'm not actually looking at them. I'm just making sure I jive the apperance that I'm looking at them. It's hard to explain.

The less you concentrate on the people there, the better you'll do. Just imagine you're all alone speaking.

[esenesesinas]

Looks like a job for:Paxil [thumbup] [thumbup] Cured my fear

[esenesesinas]

Looks like a job for:Paxil [thumbup] [thumbup] Cured my fear lol now i can talk in big crowds of people.

[thumbup] [thumbup]

[werkeeque]

[thumbup] [thumbup]

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa one post should be enough,
or are you un-secure about it ?

[SzefciuCba]

A good help is to have something in your hand, like a pen. You can wave it around and point things and people with it.

[nabsgood]

A good help is to have something in your hand, like a pen. You can wave it around and point things and people with it.

I'd recommended not going with a pen. Waving an uncapped pen + white shirt = well, I'm just glad I was wearing a jacket.

Oh, for the love of GOD, please don't say um. It's much much better to have a dead silence then to hear someone say um.

[GaryBulguihb]

I got over it when I learned to animate myself instead of just standing there talking. Watch professional public speakers; they don't just stand in one spot.

It really does help.

[pongeystrhjst]

I get very nervous if I am asked to talk or read out loud in-front of people such as in-front of my class. I continously worry what I look and sound like when I'm speaking and my words come out stuttering, bouncing on words, mumbling or merging words together, and I get red hot! When I look up at people, some have smirks on their face bacause of the way I'm reading out. I keep worrying abut what I look like to them and blush and sweat hard.

I really need to break this problem. I've been doing this forever and now I'm in university! I get a shortness of breath and don't breathe enough. If I breathe deeply, it's too obvious and people can see that I'm trying to get my breath back to prepeare for the next sentence.

I find that if I whisper something that I'm reading, I can do that easier and my words come out smoothly. But when I actually talk, the stuttering begins, and after a few paragraphs the back of my throat starts to ache.

I'm a very quiet person and tend to blush easily. I'm too conscious about the way I appear when I do something in front of people that I end up messing it up and go red. My written English is A-grade, but my speaking in-front of people is terrible. I can imagine the way I want to be, but I just can't do it on-front of people.

I understand where you are coming from. Early in high school I used to get so worked up over the speech portion of a report that my written work would severely suffer. It would terrible. I would get hives, red faced, nervous, stutter..... I was very uncomfortable speaking in front of people.

Surprisingly while i still occasionally get nervous in front of a crowd its not nearly as bad as it used to be. I kinda just grew out of it, mainly because I took a job as an instructor for children. Eventually I got comfortable enough that it didn't bother me to speak in front of crowds anymore like it used to.

Sad to say, its not really a medical condition, no way to fix it other than training and getting comfortable. I'd ask a prof. at uni. and see if they have any speech courses tailor made for people who get very nervous in front of crowds.

I also find it helps a great deal if you are familiar with the subject at hand. If you are out your element, or not confident in your research it will affect your stage presence.

Don't assume I'm confident and poised on stage, I get nervous and my hands will shake a bit when I do. But most times I'm not nervous about being up there in front of people.

I got over it when I learned to animate myself instead of just standing there talking. Watch professional public speakers; they don't just stand in one spot.

It really does help.

Yes it does, IF you are comfortable. At best "trying to appear" animated when you are jittery and off center won't help. You'll still come off the same way. That said, the only way to get better is to speak about something you are very knowledgable about with a group of people you are familiar with on a consistant basis. Overtime you just get comfortable, you build a stage persona. People who meet me now when I'm in front of a crowd have a hard time believing that I am mostly a "quiet" reserved person.