Pink Poogle Toy Forum

Hmmmm. A story then some advice. Interesting, interesting.

So basically, recently for my English GCSE course, I had to give a speech on the best/worst film ever, and, being a very indecisive child, I could not decide my favourtie, so went with worst. The film, rather irrelevently, was Unversal Soldier. So, I constructed a rather impressive speech, in my mind, that filled the whole criteria of the mark scheme.

Of course, I then moved onto practising my speech. I had some refined notes, with some trickier parts (written in a review style, piles of adjectives and alliteration) written down for refrence, incase I should forget them in my speech, but, I felt well revised, and could recite the speech from heart, with my features in the right places.

Anyway, it came for me to perform my speech, in time, and, it then went horribly wrong. I was uncontrollably, and very obviously nervous, my hands were shaking horribly, and, all I had practised basically fell apart. I forgot part of it, stuttered and looked down too much, usually at my notes for refrence, which was unnecessary, and, my speech had fell apart.

I ended up with a low A, even with the criteria covered, I simply spoke too quickly, nobody could pick up the majority of my speech, or uses of devices and technical langauge. To be honest, I was disappointed in myself.

So, now, PPT, I turn to you. I've always had a battle with nerves when giving a presentation, but this was one the of the worst cases. I had told myself before I could do it, but just, I couldn't. My shaking was uncontrollable, but, what I want, is a way to battle my nerves. I felt terrible afterwards, with a slight feeling of defeat and deflation.

So, my friendly members, what advice can you give to this nervous person? Thanks for any comments and help, much appreciated.

Maybe this is why I prefer Maths.
Mmmmm. Maths.

less sugar for you boy!

I'm hoping to scrape through english and maths is so I'm in the same boat but it's too late for me to improve myself

I did that for my GCSE English. Then I swore at someone in the front row for laughing. To say the least, I got an F in that particular assigment (Speaking & Listening)

I have my GCSE oral presentation in two weeks!! Arggh! And its in Welsh!! Argghh!! And I am incredibly nervous and haven't prepared yet. Hell, I don't even know what to talk about (we're allowed to choose) >.<

I will be watching this thread to see if any PPTers have advise! I think we're all in the same boat!

Universal solider as the worst film ever?
Ha, you need to watch some of the unholy trinity.

You got served.
Master of disguise.
Bubba-ho-tep.

Then shall you know the truly bad youngling.

As for confidence. Well, ask somone who is better equited with such things, I'm the least confident person that I know.

I've always gotten A*'s for speaking and listening, because I'm quite naturally confident. But when it comes to performing infront of people, all I can think about is how nervous I am, and then I lose my voice. Just take deep breaths and concentrate on being ready and confident rather then being paranoid about making a fool of yourself. If you prepare yourself to screw up, then thats the result you're gonna get.

Whenever I do speeches or presentations, I usually try to laugh myself out of my nervousness >_<. Sometimes I wouldn't even be able to stop myself from laughin xP. It depends on the teacher, I guess, some teachers mind it and some don't.

(don't listen to that, it's just me)

Practise a lot and make sure you're not reading it too quickly =). Speak loudly and confidently, it'll make you feel more confident. *nods*

Don't practice.

Eat a few bananas before you get up to present something in front of a group of people. There's something in bananas that somehow calms you down. No joke. A lot of my friends who are serious musicians eat 10 bananas before a performance so their nerves don't get to them. Also, pick places for your eyes to focus on throughout the room. I tend to look at the tops of people's heads...that way, they think that you're actually looking at them, but you're really only using your peripheral vision.

Practice a little bit in front of a mirror too, as awful as it feels. I hate doing that, but it instantly makes me realize things that I do. Also, don't think about everyone in their underwear...it'll just make you laugh in the middle of your speech.

Good luck!

I've said this here before and I'll say it again:

Pretend to be someone else giving the speech.

Pick a movie, book, or tv character that you admire as intelligent and eloquent. My favorites are Hannibal, Dumbledore, that blonde laywer lady from Law and Order SVU, and many others. If you slip into character, it becomes infinitely easier and you feel more comfortable.

Peppermints are the nervous man's friend. They really work!

Aww -hugs-

I've never had a problem with speaking & listening. I agree very much with the people who said bananas and peppermints though - bananas have been scientifically proven to calm you down, which is why over here you get a free banana before an exam, and peppermints sorta settle your stomach. Also, pick a spot on the wall and talk to that. Forget about everybody else, just stare at that. And if something goes obviously wrong, just smile/laugh and then just say it again properly. Although, if it's only a tiny thing that went wrong just ignore it - the audience won't know, honest!

Good luck


(and EWWWWW maths!!!)

Haha, I swore in mine and the person was so shocked they just gave me a moderated mark (the average of my other scores) because they didn't listen to the speech.

I'm quite a good public speaker because I don't speak, I perform a speech, rather than stand and give a speech.

It's a heck of a lot easier to perform a speech, rather than deliver it. If you are allowed to, try to put some performance into your speech, use an accent, pretend you're somebody else, have a mini-sketch in it. Standing and delivering a speech is hard, but dressing up as an army officer and barking commands as if it was a milatary excercise is easy (relatively). It doesn't even have to be a big change, give a lecture as if you were at University, teaching a course, be a lawyer giving a case in court, let your imagination run wild...

Failing that, do as suggested earlier and adopt a famous persona, if you're doing a movie review, adopt the actor of the main character's personality and complain about how bad the movie was, adopt the persona of a critic in the paper (EG : Deliver your speech sitting at a desk, typing into typewrite - real or imaginary. Act like a completely stereotypical new art critic who believes they're better than everybody else etc...)

It'll be somewhat hard to imagine Dumbledore complaining about Universal Soldier or swearing at people in front rows.

I'm a natural nervous wreck. Heck, I get all sweaty even when I'm leading prayers in front of my class.