Public Speaking and the New Stage Fright

     Though I believed that I put my presentation together well, I often feel the need to rely on the visual content rather instead of speaking myself.  One of my biggest public speaking fears is that my voice will grow monotone as I speak.  Unless the subject I speak about is one that interests me, and therefore I can speak more passionately about it, I will occasionally slip into a monotone voice.  The reason behind the slip may be because I just want to present the material as best as I can, so using more infliction as I speak tends to be a part of the presentation I place on the back burner.  To get over this fear, I suppose I should look harder to see if the material I'm studying can link to something for which I feel passionate; maybe then I can speak a tad more naturally.

     Another fear, which I think is a more common fear students have, is to not get tongue-tied when speaking.  The only effective method for overcoming this problem is to practice reading over the material, or if remembering it word for word is no good, solidify the basic concepts in your mind.  As long as a student understands the material well enough to tell it like a basic story, it's better than being unable to speak smoothly at all.