I blundered through my presentation today. Public speaking is considered one of my fortes, so you can imagine how angry I was with myself after the screw up.

Prior to my presentation slot, there were four other presenters, all of whom were excellent. To add on to my nervousness, the person who first presented chose the same topic as I. Because of my anxiety of not reaching the benchmark set by him, I blanked out after my second sentence. This consequently triggered a chain reaction, which impeded my flow of thought. I ended up reading from my note card, which lacked substantial point to back whatever I was saying.

As I moved on in my speech, I made noticeable pauses looking at the audience desperately. I was considering walking out and giving up. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

In my opinion, the great public speakers are those who have flow of thought and can connect with their audience’s mentality. The lack of a rehearsed feel in one’s presentation is a plus. Sadly at my own judgment, my performance today was a fiasco.

That said, I take my hat off to Joey, the person who presented the same topic as I. His presentation today was the best yet.

What I have to get into my thick skull is: Focus on the message you intend to convey during the presentation; not how much you’re going to screw up because your competitor has done a swell job. I have really to get rid of my self-defeating attitude.

Logen