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Comment by cattlefarmer | Hacker News Reader

I can't tell if she's nervous or awkward or excited but it reminds me of myself when giving talks, even to small groups. I get so flustered that my mind races and then the rest of my body tries to catch up so I'm now talking really fast and moving and jumping all over and being very fidgety with things. Anyway the difference is that she managed to get her points through while mine often gets lost.

I still don't know how to fix that except to practise and memorise what I'm going to say, and then just read it. But then it just becomes very monotone-y.

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Practice, practice, practice. I used to be unable to do presentations, unless I had practiced them out loud twenty times in the days before the presentation.

I wouldn’t write a script and stick to it word for word, I’d make slides and general points and then practice them out loud until I got them right.

After a few years of doing this, I only had to practice a few times.

Today I can stand up anywhere and talk about anything to anyone without notice. But it was a long road getting here.

I still get the same feelings of anexiety, but the way they effect me has changed with the practice. Where they’d once made me mumble and lose my train of thought they now motivate me. I still get red cheeks once in a while, but I’ve learned to laugh it away.

So practice, practice, practice, but it’s a lot of hard work. I mean, practicing a 30 minute presentation 20 times takes maybe 12 hours, and if you’re anything like I was, there is no short cuts.

> Today I can stand up anywhere and talk about anything to anyone without notice.

You can be comfortable doing it, but doesn't mean some practice wouldn't make it more enjoyable for the listeners.

Very true, and I do still prepare for presentations.

For me though, the side effect of practice has been how I can now naturally put my thoughts to speak and deliver the points I want the way I want. Both of these things seemed almost like magical abilities to me 10 years ago.

Whenever I have to speak publicly, I try to channel Barack Obama. He talks so ... slowly. He pauses so ... ... long between sentences. It feels like agony when you’re doing it, but it works. In reality the pauses are never as long as you imagine, and it gives the audience time to absorb what you’re saying.

Can you suggest a video with a good example?

Obama's final State of the Union is a good start: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlLSBTAg0aM.

More archived videos are available here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDGknzyQfNiThyt4vg4MlTQ/vid....

Huh, for me it's opposite. Recorded myself practicing, thought I talked at a reasonably pace, but realized it was sooo sloow.. and.. boring.. to listen to. So I feel I have to deliberately talk faster.

Anyways, record yourself practicing, it's a great tool.

Obama uses a TelePrompTer and practices a lot. I tend to do better giving talks on the fly that are more organic, but each person has their own style.

I think this person is very well-practiced at giving talks and communicating in general.

Her enthusiastic quirky style reminds me of Clifford Stoll's (https://www.ted.com/talks/clifford_stoll_on_everything)-- very warm, humorous, and humble.

Recording yourself and reviewing the recordings is a technique I've used. I am uncomfortable doing it (do not like hearing / watching myself!), but it's definitely helped me analyze how I come across and then adjust accordingly.

Also a good strategy to use when preparing for interviews.

It really is very weird talking by yourself to a camera. The first few takes have the very obvious 'I'm talking to a wall' feel to them.

It's strange but it feels more natural to have a real person behind the camera and pretend you're talking to that person instead.

After I’ve written a full script, I reduce each sentence to a few keywords (25-75%) in my notes. That way, I’m re-building the sentence in my head during the presentation and it flows much more naturally than just reading off of a script.

A tip is to talk in slow motion, because if you talk super slow and think of it during your talk, you will probably talk normally.

Your mind and heart races and so does your speech, so that trick is good for when you're nervous and have helped me several times when giving presentations. You will think that you're talking in slow, but in reality you are talking normally.

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