Presentations - do i or don't i?

[nick1991]

Hi people i'm currently stuck in a rut as to what i should do. Tommorow i have to give a presentation along with three other people to my English class and even though we are doing it as a four i cannot bear to think of what could happen. Luckily i have a get out clause that this lesson is in the morning so i can either 1. Stay in bed and use as an excuse to say i overslept or 2. risk it and go to the lesson.

the danger of bailing out is always that i might develop it into a habit but i really don't want to do it!!

what should i do?

[thatCALIdude]

I hate presentations as well but your going to have to do it, are you using a PowerPoint? I find that its a lot easier with a PowerPoint, maybe you teacher will just let you read it.

[mo885]

Hi Nick,

I know exactly how you feel. But doesn't everyone already know you stutter, so what is the worst that is going to happen if/when you stutter in the presentation? Maybe also talk to you teacher before and explain how nervous you are about it and just wanted to let him/her know that you do know your material you just have a hard time with presentations because you stutter. Good luck and I would go for it like you said you don't want avoiding it to be a habit. Let us know how it goes! Good luck.

[Derek181]

depending on how bad your stutter is. if its bad i wouldnt do it but if its mild do it and you can get your way by. i had a presentation in college, i was feeling so nervous. but i had already practiced a lot of fluency shaping techniques and felt that i could do it and it went pretty good, i talked slow everybody just sat in silence and then at the end the teacher was like well it was a little slow but not bad, unfortunately she gave me less of a mark. but if i were to have to do a presenation a year ago when my stuttering was at its worst theres no way i would do it haha.

[doraima29]

Hi Nick,

I had a similar feeling when I made speeches on my Public speaking class. I always was really nervous and didn't want to speak. But you know what, I had to do it because I want to get some credit and also perform and say that I have something to say.

It has been hard for me, but I did gain some confidence and had to speak on my own language. Use some powerpoint slides, and put notes on your note cards so you won't think and feel blank.

Just don't think what others will think about you and also don't think too much about yourself (self- conscious). Also, try to practice in front of a mirror or maybe few people as your audience.

[JDRow]

I think that if you really don't feel like you can do the presentation, you should talk to the teacher and be honest about it and explain why, rather than just skipping school that day. I never did presentations when I was in high school, and just either skipped class or didn't do the work to get out of it, and I always felt crappy about it.

I've only had a couple of college classes where we had to do presentations, and I didn't feel like it was something I was ready to do, but I contacted the instructor and told them what was going on, and they were both cool about my doing something else. I felt much better about that, and not like I was lying or sneaking around.

If you do the presentation, great, but I think that if you really feel like it's not something you can do right now, that's okay but you should be honest with the teacher about it rather than staying home from school.

[mos]

go for it m8. its a hurdle that you'll have to jump in order to get good grades.
just ignore the stutter and relax.
i know it sounds easy but you can do it.

we know you can.

to date the hardest thing that i've faced was go to the crown court and give evidence.

;)

[sickVisionz]

Don't bail out. If you screw over your other members and don't even show up, I think it makes you look alot worse than stuttering would.

You posted yesterday so i'm guessing you either spoke or skipped today... which was it?

[nick1991]

Actually wasn't as bad as i thought it was going to be as it was moved forwards because other people didn't have theirs ready which kind of relieved the pressure a little bit, however how the hell am i going to cope with doing them on my own?

[Bass Cadet]

Hi there,

i've done loads of presentations in college. My best advice would be to learn what you want to say off by heart. That may seem like a lot of work but it will also improve your overall knowledge of the presentation and it'll be a better delivery. Most people who stutter, stutter less when they have learned something off like a poem, etc. This is certainly my experience anyway. The trick is to practice and practice it again until there is a definate structure of the presentation in your head so that you can anticipate what you'll be saying.