Re: Technical Presentation Skills

[jhedtke -at- OZ -dot- NET]

In article <950110005404_76620 -dot- 456_HHB52-1 -at- CompuServe -dot- COM>,
> Okay ... I'll see if I can get this discussion started ....

> First, the best advice you can give to anyone who's frightened
about
> giving a presentation is this:  Know your subject cold.  Know it
> backwards and forwards.  Know it inside out.  Nothing cures stage
fright
> better than having complete confidence in your knowledge of the
subject.

> Believe me, I know what stage fright is like.  Although many people
who
> know me now would have a hard time believing this, I used to be a
shy
> person.

I think that I'd have a hard time convincing anyone that's met me
that I, too, was a painfully shy person when I was young.  I've
gotten over that rather successfully, I think.

I do a substantial amount of public speaking these days (George
Plimpton is one of my heroes) and I'd like to add the following
observation to Lori Lathrop's comments:

Humans are herd animals.  Like all other herd animals, it's
hard-wired into our heads that it's really bad to get separated from
the herd.  If you find yourself in a position where the herd is
looking at you as an individual, you're about to become food.  One
can overcome this built-in programming by reminding yourself, in
moments of extreme stress, that it is relatively rare nowadays for a
public speaker to be killed and eaten by his audience.

This usually does the trick for me.

Yours Truly,


John Hedtke

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