I used to pride myself on being able to "improvise" speeches, even for important occasions. Because of this though, I got lazy and stopped preparing at all and had a couple of flops. Since the "flops", I've begun preparing more stridently. But I still can't shake the nerves that the "flops" gave me. I never had nervousness but now I do. It's not a lot, but just enough to give me a sinking feeling in my gut. The flops linger. I think the people that "feel comfortable with all eyes on them" are a rare breed. Perhaps these are the people that have bucked the evolutionary "group norms"?
Like you, Clive, Olive and Joanna all said that the most important thing to do is to prepare, prepare, prepare. I didn't feature that in the podcast, I should have. Another thing that everyone mentioned was how important the connection to the audience is. That is something that is more subjective though and not as easily "practiced".You bit the apple though and you can't put the genie back in the bottle
-Too true. That said, I think in the long run I am better off with my new manageable fear. It forces me to be more prepared and as such I am now a better public speaker imo.
I always prepare in the sense that I know the material that I want to present like the back of my hand. But I never practice. People who actively practice come off sounding like robots, and I think it makes it worse when they forget what they want to say. Its better to have a general idea of the direction you want to go, and let the slides (if you're giving that type of presentation) prompt you. I think it comes off as far more engaging, natural and fluid.
People who actively practice come off sounding like robots
-Good point. There is such a thing as being too scripted or overly prepared. Everyone is different in this regard. For me, the best way to go is to know my details but just use topical bullet points. No script, just a road map.
I used to wing it a lot more, and went through a similar experience with some flops. IMO that's a key part of becoming better and better at something: admitting that you always could benefit from more work at it. Talent is a great place to start, but it's not how you get better. I doubt I could ever lose the jitters. Look at Romney and Obama, you could tell that even they were each a bit tense at the beginning of the first debate, and they have given hundreds, if not thousands, of speeches.