I made a complete ass out of myself at a town-hall meeting last night.

[GOPBasher]

Grrr. I attended this town-hall meeting on SS. Three Republican representatives were supposed to be there, but didn't show. Senators Clinton and Schumer were invited, and they at least had the courtesy to send some people on their staff. Anyway, at this meeting, for some reason I decided to speak in front of everyone. I had a lot of good points to make, but when I got up there, I totally went blank and froze. There were moments of total silence. I panicked. It was ugly. I'm so embarrassed. :hide:

[BlondieK143]

1. Hey, don't beat yourself up too badly.

:hug: We all mess up and get nervous.

[GOPBasher]

12. Thanks Blondie!

:hug:

[LiberalinNC]

2. Don't feel so bad!

I have been doing some public speaking lately and in the very beginning I was horrible. The best things I have learned is to make notes of what you want to talk about, and to practice, practice, practice on anyone who will listen.

[GOPBasher]

13. Thanks LiberalinNC! :-) n/t

[BikeWriter]

3. That's okay, we still like you.

[GOPBasher]

14. Thanks Bike! :-) n/t

[iconoclastic cat]

4. Try again!

Trust me, nobody will hold it against you unless they were already looking for something to hold against you.

[GOPBasher]

15. Good point! Thanks! :-) n/t

[rfranklin]

5. I did that at my brother's wedding...

One of the worst moments of my life when I was supposed to give the toast and I froze. I suggest writing down the points you want to talk about and use that to get yourself going. I once read about a survey that showed the majority of people are more afraid of public speaking than death.

[Orsino]

6. "Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes." --Maggie Kuhn

Resolve to do better next time. Take notes with you, or write out exactly what you want to say.

Just don't let your fear silence you. However poorly you think you performed, you emboldened--if only a little bit--someone else there who feels like you do. That person may be sitting at home right now, dreaming up what s/he will say at the very next such opportunity, and hoping to do as well as you did.

[GOPBasher]

16. Thanks Orsino! :-) n/t

[nuxvomica]

7. Hey, at least you went and at least you stood up to speak

That's more than most people do. You're obviously so pissed off about the way things are going in this country that your subconscious restrained you to avoid you going medieval on Repub ass. You'll do better next time.

[GOPBasher]

17. Thanks nuxvomia! :-) n/t

[Brewman_Jax]

8. Take that as a practice run

and you'll be ready the next time. It's okay to have speaker's notes, if you didn't have any in hand.

[GOPBasher]

18. Thanks Lurking! :-) n/t

[ProfessorGAC]

9. Eh! That'll Happen Sometime

I do a lot of speaking in front of people, and while never losing it completely, i have completely lost my train of thought in the middle of sentence. That's embarassing, especially when you're supposed to be a subject matter expert!

Once when my band was on television (Chicago TV) for a telethon, a song started. On this song, i wasn't playing anything, just singing lead vocal. I could not remember one word of the song! Not one!

The guitar player, while playing an awkward rhythm riff was trying to feed me the first line. Didn't hear him. He does it again. Don't hear him. Then he says the second line. I hear it and every single word in the song popped into my head. We had to vamp the opening for over 30 seconds. He saved me then! On TV and i'm a complete idiot! Whew!
The Professor

[Brewman_Jax]

10. I don't like being in front of cameras either

had a photo/video shoot in the lab a couple of weeks ago. I was "volunteered" (don't you love that word!) and was almost out of it when they needed people to talk for the video section. Fortunately, I was placed with 2 people I know. The hardest thing was to not think about the camera, start the conversation, and focus on the conversation.
Karaoke was easier.

[ProfessorGAC]

11. It Aint' The Camera For Me! I'm A Ham

You'd have to see my TV appearances with the band to know, but i LOVE the camera. It's just that despite my comfort with the situation, i went completely blank. It wasn't pressure, i don't think. It was about the 8th song, by then. It was just a brain cramp.

I didn't freeze. I kept bopping to the music and wandering the stage so it looked like it was doing it on purpose. I wasn't.
The Professor

[GOPBasher]

19. That's not too bad. Of course bands are going to make mistakes

when they perform live. That's part of the whole point. :-)

[NeoTraitors]

20. Hey you had the guts to get up there in the

first place, right?! That is the big hurdle. Next time you will be more relaxed and your words will come naturally.

[ProfessorGAC]

22. This Happened 10 Years Ago

It wasn't my first time on television. It was just my biggest screwup on television. Been on since, too. Just a complete brain freeze.
The Professor

[GOPBasher]

25. Thanks! :-) n/t

[ProfessorGAC]

21. Ah, It Turned Out OK

The thing is, however, that we have the video, taken directly off the uMatic machine, in perfect video and audio. So, my boys have the goods on me and i can never deny this happened!

We were on TV about 6 or 7 times. We actually used to have a contest to see who would screw up first on these shows. I wasn't first in this case, but it was the worst screw up for the day. Completely forgetting every word of a song in which i've got nothing to do but sing is a pretty big screw-up.
The Professor

[Tsiyu]

23. Shhhhh We won't tell on you

Good for you for going anyway and you'll do better next time.

:hug:

[GOPBasher]

24. Thanks! :-) n/t

[Rabrrrrrr]

26. I had breakfast with Hillary this morning, and she talked about it

At least she mentioned "some blank-stared wordless nervous panicked civilian that got up to speak and spouted nonsense and mostly silence" that her aids told her about.

Sorry to hear that happened to you - it's awful to have to speak in front of a crowd about opinions and stuff, without stuff written out. I speak in public all the time, but I can't do things like speaking out at public meetings. Very nerve wracking. I empathize.

[justjones]

27. Embarrassed? You should be proud of yourself for having...

the courage to get up there and speak. Besides, our criticism of ourself is always so much harsher than reality dictates. It probably wasn't as bad as you think.

Take care!