Just give me an audience and a microphone, and I'm in heaven.
The trick is to spend plenty of time preparing and never, never write out anything you plan to say. Many of the poorest speakers I hear have 'notes' that consistent of a written speech that they try and read. People 'reading' to me is the biggest turn-off to me as a listener. If someone is nervous or awkward, I don't care -- I figure they're uncomfortable and I try to cut them some slack and give them encouragement. But I really hate the people who think they're great speakers when they're just reading to me or (even worse) reading their slides to me. The point of speaking is to be able to offer more insight into the subject than you can put into writing.
The trick is to spend plenty of time preparing and never, never write out anything you plan to say. Many of the poorest speakers I hear have 'notes' that consistent of a written speech that they try and read. People 'reading' to me is the biggest turn-off to me as a listener. If someone is nervous or awkward, I don't care -- I figure they're uncomfortable and I try to cut them some slack and give them encouragement. But I really hate the people who think they're great speakers when they're just reading to me or (even worse) reading their slides to me. The point of speaking is to be able to offer more insight into the subject than you can put into writing.
