[Glimmer]

Guess I am one of the odd balls as well! I love public speaking and have ever since I was young. I took a year of it in high school and had the best public speaking teacher ever! I was one of the few students that enjoyed talking in front of the group but a majority of the students ended up in the class because it was at the right time and they really had no other choice... almost all hated public speaking.

This teacher made it a great deal of fun... in the beginning it was pretty much an open floor debate type setting that made all a little more comfortable with the group... as we progressed it got harder because the topic became more narrowed.

One of the things she warned us about was finding one face and talking strictly to them.. it ends up giving the impression of tunnel vision and an ignored audience... instead whenever we were to go up in front of the group we were to pick 3 people in the audience... one on either side of the room and then one in the middle... we were then supposed to use them if we lost our spot, got nervous, etc so that we made contact at different points of the presentation.

Other things that helped... really I mean.. REALLY knowing your subject matter! The more prepared you are the better off you will be (what my old debate coach used to tell us) and you can never be over prepared when it comes to certain subjects. Try to use a visual aid in the presentation... it takes the focus off you as well as letting you focus on something else. Charts work great because you can draw the attention to them as well as giving yourself a chance to look at something you are more comfortable with. Becareful using notecards... don't write out the speech or even complete sentences... use them like an outline with just the key points on them. You are less likely to read from them so again you are forcing yourself to make eye contact and look up from your cards. If all else fails try to use a podium when talking... it can help to hide your movement... becareful not to lean on it or grasp the edges so hard your knuckles turn white. Be free with your speech... don't be afraid to use hand gestures, etc when talking... it really does help you relax as well as get your group more involved (you are more interesting if you are not talking monotone hiding behind something).

Just a few pointers

Alnee