help on making oral presentation easier?!

[xleannexwrightx]

Hellooo, I had my first panic attack 5 months ago during my exam period, and was a nightmare to deal with. Im going into my final year in uni...scary enough with the pressure on the dissertation alone...yet i will have to do a massive presentation of my life yet in front of a lot of people.
I dont understand as in school i did drama as a gcse and loved it, no stage fright..well a little as expected, but enjoyed it. But as the years have gone one im petrified of publically speaking.
In the first two years of my degree, i had to do a small course called POPPS, where basically its all about oral presentations and gaining confidence with it. I literally dreaded it, avoided it soo much as i could not stop shaking, it was so visible my voice was shaky too...whereas everyone else was super confident. Even doing a presentation about myself was hard enough.
The beginning of my second year, not matter how much i dreaded it and was close to tears...i pushed myself to go to every single one of them and made sure i did a presenation each day hoping it would get easier....but just b4 my exams, i had a huge presentation and crumbled... literally couldnt stop shaking, sweating, racing heart etc.....im dreading this final year and think i wont be able to cope.
Is there any suggestions on how to make it easier...ive tried rescue remedy before them...didnt help, tried calming breathing, still didnt work....any other tips please? would be muchly appriciated!
Thank you xxx

[Bluebelle]

Oh Hun- this is a tough one- but it sounds like you're actually prepared you just don't realize it !! You did wonderfully to push yourself to attend all those classes where you dreading them- that is some serious accomplishments.
I bet you do really well presenting but you're so nervous you don't notice how well you're actually doing. I bet you're the only one who knows you're nervous- to everyone else they're probably envying your cool calm manner ! Everyone is the "audience" could be so nervous about their own presentation they don't notice if you are acting nervously.

I had to attend a wake / funeral by myself and I didn't want to go-you had to walk up to the coffin at the front of the church (in front of everyone sitting in the pews) take a moment and look at the deceased and then shakehands / hug everyone in the family who were sitting in the front row. Everyone was crying and sobbing, it was so hot I couldn't breathe, I can't deal with death at all - I felt everyone was starring at me thinking is she going to faint ?!?!? I was grabbed and hugged and cried on and the whole time I was trying to suppress a panic attack that was coming on full blast-it was HORRIBLE. After I made it through the line I left the church-I couldn't stay- my panic attack was so bad I don't even remember walking home. My best friend was sitting in that crowd of people in the church-you know one of millions people starring at my evry fault/mistake. Anyway she asked me how on earth I could keep my composure with everyone crying and grabbing me ?

I was truly shocked ! If my best friend for years -she knows me better than anyone- and she didn't see my panic. If she couldn't see it, then people who didn't know me wouldn't have been able to tell I was in the midst of a panic attack.

Sorry for this long reply - but that really helped me. I suddenly realized my outside looked different from what was going on inside. In fact I am quite sure that no one knows ( but you ) that you're nervous during your presentations.

You'll do great ! Good Luck I am thinking about you !
Love-Bluebelle

[xleannexwrightx]

awww thank you so much for the reply hun. Has really helped, im truely sorry to hear of your loss hun, what you did...to stand up there in a funeral is truely amazing hun, even before my panic attacks started i could never have accomplished that, you should be so proud, and the loved one that passed away would be so proud aswell.
I was lucky the first few weeks a very close friend of mine was giving me support, but she stopped attending them, so going alone without some support was hard, but im chuffed i went to all of them. Im such a confident person wen meeting new people, once sat in the room im talking to all them so comfortably....yet if im upstanding....i cant believe how panicky i get, and get really freaked out about all their faces on me. Im not the one for attention, can never take a compliment etc...so negative about myself, dont like the 'lime light' on me type of thing. Im just so worried it will affect my final year, along with the added stress of the other work. sometimes i wonder if im truely cut out for it, but ive got this far and want to go all the way.
Im honestly sooooo happy to have joined this forum as i think i would have been in a worse state before uni, your support just then and everyone elses has really touched me as i can feel so lonely half the time.
Thank you again hun
xxxx

[london]

stop worrying over people thay dont pay rent or buy your food
get up there do your best and dont worry over people

[xleannexwrightx]

cheers hun, thats a good way to look at it :) xx