[Amon]

The speech class I plan on taking starts in a couple of months. Currently need to get some stuff sorted out so it’ll either be an “Elements Of Public Speaking” course, or “Interpersonal Communication”.
Regardless, both will require of me to speak in front of the class.
The pressure, everyone’s focus & attention being on me.. it all makes me nervous. I’ve never been a fan of public speaking as I used to always avoid it, even avoided those annoying “Introduce yourself to the class”. The rare times I presented were only because it was either announced unexpectedly, or because it was a huge part of our grade. Every time, I could barely form a coherent sentence, I stuttered, was constantly repeating myself, and at times my mind would go blank.
These classes are required, and feel like this is my chance to improve on my speaking skills, learn how to make better eye contact with others, etc. At the same time however it’s all nerve-racking. I cannot escape the inevitable..communication plays a vital role in your lives. The worst thing that could happen is I end up making a fool out of myself, and drop out of the class as a result.

[Ocean Swimmer]

You could join Toastmasters to practice without being concerned about your grades

[ken9018]

take the plunge lol, I know it's hard, i had to take a communication class too last semester, but I got through it. I only had to give one speech though and it was a nerve racking experience, but it made me a better speaker and communicator, good piece of advice the more you speak/communicate in public the easier it will become

[BrazenApogee]

Yes, the more you do it the easier it gets. I am finishing a class such as this, and it has been an interesting experience. The good part though, is that everyone in the class is nervous too, so you're in good company. One of my fellow classmates had to sit down in the middle of their speech, but they finished it, and I'm proud of them. Frankly I can't believe words came out of my mouth when it was my turn, but it happened and it turned out ok.

[music-mum]

I can relate. The teacher will be there to help you develop. I say go for it and use this as a growing experience.

[qwerty68]

I hate public speaking. I hate it when people make eye contact with me randomly in public and it is much worse in front of a class, even if I personally know everyone in the room.That was the only class I can honestly say I didn't like.

What I have found, and you might find it obvious or simplistic is to just push through it. What you might not like to hear, is that you might never get comfortable with it and that's okay too. The instructor will be used to having uncomfortable students.

As a junior and senior, every single class in my major required at least one presentation and every class as a grad student did the same. In fact, some of the classes had a presentation or four as the only assignment. I never got used it, but I could get good grades on them, as long as I had notes with me and was sufficiently prepared.

I taught classes as a grad student, I had as many as 70 students per class and I never got used to it. I was just as nervous my last lecture as I was my first. It didn't matter, I pushed through it and was still able to get near perfect student evaluations.

Be well prepared, push down the nervousness and you will get through it even if you hate every second of it. Treat it as a skill you will need to get through college, because you most likely will. It is like writing, one of my English freshman classes required a 10 page research paper, that was painful. By senior year, something like that was trivial. Still hated writing, but I could bang one out in a few hours instead of the two months my first one took.

Who knows? You might even start to like it. I really miss teaching, even though the thought of it makes me nervous.

[Unrigged64072835]

I don't think there's that many people who say they like public speaking. I found out that the easiest thing for me was to pick topics that I'm on fire with. It helps more when you want to get your passion out to the group than to dabble on something you're not that interested in. My daughter does the same thing with her class and she does well with it.

[Finniky]

If you make a fool out of yourself, you don't need to drop it. Actually, coming back after making a fool of yourself with reaffirm that things don't fall apart into a black hole if you end up doing something horrible during a speech. It just goes on. I got my GED and never gave a speech before. My college speech class was the first. I cried during some of my speeches. CRIED. And shook like a mad woman.. It was awful. I mean one of the speeches, I sobbed through my words. My hair was falling out in clumps and I was just not having a good time with that and my other 4 classes on top of it made it more stressful.

But for some reason I just kept going. And got an A. After that class I was able to give speeches in following classes normally. I could make eye contact and laugh and just Do it without much hiccup. I just gave a speech 2 weeks ago and an older gentlemen going for his masters in the class remarked that I seemed super calm, even though I wasn't that calm lol. After a different presentation I gave in an art class ( it was a 10 minute powerpoint presentation) i heard guys near the restroom saying it was a good presentation, which made me feel really good (and surprised).

What changed is that I stopped treating the physical act of talking like it was so important. I treated what I was talking about as important. That made me feel and seem more natural for sure. Well.. A lot more changed than that, i also learned to just say what I want to say rather than doing the "script reading" deal, limiting thoughts about giving the speech to the bare necessary (overthinking can be a issue) and so on. So even though the class sucked it payed off.

[alicetailor]

Originally Posted by Amon

The speech class I plan on taking starts in a couple of months. Currently need to get some stuff sorted out so it’ll either be an “Elements Of Public Speaking” course, or “Interpersonal Communication”.
Regardless, both will require of me to speak in front of the class.
The pressure, everyone’s focus & attention being on me.. it all makes me nervous. I’ve never been a fan of public speaking as I used to always avoid it, even avoided those annoying “Introduce yourself to the class”. The rare times I presented were only because it was either announced unexpectedly, or because it was a huge part of our grade. Every time, I could barely form a coherent sentence, I stuttered, was constantly repeating myself, and at times my mind would go blank.
These classes are required, and feel like this is my chance to improve on my speaking skills, learn how to make better eye contact with others, etc. At the same time however it’s all nerve-racking. I cannot escape the inevitable..communication plays a vital role in your lives. The worst thing that could happen is I end up making a fool out of myself, and drop out of the class as a result.

I agree, giving a speech in front of others can be challenging. But the more you practice, the better it gets. These classes will really help you to overcome your fears and become more confident.