Public Speaking: A Communications Major's Worst Nightmare

So... I am a journalism major. I report what I see, then interpret it and write it down, so that others may experience, learn about, or understand something new. As such, I should be an effective communicator, right? Because... that's what I am supposed to do for the rest of my life.

Well, you would think.

I have to be one of the worst public speakers, ever. Literally. It is my worst, and most irrational, phobia. When I was in high school and I had to read papers I had written to my English classes (or mythology, or creative writing, or any other course), I would stand at the front of the classroom, face bright red, sweating, with trembling hands. Then I would take a deep breath and plunge in. I would do a 10-minute speech in about three minutes (no exaggeration). I would stutter and speak quietly. And then I would rush back to my seat and not look at anyone until my heart finally sl0wed to a relatively slower, and less erratic, pace.

It wasn't until my senior year of high school that my AP English teacher would interrupt me and tell me slow down, and speak louder. And she made me do it until I got it right. While it didn't exactly help with the phobia, I did learn to speak a little bit less quickly and not quite so quietly -- otherwise, the torture would just last longer.

Well, I think in the last two years I have made a lot more progress. It started when I finally took speech my sophomore year in college. I had just gotten back from studying abroad in the U.K. and the experience had allowed me to gain confidence. I had grown accustomed to foreign and sometimes uncomfortable experiences while in Europe, and it helped a lot in speech.

Don't get me wrong -- I still speak too quickly (My 10-minute speeches run at about five or six minutes now), I still get completely flustered and turn a new shade of pink, but... I don't stutter I don't shake, and I occasionally look up from my papers. =)

"It's getting better all the time..."

Heck, give me another five years, and I bet I'll be up there with George Bush.

heh.