White Peach Jelly said 11 years, 1 month ago:
I have a hate/love relationship with speeches: Just before I do my speech I wish I’d never signed up for it, and as soon as I finish I feel so proud and happy that I almost always think “Is that it?” and want to do it again.
My advice is to know your topic well, and prepare a speech that you memorise well. However, as soon as you remember your speech and you’re comfortable repeating it without keeping your eyes glued to the page, try and notice the things you find difficult to remember. These are the things you want to either focus on or change/rewrite in a way that you’ll remember better- they are also the first ones you’ll forget during your real speech. And if you keep forgetting something, or changing the wording while you rehearse – do not worry. No one will know that you have forgotten something unless you stop and panic – so keep going with what you know, be confident and no one will ever know that you forgot that word/phrase.
Another advice is to talk slower and louder than you normally would, emphasising the words you want people to remember and pausing at every full stop, and even more so when you change topic/paragraph. This will make you sound confident, and it gives you a couple of seconds more to remember your next bit.
While you’re giving the speech, it would be great if you could look around the room, focusing on different people instead of just one. However, this might be difficult to do if you’re very scared, so try and focus on the people that are listening, nodding or smiling supportively rather than those who seem not to care: looking at supportive/friendly faces will make you feel a lot more confident.
Lastly, and I know it sounds weird, but have fun! Enjoy and savour your every word, smile if some bits are a bit funnier than others, don’t be afraid to be yourself because that will make you look and feel a lot more confident and prepared.
I know for a fact that, until you’re up there, you will be panicking, your heart will be racing and you will want to run away. But it’s all worth it – just think of how proud of yourself you will be once you’re done!
Good luck with your speech! You’ll do great!
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