Physics Failure

When I hear the phrase "public speaking", the most common examples that come to mind are Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech or presidential speeches from Barack Obama and other recent presidents. Something else that can be considered public speaking, that people don't always think of, is standing in front of a classroom giving a presentation to your fellow classmates. This kind of public speaking differs from King's and Obama's speeches in many different ways including the audience, formality, and presentation. I may not have been dressed in fancy clothes, standing behind a podium and using a vocabulary that the entire world could comprehend but I was still standing in front of a small classroom at the Bellefonte High School trying to inform my teacher and classmates on what I had researched. One thing that is very common among public speakers is their nerves. When I was in eleventh grade, I had my worst public speaking experience. I was in an honors physics class and I had to give a presentation on the physics of a car. I practiced the speech many times but giving a presentation on a topic that doesn't interest you is never easy. I went to the front of the room trying to be as confident as possible in front of about twenty other kids I viewed smarter than I but unfortunately, I let the nerves get the best of me. My face became red, my voice was quivery, I crumpled my notecard, and I was talking so fast I'm not sure that anyone could retain any information from my presentation other than the fact that I was a jumbled mess. I was unable to effectively teach my classmates about the physics of a car becuase of all of the symptoms of "stage fright" that were present during my public speaking opportunity.