public speaking

[lupinesque]

Kathryn wrote:

> So anyway I have to speak for 15 minutes to my entire MA course this 
Friday, ack, shoot me now, seriously!
> Apparently (and I'm quoting from someone I saw on a chat show on 
this) public speaking is the number one fear of people in this 
country, according to surveys, death comes at number 2. Therefore at a 
funeral most people would prefer to be in the coffin than giving the 
eulogy :)

I was wondering if anyone else had heard that statistic!

In my experience, public speaking gets a lot easier with experience.  
My knees used to shake so badly I didn't think I'd be able to stand 
up, and I'd have, shall we say, digestive problems every time I had to 
speak (still keep Pepto Bismol in my desk for this very reason), 
but I am very seldom more than slightly nervous now.  (However, I know 
at least one minister who's been at it for 20 years and still gets 
stage fright every single Sunday.)

Where my fear of public speaking expresses itself is in the writing 
of whatever I'm going to say in public.  90% of my considerable 
writer's block comes from the fear that I'm going to sound stupid, 
boring, trite, disorganized, pompous . . . you name it, my inner 
editor accuses me of it.  I am okay once I get up there, but the 
process of writing it all down beforehand is fraught with terror.

The other 10% is just plain laziness.

Good luck, Kathryn,
Amy