re: "Speaking to large groups" knower abouters

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I just get the heebie jeebies thinking about having 240 sets of eyeballs staring at me.

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Question: For this event, will there be time, just prior where you could have to chance to walk around and casually talk to any of the audience.

For example, most of my presentations have a short break period before the session. I find it helps to calm things by walking around and talking to some of the audience. Usually they help break the ice by commenting about what you will be speaking about. Yes, most of it might be BS like, "Hey, I'm looking forward to what you have to say" kind of stuff but it doesn't matter.

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That's a great perspective. Maybe I'll have that opportunity, our CEO is kicking it off, then his boss from our parent company goes next, then me. Then 8 or 9 after me. I've worked here forever and know pretty much all these folks to some level, so I can translate your advice even if I don't get that mingle-around opportunity. Thanks.

I've personally found, as others have mentioned, chatting with people beforehand when you're there helps. It helps build rapport and makes it more of a social event

Make sure you let them know your pronouns

Recognize the fact that the reason you are in the front talking to them (and not sitting in the audience) is because you know more about what is being presented than they do.
Also most of the people aren’t really paying attention anyway.
Good luck!

Everyone gets nervous public speaking. I’ve had to do a lot of it in my career and nerves are always a thing I deal with. The best advice I received and have put to good use is simply to practice. Practice so much that you basically have it memorized.

The more you practice your talk, the more confident you will feel. The more confident you feel, the more the anxiety will lessen. It won’t necessarily ever go away, but that’s ok because you are human. If you are confident and you know your slides, you will be ok.

When I give a talk, regardless of the size of the crowd, I practice so much beforehand that I get in this weird zone when presenting that it’s like an out of body experience. I don’t even really notice the people as I’m essentially just going through a script that I have memorized.

Another thing I do is find one or two people in the audience that have a non-threatening look about them and just basically present to those people only. You’ll see people in the crowd with their arms crossed, or on their phones, or looking bored, etc. If you notice those people, you will be tempted to focus on them and it will mess up your concentration. So look for people that you personally know and are friendly with, or people smiling or nodding, or anything like that that will reenforce your confidence.

If I’m super nervous beforehand, I also try to listen to some kind of hype up music or something beforehand. Whatever kind of stuff you might listen to in the gym or whatever. Get good sleep the night before as well.

Ultimately, this is your talk. You know it more than anyone in the audience. They are not there to critique you, judge you, or grade you on it. They’re just there to hear what you have to say. So practice, practice, practice and you will do great. You got this!

Practice, practice, practice. That'll help you get more comfortable.

Also, I generally keep something I can "worry" over in my hand (especially if I'm standing at a podium) like a paperclip to help ease some of the anxiety. It seems to work.

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I had to do this at my old company in IT and I almost quit just to avoid it. The anxiety was horrible. I ended up limping through some material I wrote and then read to the group, which was boring as hell. I should have just did the slides as reference and talked about the material in my own words since I knew it all so well. Yeah hard stuff bro. Good luck, I know you can do it.

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Thanks man. IT here as well.

I cringed at the mention of slides and speaking for 20 minutes line as I used to work in IT in Corporate America.

If you know your stuff, just talk dude