I have to go to public speaking class tomorrow and I'm terrified.

[Northernlion]

Accept the nerves and move on. Generally speaking we live in a society where, "I was too scared" is an excuse to not do something (or at least do it half-assed). f**k that, nerves or not go out there and kill it.

[dog20]

I'll tell you guys how it goes.  I see this class as a way to improve myself.

[nomad]

I'll tell you guys how it goes.  I see this class as a way to improve myself.

keep that attitude and you'll do fine

[schro]

In all seriousness, I took a public speaking class in senior year in high school. It was a great decision. I was active in student gov't, and my activity levels continued through college. My job requires me to speak often, which I feel very comfortable doing, as long as I prepare for my topic.

Good luck.

[FR8TRAIN]

The guy in my avatar is Paul Wall, not me.

Get outta here! Really? No Way!

Dog this class is gonna boost your confidence. Dude, I speak in front of 25-30 complete strangers, 5 times a day, every day. But before I could ever do that I had to take a public speaking class in college and I went on to join Toastmasters just to improve my public speaking and get rid of the "um's, ah's, you know's, etc.. Who knows man, you might just find that you love to do it.

[dog20]

I survived day 1 and I am already a little bit more confident.  I have to do 2 2-3 min speeches and 2 7-9 min. speeches.  On the long speeches, I can only use a sheet of paper with keywords,  so that kinda sucks... but at least the topics can be on whatever I want.  Today I had to interview someone and introduce him to the class.  Out of everyone who spoke, I was the most nervous one... or I did the worst job of hiding my nerves because I said a few words, but they had trouble coming out of my mouth properly lol.

I was able to look up and talk, and all I did was focus on something in the backroom.  So that was cool.  The interview before my presentation was actually harder for me.  Because the person I interviewed was so awesome.  He had been sky diving, white water rafting, he is in the national guard, and he has served in afghanistan where the hummer he was driving, flipped over and crushed his face (the front tires got blown out by enemy fire, he lost control of the vehicle and then was ejected and the hummer then landed on him).  Then he was like, anything interesting with you?  And I couldn't think of anything...

So he kept trying to pry me for information and all I could come up with was:

1.  I got a guinea pig
2.  I've never been out of florida
and
3.  I bowled a 298

sigh, my life has been so uneventful and pathetic.

[time2shine]

Cool man, see wasn't as bad as you thought.
You're life isn't pathetic, we all get into the daily grind of things.  But it sounds like you need to go do something crazy.  Possibly free hugs?  Did that happen..?

[dog20]

Cool man, see wasn't as bad as you thought.
You're life isn't pathetic, we all get into the daily grind of things.  But it sounds like you need to go do something crazy.  Possibly free hugs?  Did that happen..?

No it didn't, I think I was under the influence of drugs when I posted that.

[MagmaBabe]

Cool man, see wasn't as bad as you thought.
You're life isn't pathetic, we all get into the daily grind of things.  But it sounds like you need to go do something crazy.  Possibly free hugs?  Did that happen..?

No it didn't, I think I was under the influence of drugs when I posted that.

ahahahahahaha!!

now that would explain a lot! 

[StumpyDave]

For your practice sessions pick a subject that interests you.  That way you will be confident of the material so that is one less bit to worry about.
I have to do some presentations on a regular basis as part of my job.  I get really nervous before I start, but once I'm going I find it a doddle.  I find that a sheet of bullet points is all I need now.  In fact, if I try to script out a whole presentation and something goes awry I am more likely to dry up and have problems.  I may script the introduction (as that's the time I'm most nervous) but not the rest.
Practice really does help so much.  Speak slowly and clearly - itherwise you will tend to gabble and no-one will get the message.
You can plan in several ways (and I'm sure they'll tell you in your course).
I run presentations in 3 stages:
1. Introduction
Tell your audience who you are and what your going to cover
2. Subject material
The real meat of it all
3. Recap
Go back over the lesson/topic covered and highlight the main points

A big presentation can have several step 2 & 3 and an overall summary at the end.


After a couple of goes you'll be surprised at how little you can actually say in 5 minutes.