Speeches

I've always been fine to sing in front of a crowd. I've never thought I was great at speaking in front of people.  I guess it sounds weird.  One would think that standing in front of people is either hard or easy.  For me, I guess its easy to be in front of people, but speaking is another thing entirely.

So far, I've spoken at two churches (other than my home church) about going to Papua New Guinea.  I remember speaking in front of my speech class as well as other classes.  I don't know if I can count how many times I've spoken before an audience (though they were never super huge groups).  I've heard many people have issues with public speaking.  Lately, I've been one of these people. 

The first church I went to, I was up almost the entire night before.  I couldn't sleep and my stomach was tied in knots.  When I got there, it wasn't really hard at all.  I loved the people there and they really wanted to know more about what I was talking about. 

The second church was tons easier than the first time.  I slept pretty well at night, but still had my stomach in a few knots when we got there.  Once I got on stage to speak, I started talking, but my lungs felt like they forgot how to work.  I made myself slow down and take some breaths.  After that, it was a breeze.

I'm hoping that it just keeps getting easier.  Maybe one day, I'll be a pro at it.  Who knows?  I'm excited to see what happens. 

Feel free to share any of your public speaking experiences here.