# SA & Uni/Group work/Public Speaking.



## Phibes (Mar 8, 2009)

Please tell me how you managed with group work and doing speech presentations in class?


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## rincewind (Sep 7, 2009)

I avoided them as much as I could!

When I had to do presentations, my usual technique was (and is) to try and make myself _act_ confident (no matter how I really felt), because I found that doing so did actually help to make me feel more confident. I think the anxiety before the event was more of a problem for me than actually doing the presentations! If I could draw a graph of my anxiety level you'd see it rising steadily as I got closer to the presentation, spiking massively in the last few minutes before starting, then dropping rapidly back down towards a normal level after that.

Group work... I only had two courses where it was necessary, both in the same year. In the first course, they assigned us random groups of 5 and nobody in my group knew each other. I think that helped me to cope because we were all starting from scratch, nobody knew anything about anyone and I managed to participate reasonably well. 
The second time we had to organise groups of 4-5 ourselves. That would normally have been very awkward for me, but I ended up joining a group with 2 or 3 people I knew from the previous course, and that worked out quite well. 
In my final year I had a choice of courses to take and ended up avoiding one I was interested in because it would have involved group work every week :? But the course I took instead ended up being really good so I don't regret doing that!


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## subzero0 (Jun 18, 2005)

haha group work, i just suffer through it. i say "yeah" a lot or agree with their ideas so they don't think i'm a big mute weirdo. even if i do contribute something, they just ignore me anyway. 

i've only had one speech presentation so far in college. thankfully, i had another kid presenting with me. i was still pretty ****ing nervous so i chugged alcohol before it.. first time i've ever done that for a presentation. it gave me a massive headache though it was kinda good because it distracted me from my anxiety and all those people staring at me. but halfway through the presentation i went blank and ****ed it all up but then my partner saved me. good times. i totally appreciate that kid.


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## tutliputli (Feb 22, 2009)

I avoided presentations at all costs. Everyone on my course was assigned to a tutor group with about 5 other people and we'd have to discuss what we'd learnt in lectures that week. I was very, very quiet and blushed whenever the tutor asked me a question. I would suggest that you speak up of your own accord if you have anything to say because there's less chance you'll get picked on later.

I don't remember having to do much group work. I had lab sessions where we had to pair up but I had a couple of friends on my course who I could work with. If they were ill, I worked by myself.


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## Indigo Flow (Oct 3, 2009)

I've been avoiding them lately but a few days ago i told myself i'd go to them because i didn't care what happened. If something bad happens oh well, i get to go home afterwards. I have to do one tomorrow which im dreading  i have nothing to say so i'll just make it up as i go along.


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## Phibes (Mar 8, 2009)

Thanks for your contributions


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