On 2013-11-16 11:56 AM, Malcolm Rockwell wrote:
> This isn't me!
> I gave a presentation at ARSC years back and felt I completely failed. I
> had lots of interesting slides but a public speaker I'm not. I wrote and
> then spoke the presentation, taped it and then transcribed it (with
> corrections). Then I practiced it till I was comfortable with it. When
> presentation time came I got so nervous I ended up reading the damn
> thing and even bored myself! It's a good thing I didn't get up there
> with no notes at all. Sheesh!
> What gets me is I'm not a bad extemporaneous speaker and my tang usually
> doesn't get tungled in my eyeteeth when speaking with friends, but I'm a
> flop at prepared public presentations. And that despite the fact I was a
> professional musician for years.
> I really do appreciate those that are good at it, though.
> Malcolm

While I am not great at public speaking, I think I've gotten better at
it when I focus less on exactly what I'm going to say, but make certain
I have the high points in the PowerPoint.

I talk about the stuff I'm usually speaking about until I'm blue in the
face so when I get up in front of a group, I think of it almost like a
conversation and am relaxed.

Fussing with a playback device is never a joy and lately I've taken to
using my Sound Devices 722 so I can play 96/24 clips, and that is a
distraction as it's not as straightforward as a CD.

Ed Simon's recent talk to the PNW section of the AES which is available
as an MP3 somewhere (sorry, I downloaded it and didn't keep the link) is
a fairly good example (as much as I've heard) of what I'm talking about.
Sadly, my AES-Toronto section presentation was not recorded or archived
as most of my playback material is copyrighted.

My older son's girlfriend is singing at a jury today and one of her
friends reminded her, that it's you vs. you up there. In many ways, we
are our own worst enemies when it comes to public speaking.
Over-prepping and worrying about the last word will (in my experience)
create a horribly tense and boring presentation.

I honestly don't know how politicians do it as well as they do (Rob Ford
excepted).

Cheers,

Richard
-- Richard L. Hess email: [log in to unmask]
Aurora, Ontario, Canada 647 479 2800
http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm Quality tape transfers --
even from hard-to-play tapes.