Originally Posted by ericvan1

In first year engineering, you only have to speak in front of a group once for a final project, and you stand up with 4 or 5 other people, a group presentation. This happens at the end of the year and there are 10 other groups waiting to present in the room.

Know that most people hate speaking in front of a group and have anxiety. So you're not alone with this.

One good thing about university is that all the idiots who make fun in high-school are gone and are all working at McDonalds forever.

So your new audience is now people who want you to succeed when you get up to speak.

So 'don't be afraid of being nervous' when you get up to talk, anxiety/nervousness is natural.

Just be nervous and accept it, and try to speak your best.

And remember that everyone in the room is on your side and wants you to win.

Ya in Engineering you dont really do a whole lot of presentations except this one for your final project which is about 10 min. with a group of 4 other people. For tutorials the only ones that really tried to force people up to the front of the class were in Physics tutorials. No one would volunteer to solve a question on the whiteboard so it got to the point where the TA's just picked at random, then they sorta gave up after a while lol.

My other courses other then the engineering ones like history 1bb3 had us during tutorials, sit at a table with about 9 other people and a TA just discussing the readings. The TA would just asking questions at random to each person at the table and you would have to tie the answer in with the readings so it was very difficult and embarassing if you did not know the material.

Originally Posted by AnguishedEnd

it was very difficult and embarassing if you did not know the material.

For history classes readings are key! Especially the primary sources.

Yeah guys but she is in Sociology! First Year Sociology is about either the T.A presenting a topic or one person assigned randomly to different topics presenting. Giving summaries, Key points but most off all prompting discussion by throwing questions up in the air. If Blair wants to major in Socio, I'm assuming she would also take alot of Polisci,Anthropology and History which are quite similar. So She has to present sometime or the other over the next three four years regularly!

But on a side note the first step to practicing public speaking is to participate in class room discussions. Even though you'll see most people dozing of or on facebook in most tutorials and a few outspoken ones arguing amongst themselves, speaking up then is actually a good way to start. Instead of everyone looking at you in presentations, you'll only have two or three eyes on you this way!

Humanities and Soc Sci tutorials are pretty similar, at least in my experience so far. Mostly they consist of discussion about the lecture material as well as the readings. Depending on the course/TA you might do a little 2 minute presentation explaining a primary source, for example, and then that will lead into the discussion for that class. I think I had this kind of presentations in about 4 or 5 of my classes this whole year.
I had one group presentation, that one was also short, about 5 minutes in length.

I used to be really shy, but I've found that the more I have to speak in front of people and present, the easier it gets for me. It's taken some time, but don't get discouraged! And by the time you get around to presentations you'll probably have gotten to know the people in your tutorial a little, so it won't be quite so intimidating (at least, that's the case for me)

Good luck!

I'm going into fourth year Sociology, and I've only had to do one presentation in any of my sociology courses. For the one class where I did a presentation, I offered to do a summary of one of the readings, which was just me sitting in my chair and reading from a sheet of paper and it wasn't graded. Also, not everyone had to do one of these.

The only courses I've had to do presentations for were Women in Religion and Theory and Practice of Nonviolence (both religious studies), and it was with a partner and in front of a very small tutorial group.

As others have suggested, I would go and talk to the CSD about your social anxiety disorder. They're very good at coming up with coping strategies with students, and have some great workshops!

I took Sociology in first year, 1A06. Our participation mark in tutorials depended on if you attended & participated in discussion (5%), and if you did a presentation (5%) that was a chapter summary, but with a partner or a group.

However, the TA did it this way, and it's not necessarily the same every year. Anyway, no matter what program you're in, I think at some point you might end up doing a presentation. Talking in class generally is important, and I find it's easier if you sit right at the front of the class so you don't really need to look at anyone.

I have the same phobia, but it has gotten better (not completely) over the years. Before, I'd be really nauseous, have to go to the bathroom and feel sick and nervous days and days in advance. I even forwent a presentation in high school that was like 10% of my mark because I was nervous. I imagine you feel some of these things, and I totally understand you.

It's not easy talking in front of the class, and so far in all my classes, I at least had a partner. Remember though, that these presentations happen in tutorials -- tutorials are often very small, less people = less stress in presenting.

Definitely talk to your TAs, most of the time, they are very very understanding and will help you in whatever way they can. Good luck really, and just try to put yourself out there. I eventually started to not feel as nervous because I always tried to do a kick ass job in my presentations, and I got more involved in school -- maybe that can help too. I don't think you have a disorder, it's very normal to feel really nervous, of course people experience it at different levels.

You can get exempt for a lot of them. This wont help you later on in life though. If public speaking is your biggest fear, then you have a pretty damn good life. You may not like it, but things could be much, much worse.