Successfully got through my presentation

[chrish15]

Just wanted to express my great feelings of completely getting through my presentation today, this was a big step for me. As I really hadn't done to well with my presentations last semester in the spring here at school which is the last time I had a few. It was about 15 minutes long. My professor who I talked to was very cool about it all. She said she didn't want to force me to do it, she said even if you have trouble in the middle of the presentation you can stop. She said I could write a paper, or do it on video tape. I was just determined to do it in class, I held my head high and smiled and it went very well. Something I did that I think helped was I just told them I stutter just bare with me through the presentation, and that relaxed me a bit. It felt so good, I definetly had a some blocks, but nothing serious, and I said everything I wanted too. I didn't leave anything out like I have in the past which I almost always do during presentations. I have another presentation on Thursday, the end of the semesters are always fun with presentations and finals. Just thought I would pass on my positive experience. :)

[3FingerBrown]

Thats really great Chris!!
I always used to tell the professor to request extra time. I’m more open about my stutter now and would probably try to work in a very early joke or alert about my stutter.
My professors always offered me a way out too and I never took it either, I thought that would have been more embarrassing. Great job!!!

[chrish15]

Thanks for all the comments. I did my other presentation today, very small compared to the other. I said one sentence, and got all tensed up and could not say the word "work" in the middle of the sentence. I told my professor before, he is a little rigid and very serious, but was very nice about it. The setting was different too, we were in a circle just sitting, as well I had a partner. Its strange how my mind can change my thinking about each and every situation. I actually feel more comfortable getting up in front of class as opposed to the circle format. It seems like I am getting into a bind of thinking to much about the situation before. It didn't help we went last either. Who knows, I will move on and try to do better next time. What are your guys experiences with presenting in circle format and such.

[Standingtall]

What are your guys experiences with presenting in circle format and such.
I have seen it done in an AA meeting. In my cultural, we do it often and in one of my presentations I done it. It gives you a feeling of being equal with your peers. nobody is behind someone or in the cornor hiding.

[kilumanati]

well done mate, i hate presentations - had to do one a couple of weeks back and was nervous as hell for about 2 months before it, the relief after its done was probably worth it though

[Standingtall]

Here's a very strange fact: I brief better standing in front of a crowd without a podium. If I stand behind a podium I tend to stutter more . . . Weird, eh :confused:
Do you think there is someone hiding in the podium.

[Toney]

Congratulatons Chris.

We're being trained next week on customer service.

We'll be separated in groups of 4 and trained on how to deal with customers over the phone.

Over the telephone is when I stutter the most.....you can image what it will be like in the presense of others.

I'm really dreading next week....

[Bokonon]

I actually feel more comfortable getting up in front of class as opposed to the circle format. It seems like I am getting into a bind of thinking to much about the situation before. It didn't help we went last either. Who knows, I will move on and try to do better next time. What are your guys experiences with presenting in circle format and such.

Congratulations Chris. I've been a corporate instructor for the last 7 years or so and usually have only minor problems in class, even in groups of over 20. Most students would not even know I stutter, unless they're perceptive and/or stutter too. And yet after class if I were to join a few coworkers for lunch or something, the feeling of it being "my turn" to speak often triggers me to stutter more noticeably. It brings back one of my most painful memories as a child, having to recite multiplication one by one around the room. So a circle format would have the same impact for me too. It's a certain pressure or rigidness, having to speak in front of a small group where people take turns. But if I'm teaching in front of a group, or leading the group, it's more like navigating a river and I have options, it's much easier. It's also somehow less personal, and you can assume people are concentrating on what you're saying, not how you're saying it, otherwise they're not learning the material and that's a different issue altogether. A good instructor is one who can use less words to communicate more information, succinctly, in the easiest to understand way; having a stutter and being forced into having a more acute awareness of the words you use can actually be a blessing in this situation. Just have to return to "normal babbling" at lunch or I might sound like a robot, albeit a stuttering robot.

[chrish15]

On Thursday I had my last presentation of the semester. It was a group presentation, and it was awful. There is this guy who is real nice, he gets on me about my presentations and trys to make jokes (not stuttering jokes to relax me). I don't really know the guy well, but I was up there presenting and struggling, we had powerpoint slides so most of what I was say was up there. I got caught up on several hard blocks, and nothing was coming, was repeating way too much the previous words to try to work through. This guy started saying the words out loud like it was helping. I didn't really like that, I said them myself even after he said them. I know he was trying to help but it was awkward.

I only had to say like 2 sentences, but it was hard, afterwards this student told me how long it took for my part. He said 4 minutes, I thought it was kind of weird for him to do that but really it kind of lets me know how bad it was.

I told everybody in the group that I stuttered and probably about half the class knew and the professor, but it seemed kind of awkward to say that I stutter before my part in the middle of a group presentation. I think next time I will tell the whole class. These types of presentations make it hard to think positively about my stuttering sometimes. I don't understand how this 2 sentence presentation and 1 sentence presentation was such a struggle that were in the same class and group presentations. I don't want to go into the mindset that its because they are with a group, but it adds pressure to perform for the rest of the group as well.

I was lucky enough, to have a good friend to go shoot some pool with for a while and hang out, so I wouldn't just dwell on my presentation. I usually don't, but this one really was hard. I am trying to stay positive.

[Bokonon]

Chris it had to come out of your mouth, no one elses, and now it's one less presentation you were destined to go through in life. Hearing a presenter read aloud the same material the room can read on their own is redundant, boring, and amplifies things like a stuttering presentor and/or a cute guy/girl across the aisle; subconsciously you probably knew that and it made you worse. The joking guy obviously felt for you just as I did reading this and I don't even know what you look like. Keep focused and remember the big picture. You did well.