My first speaking gig scared the crap out of me. I was still in college and one of my professors had recommended me to someone on the managing committee for a large, private technology conference called TTI/Vanguard. They approached me with an idea but ultimately it was up to me to find out what to talk about. They gave me a 45 minute block of time (!!) but it was setup for about 20-30 minutes of talking then Q&A. The thing that really freaked me out was that every seat in the room (hundreds) was wired with a microphone. Anyone could buzz in, and was encouraged, at anytime to ask a question. The room was filled with people I had only read about - Nicholas Negroponte, Len Kleinrock, Aaron Swartz and others.
I wanted to decline it but it included a trip to Rome with first-class everything. I reluctantly accepted and flew out, writing some notes and thinking up my talk and making some slides on the flight. I did it wrong. I had all of my sentences more or less memorized (instead of just a few talking points) but then I got there and had the most unfluid talk you've ever heard. Lots of ums, fast talking.. the works. Fortunately people in the audience chimed in and asked questions. I say fortunately because this was actually a good thing! They asked for clarification about certain things, or even off-topic things, which broke me from my robotic train of thought where I was trying to replay a speech I had in my head and made it more into a conversation and into a more fluid talk. A series of questions from the audience diverted my talk from cloud computing stuff to an explanation on my usage of Twitter and what it was (this was a few years ago), but I was happy that my talk was progressing.
I still dislike speaking in front of large audiences but people keep asking me for some reason. I did Ignite Atlanta (and spoke too fast as usual) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYDfjaWc3Mc a while back. At least now I have no sweat talking in front of smaller groups and that happens more often.
Funny thing is I also ended up making an Ask HN plea for speaking advice about it back then hehe.
I've only given one talk but it was similar to this for me, although with a much smaller audience. I had a 30 minute slot and breezed through my slides in maybe 5 minutes with a lot of "um" and fidgeting. In my nervousness, I said the phrase "super easy" ~20 times in that 5 minute timespan.
Luckily, people were genuinely interested in my topic and asked a lot of questions. I calmed down a lot when I had some crowd interaction and was able to make fun of myself with the "super easy" thing.
If you ask me, I bombed. But when it was all over with I felt like I couldn't wait to do it again.
I wanted to decline it but it included a trip to Rome with first-class everything. I reluctantly accepted and flew out, writing some notes and thinking up my talk and making some slides on the flight. I did it wrong. I had all of my sentences more or less memorized (instead of just a few talking points) but then I got there and had the most unfluid talk you've ever heard. Lots of ums, fast talking.. the works. Fortunately people in the audience chimed in and asked questions. I say fortunately because this was actually a good thing! They asked for clarification about certain things, or even off-topic things, which broke me from my robotic train of thought where I was trying to replay a speech I had in my head and made it more into a conversation and into a more fluid talk. A series of questions from the audience diverted my talk from cloud computing stuff to an explanation on my usage of Twitter and what it was (this was a few years ago), but I was happy that my talk was progressing.
In the end the trip was amazing (dinner with Negroponte! http://www.flickr.com/photos/pauls/2663284169/in/set-7215760...) and I ended up randomly meeting Johnny Galecki (Leonard Hofstadter from Big Bang Theory). http://www.flickr.com/photos/pauls/2663383147/in/set-7215760...
I still dislike speaking in front of large audiences but people keep asking me for some reason. I did Ignite Atlanta (and spoke too fast as usual) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYDfjaWc3Mc a while back. At least now I have no sweat talking in front of smaller groups and that happens more often.
Funny thing is I also ended up making an Ask HN plea for speaking advice about it back then hehe.