23 Apr 2018

Having to do class speeches and presentations is one of the worst parts of high school (even beating group assignments where the teacher picks who you work with). Unless you’re one of those people who have got the whole public speaking thing down pat, chances are having to get up and present a speech in front of your class is a pretty daunting thing. Here’s some tips to help you through the whole thing.

1. Don’t procrastinate

Don’t leave it to the last minute to write your speech. As much as you want to procrastinate, fight it. Turn off your phone, log out of Netflix and get rid of any other distractions that’ll stop you from writing the damn thing. The longer you put this off the more nervous you’ll feel about the whole thing. If you’re one of those people who can present an amazing speech off the top of your head, congrats (and why are you reading this?). But, if you’re not one of the lucky ones, accept that you’re going to need to put a little more work in to get prepared.

2. Actually practice

As much as you want to avoid anything to do with this speech: practice. If you can, speak it in front of other people like your mum, little brother or best friend. Get yourself familiar with the structure and main points. If you haven’t got anyone around, present your speech to yourself in the mirror, or say it out loud to your dog. Practicing your speech in your head is fine, but to really get comfortable you need to be saying the words out loud and practice your inflections and pauses along with this.

3. Slow it down

You might think you’re speaking too slow but trust me, you’re not. I get it, you’re nervous and want to get the damn thing over and done with but slow it down. When you think you’re speaking at a normal speed, slow it down a touch more and you’ll be right. The best way to figure out if you’re speaking too fast is to either practice in front of someone else, or record yourself. It’s painful listening back to your own voice recording but you’ll be able to tell straight away whether you’re trying to squish too many words into a second.

4. Look at the audience

You don’t need to actually look anyone in the eye. In fact, I’d recommend against looking at anyone directly; you’ll either end up freaking out more, or you’ll see your friend doing some dumb shit to distract you and end up laughing. Instead of meeting anyone’s gaze try to look just above their head and sweep your gaze across the group.

5. Get it done

The thing I learnt was the longer I put off my presentation the worse my nerves got. If you can, get your speech out of the way as soon as possible rather than waiting for the very last day to present. The longer you leave it, the more time you have to freak out so knock it out of the way as soon as possible so you can breathe again.

6. Special considerations

For some of us, getting up in front of a crowd of people just isn’t an option. Speak to your teacher about applying for special considerations. This usually means you’ll be able to present your speech just in front of your teacher, rather than a whole class. Or you might only have to do it in front of a handful of other students rather than a massive group. Your teachers don’t set speeches to torture you and they want to be able to give you a solid mark so don’t be afraid to chat with them to see if there’s a way to make the whole thing a bit more manageable.

7. Get some decent sized palm cards

Honestly, what is the point of tiny palm cards that you can barely read off anyway? I’m not saying carry a massive poster with your speech up there with you, but don’t throw yourself under the bus by taking up tiny scraps of paper that aren’t going to help you at all.

8. Don’t just read your speech

While there’s nothing wrong with having your entire speech written down on your palm cards, you might find yourself with your head down, reading the entire time. To avoid this, practice your speech as much as possible and try to only have main points and outlines on your notes.

If you want to keep the security of having your entire speech in front of you in case you have a complete mind blank, go for it. Try highlighting the main parts so if you get lost all it takes it a quick glance to get back on track and be aware that you’re presenting to an audience, so you need to get your head up speak to them rather than into your palm cards.

9. Accept that you’ll be nervous

You can follow all of the above points and still feel sick right before you start speaking. It’s not about completely getting rid of these nerves; it’s about managing them just long enough to get through your speech and back into your seat. Chances are everyone is too busy stressing over their own speech to pay any attention to yours and even if you do make a couple of little mistakes, by the time it’s over everyone will have forgotten about it.