Oral presentations

[Corinkie]

Hello,

I am thinking about going to Grad school but the thought of giving oral presentations scares the life outta me! I don't want my stuttering to stop me from expanding myself, but I can't stand to be humilated in front of my peers. How do you handle oral presentations at school?

[Violet]

omgosh oral presentations :(:mad:

yeah i freak out just from the concept of having to give oral presentations, like just knowing that sometime in the distant future i will have to give oral presentations :(

I had to do two a couple months ago:

The first one was a 7 minute speech using palm cards in front of two teachers, the mark was fairly average, but i hardly stuttered and didnt majorly block at all :D i was however speaking in a fairly monotonous voice which would have bored the hell out of any one :rolleyes:

The second one was a 10 minute interactive speech with two teachers, and while i stuttered abit and had a couple very noticible blocks, i got 100% :eek::D And i had been freaking out about this one in particular for like a WHOLE YEAR because i couldnt use palm cards and it went for 10 minutes.. i feel so stupid now for stressing out so much about it when it went so well :p

so hopefully you will have the same luck! :D

[thatCALIdude]

ive done a lot of presentations the past 2 years at my school. i need one class to graduate and this is the class ive been dreading for over 2 years. i have to do a lot of presentations and for the final i have to do a presentation in front of the business school staff in a auditorium.

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

[ricardo]

You won't be in high school anymore so your audience will be much more mature and understanding if you stutter.

For me, I try to prepare myself mentally and abstract that I might stutter, sometimes it helps a lot sometimes it doesn't. Its life! Until now it didn't affect my work relationship with my colleagues and I never felt in disadvantage because of it.

[stardust]

I would buy an "in ear -metronome", have the presentation written, and talk at the metronome's rhythm. mine cost only 24 bucks at any music store:

[jackfate]

corinkle,
I have been through grad school and these were my thoughts exactly when I started. We had to do presentations for journal club, committee meetings, lab meetings, and finally thesis defense. It does not end there. Then had to go out and get job I had to give more presentations. My advise is to forge ahead with your plans to go to grad school. You will have to do so many presentations that you would get used to it and not think about it twice.
Ricardo is absolutely right on about fellow students and profs being very considerate/mature and not making fun of your speech. In fact going through grad school was one of the most life changing time of my life. From an introvert, I became a total extrovert person and have more fun in life than before.

[kanon]

my technique is always to put my presentation on cue cards and partially memorize them. I would speak them aloud around 5 times the day before the presentation. It's a technique my teacher has taught me.

She noticed that I often stutter during presentations so she said I really need to be less anxious and nervous. So in order to lessen anxiety she recommend that I memorize my speech beforehand :)

Of course this does not completely remove stuttering but it lessens it very much

[9802008]

Hi Corinkie, I know the feeling. I once had to do an unprepared speech in Afrikaans (I speak English), and it was crazy!

What I have found that helps with prepared speeches is to practice a lot before hand, and while you practicing use soft/light contacts on all the words. Say the speech word for word in exactly the same way each time. This will help to build up your confidence and ensure that you aren't surprised by any words.

[9802008]

Hi Corinkie, I know the feeling. I once had to do an unprepared speech in Afrikaans (I speak English), and it was crazy!

What I have found that helps with prepared speeches is to practice a lot before hand, and while you practicing use soft/light contacts on all the words. Say the speech word for word in exactly the same way each time. This will help to build up your confidence and ensure that you aren't surprised by any words.

[stardust]

"Say the speech word for word in exactly the same way each time. This will help to build up your confidence and ensure that you aren't surprised by any words.[/QUOTE]"

That is what I mean, but is A LOT EASIER with the "in - ear metronome",
that it force you to say each word in the exact same way.
see my previous posting.