[kikikins]

How do you guys do with public speaking or just presenting your points in front of some people.
More generally, does anyone have a hard time verbalizing your ingenious ideas and thought patterns to people? I find no matter how hard i try, explaining how i think about an issue aloud is extremely difficult even when i have researched the topic extensively.

Any advice? Or are intps doomed in this department?

 

[Richard]

Not my cup of tea, especially when I have do it in French. I never feel as if I’m prepared enough.

One of my main problems is that I visualise most of the systems I have to deal with as highly interconnected graphs with cycles galore, so when it comes to serialising information into words for communication I often have no clue where to start.

I can prepare to some extent when it’s a presentation, but ask me a question on the fly and there’s a good chance the gears will come grinding to a halt.

If I were super confident in my knowledge of a topic, along with my capacity for mental gymnastics therein, then I probably wouldn’t experience much anxiety when it comes to public speaking.

 

[humansponge]

I hate public speaking. My college prof told me stop presenting, start talking and it has helped out my P.S.

 

[luxurieux]

I abhor it. But apparently I've gotten a lot better at it. We had a debate in class and everyone said I seemed to be really comfortable speaking in front of the class, even more so than most of the others. Which isn't the case at all, but I guess I've gotten better at hiding my anxiety at least.

 

[Nordom]

I did theater in high school and college, and taken public speaking courses. My biggest criticism was not slowing down enough and enunciating each word or getting feedback from eye contact. You can take the temperature of the room by the body language of the people watching and listening to you. If they look bored it can really throw you for a loop, so I try and keep the on topic stuff succinct and keep it very casual and conversational. I even script a little joke or two to try and lighten things up. Most people do not want to listen to anyone talk for very long so I try and keep it short and sweet and quit when (and if) I'm ahead.

 

[Deathbagel]

I'm quite good at it when I know what I'm talking about, sometimes to the surprise of others (who assume that because I'm typically quiet, at least amongst people I don't know well, I just can't speak in front of people at all). I've always been.. good at talking I suppose, my enunciation and pacing has always been good (at least since I got rid of my childhood difficulties with r's). I also find it simple to expand a few key mental points into a full, eloquent speech, so that memorizing is rarely an issue for me. Eye contact and non-suicidal-depressive facial expressions are a bit of a struggle though.

On the other hand, when I don't feel I know what I'm talking about, I fail hard. It also seems to be a fairly random thing, because I can think of times where I knew exactly what to say and just couldn't manage it. Also, I stress out about public speaking a ton before I actually do it, and the first minute or so of talking is complete stuttering garbage. So... first impressions are often not excellent. But once I get my mind to get in its own logical flow and ignore outside stimuli, I can just keep talking convincingly forever.

 

[Undeclared]

People tell me I have a very good vocabulary when I speak. Also that I have very good ideas, but they don't understand half of what I say -_-.
It frustrates me to no end when the most heard sentence from people I talk to every day is, "you over think everything."
I am much better at public speaking when I've taken some sort of drug or alcoholic substance, but that is also when I have turned into a beast.

 

[Master of Visibility]

If it is a specific idea I am presenting then I have found it beneficial to not memorize a script. If I am confident in the ideas, then I have the points I want to cover written in one word on cards, or the like.

If you have a memorized script you look like a fool when you are sitting there going "ummm" and you can't break from it. It also helps with the stress knowing that you are just explaining an idea.

Oh, and ya I do hate public speaking.

 

[downsowf]

To my detriment, I don't do much preparation but I do think preparation is the key. I think if you have someone that could listen to your speech/argument before you give it, and then give feedback, this would be a good way to build confidence. I say "would" because I have never personally done this, but this is advice others have passed on to me.

Sometimes you are caught as a deer in the headlight.

The first time I did a bond hearing case, my supervisor comes up to me and tells me that I'm going in front of the judge in 30 minutes and the court house was packed. I said sure and was excited at the thought of it. Then I read the case file, the story was so convoluted, and there were so many nicknames of people part of the "alleged" burglary that I had to explain in order to make sense of the story I was going to present. I didn't even get a chance to talk to the accused client to get his side of the story. Then I realized that this big, burly guy's freedom was somewhat dependent on me.

So get up to podium: "Good morning your honor. This case is simple. It's one of mistaken identity." Pause. Shit. What the fuck am I going to say next. I'm not sure what I said next or how I got through it. I just remember explaining nicknames of the people from the story to the judge and confusing everybody, including myself. She let the client free on bond, but I swear it had to be a pity bond.

Immediately, upon seeing my supervisor, I apologized and said that in my mind I had a story I wanted to say and alibi I wanted to present. It just came out somewhat differently. She told me I did well. That I made the issue about something other than it really was to take the negatives away from the client. "Yes," I said, "That was all my grand strategy."

 

[Deathbagel]

@downsowf Great story. I'm curious though, how do you enjoy being a lawyer (I'm assuming from your story you're a lawyer)?

 

[downsowf]

@downsowf Great story. I'm curious though, how do you enjoy being a lawyer (I'm assuming from your story you're a lawyer)?

It keeps me busy and it doesn't get too boring because you are always presented with a new case. I like to think of it as a challenge, a battle of the wits so to speak. Without a doubt, there is a tedious side to it.

 

[TheBeanie]

I'm absolutely terrible at speaking to people in daily situations, like chitchat with the cashier, that kind of a thing. I simply can't respond appropriately to these things in real time. However, give me a topic that I have some knowledge about or could expand on, and 10 seconds to get my thoughts together before I start, and I could keep a room full of people engaged for hours. I do well if I'm in a one to one situation, or a one to all situation (addressing an audience). Group discussions aren't something I'm good at, I often get overshadowed by people who are louder or more aggressive in expressing their opinions than I care to be.

 

[Ablysmal]

Public speaking is one of the worst things for me to endure. Before I have to present anything, my body goes into the fight-or-flight response.
Adrenaline rush + increasing heart rate = parkinson's of the hands (thank goodness it hasn't engulfed my entire body)

If I'm trying to present my ideas, my mind ends up going on some type of freak overload. I just start going off into tangents and I end up not knowing where to start or what to say. I think this is mainly because I over-research the topic and start thinking about almost every possible thing that relates to it. And I've noticed that I never use fillers (e.g. umm, uhh, and like), so my speeches tend to have various moments of awkward silences...

btw thanks oh so much for reminding me that I have a presentation this Monday :frustrating:.

 

[Richard]

btw thanks oh so much for reminding me that I have a presentation this Monday :frustrating:.

My turn will come soon enough

 

[Rift]

Bigger crowds... I generally rev myself up before approaching, so I have an easier time keeping the energy up and projecting my voice.

Smaller crowds... give me a couple klonopin or a dirty magazine (or bright eyed intern) and at least twenty minutes in a janitor's closet. Crude but effective.

The bigger crowd is more about performance art... keeping the audience engaged, entertained and off their bloody cell phones... *selling the idea to them... or pretty much trying to sell your idea to a group of hyperactive five year olds with virtually no attention span; typically it's more important to focus on the general outline + the key points.

the smaller crowd is about personalization -- usually there's not enough room for them to escape into status updates... so it's connecting one on one with each person in the room even if you're standing at podium. Which is as easy to fake as an orgasm.

*certainly time and competition can be an issue here but in my experiences it's better handled with a softer sell... as if you were trying to sell a condo in heaven to your grandmother. She might be an atheist and you might be an atheist but even then you still likely know where to hit or how to read her to get her to put a down payment on it anyway.

 

[alphacat]

I like public speaking, and am pretty good at it. I find that as long as I have a solid grasp of the topic, I'll do well.

Smalltalk, unfortunately, is what kills me time after time.

 

[nevermore]

I'm good at public speaking and fairly good at putting my thoughts into words. I don't really get nervous about doing it.

 

[Just_Some_Guy]

I'm pretty good at public speaking.

Remember what Jung had to say about the introvert feigning extroversion. If you don't catch the reference, that means you haven't read Psychological Types yet, which means that you're wrong. Get on it.

My "problem" is that I sometimes surrender to my unconscious from time to time and quite literally black out. I'll come to some time later and realize I've lost a portion of time. This is generally when my speaking is the most from-the-heart and thus the most compelling. Go figure.

 

[kikikins]

People tell me I have a very good vocabulary when I speak. Also that I have very good ideas, but they don't understand half of what I say -_-.
It frustrates me to no end when the most heard sentence from people I talk to every day is, "you over think everything."
I am much better at public speaking when I've taken some sort of drug or alcoholic substance, but that is also when I have turned into a beast.

Haha i have seriously considered taking a couple shots prior to my oral arguments for law school but i realized i probably can't do that in practice for obvious reasons....judges don't respect drunk lawyers

 

[kikikins]

I'm good at public speaking and fairly good at putting my thoughts into words. I don't really get nervous about doing it.

Well apparently i am good at it too. I just have to get over the social neurosis part...but my gig went very well today, I think i just psyche myself out and in the legal field making one bad argument is enough to lose credibility and we all know how neurotic intps are about the strength of their arguments