Stage fright

I am getting a lot better at public speaking. Certainly, there are several factors to be taken into account, but I had a coffee date with a professor yesterday and he told me several things I’ve been doing wrong – and I am a fast student. Example. I hated not getting feedback from students – because 250 teenagers forced into a theatre aren’t the sort of a group you can really engage – so now I am not making eye contact but instead focusing on the rim of the balcony and speakers. Second. I had no idea what to do with my hands, especially having to hold the mic with my right – so I started holding a book in the other. (A comic book. Doesn’t matter.) I have a post-it on it, to check my facts, but mostly I know what I’m talking about, so I don’t really need that either. Third, I noticed this on my own, I needn’t really look at someone to listen to them, so I no longer feel strange when people are “sleeping” in the front rows. The guy told me that before I can project my love for movies onto a group of strangers, I have to have stage presence – which you simply cannot have if you’re scared. But by now halfway through the fist in my gut releases and I start having fun. Not feedback fun, just talking about movies kind of fun. The deepest thing he said was a reference to a snacks machine – you can a lot sooner talk about a machine that gives you food than your relationship towards eating. That was awesome. I can explain anything about the works of a theater, lights, seats, sound system, projector, screen, movie statistics… But talking about what it means to me and what it should mean to them…

Remaining: I still have to learn how to talk slower. And stand like a man. I mean a girl. I mean a hot babe. Ah, fuck it. I should just sit or lay down.. :P