Sometimes, when we are presenting, our bodies act completely irrationally. Sweating, stuttering, or just shutting down completely are all things I have encountered during public speaking; behaviour that is usually connected to extreme danger and fleeing behaviour. Completely unnecessary, as your teacher won’t kill you (hopefully), but trying to convince your body to be just as rational is a tough task. Turns out that this is exactly what we’re going to do.
The basis for this (personal) advice all lies in my musical training, where posture is extremely important. Performance practice lessons have taught me one important thing: you can trick your body into thinking it’s okay, and with that, your audience. disclaimer: I have posted this information before in a slightly different way. Regard this as an updated version. Hopefully one with better spelling.
Start by relaxing your shoulders. Many people tense their shoulders when they’re anxious, which is a very natural reaction. However, tension in your shoulder automatically reaches through to your back and arms, and even your neck, tensing up your entire upper body. It’s confirming to your brain that yes! this is scary! Well, brain is wrong and we’re going to prove it wrong by relaxing our shoulders. Just let them hang down (make sure you don’t start leaning forward though, it should be just your shoulders). Doesn’t that immediately feel more relaxed?
Keep your feet a little bit apart, firm on the ground. This sends the message to your brain and audience that a single push will not have you fall over. Standing with your legs closely together simply isn’t as stable, and you want to radiate stability and confidence. Even if you’re feeling dizzy, this simple way of pretending will keep your feet on the ground. Literally.
Chin up, back straight, eyes at the audience. I used to tend to look at the ground, or to lean forward. No, no no! You want to maintain an open posture, and to address the entire audience. When you do this, you’ll look more secure, and maybe you’ll even notice people will listen to you more closely. Make sure you address the entire room, and not just one spot. if you’re scared to look at faces, look at the back wall. But not just one spot, find some nice different wall spots to look at.
What to do with your hands? I know I used to put my hands in my pocket, or fidget with something. Instead, try to talk with your hands more. When you’re using gestures, people will usually pay more attention to what you’re saying, and there’s even research that suggests it enhances understanding.
Do not hide. This is special advice to musicians, too. I used to hide behind my music stand because it was nice and safe. During public speaking it’s easy to hide behind some notes or to stand behind other people of your group, maybe. Don’t. Remember, fake the confident posture till you make it.
When you’re finished, don’t stop pretending just yet. When people ask how it went, always say it went okay. This is so so so important! Because if you’d say “ugh it was awful!! So many things went wrong, I suck at presenting!” they’ll start thinking hmm, yeah, there were indeed some mistakes… Could have been better. Whereas if you just say it was okay or good, or even decent, they’ll hardly even question it and will most likely remember the positive aspects, as humans tend to do.
I promise this works, at least to some extent. It may not help you get rid of anxiety right away, especially in really severe cases, but it can help you feel more at ease in front of a group. After that, you can start working on other things, such as volume, intonation, powerpoint use etc.
Just take a few seconds before you start talking to breathe, focus on those muscles, and to follow this with an amazing presentation (and a good grade).
You can always send me an ask for advice on public speaking! Even though I’m not a professional coach or whatever, I have overcome my speaking anxiety and maybe I can be of any help at all
youtube comment of the week
consider: adhd immortal people
“what was it like 400 years ago?” fuck if i know. i don’t even remember what it was like last week.
write for the audience you want, not the one you’re afraid of
Your characters are the most important aspect of your story. The best part isn’t what happens, it’s who it happens to. Spend time developing them.
tbh the real advice I’d give to anyone is, do shit alone. go to a museum & go at your own pace & leave the instant you’re done. go somewhere you’ve never been and just wander around, duck into & out of places as it pleases you. linger as long as you’d like.
When your best friend tells you all she had for breakfast Was a packet of Splenda and a Diet Coke, And she tells you that she’ll stop after she loses five more pounds, Do not believe her. Tell her mother. It does not matter how angry your friend gets. The pain of that will always be preferable to the pain Of seeing your best friend in four years Weighing as much as she does now Half-dead in the hospital.
When your father sneaks into your bed in the dead of the night, And he tells you that this is how fathers love their daughters, Do not believe him. Tell your English teacher. She will have read millions of stories of girls like you. There is a one in six chance that she will be a girl like you. There is a five in six chance that she will know what to say to you. There is a six in six chance that she will help you.
When your veins whisper to you in the moonlight And say that there are so many nightmares inside you That could be free If you would just open your arms, Do not believe them. Tell your school’s guidance counselor, No matter how scared you are Because whispers are liars, And opening your arms will only open the passage For more nightmares to climb in.
And when the therapists say that you are better, Totally better, And you don’t need to worry about the sadness again, Do not believe them. Always be cautious, because sadness has a way Of sneaking up on you When you’re not looking. Be careful. Be careful.
YES
like….not 2 get into this really but..freedom of speech means that the government can’t tell you what you can and can’t say. freedom of speech does not protect you from the social/private repercussions of your actions
Reblogging to cure your writers block
Find the right place to write your novel…
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Wow, people really don’t reblog on here anymore. I mean, the ratio of likes to reblogs has really changed a lot compared to even a year ago. (This is even on relevant, popular blog posts)
It used to be more even, people would ‘like’ and reblog it right after or put it in a queue. It seems like less and less people are seeing artist’s work and I couldn’t figure out why until I noticed the ‘like’s going up and the reblogs going down. I see more people stealing art and reposting it on Instagram than reblogging these days, and it’s kind of really bad for artists.
This kind of thing is costing a lot of us our livelihoods. Myself, and a ton of other disabled artists rely on reblogs to get commissions, merchandise sales, and Patreons.
Tumblr is a community (sometimes it’s a pornbot community but I mean) and we rely on those in the community to boost our stuff out to those who maybe don’t follow us but would be interested, or those who are looking for an artist to commission and haven’t seen us in the fandom tag yet, or those looking for that exact gift for someone and, hey, I make that.
If this is simply just a matter of the site dying and folks moving to another site, maybe let us know? Because I know that I’m not the only one struggling with this right now, and none of us seem to know what to do about it except keep posting and hope that people deem our art important enough to share on their blogs like they used to.
(Which is getting harder and harder to do when we’re feeling discouraged by the seemingly lack of interest, and, you know, our own personal problems.)
Hello and welcome to my main blog, which is mostly my odd, or what I deem funny experiences. I have a writing blog where I post things for no real reason(includes prompts)
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