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I'm not here to break apart whether "gifts" really are, or if they're a state of mind. What I'm here to do is provide some kind of assistance to those who are put off by public speaking. Here's a quick list of top tips from an actual PR representative and hobbyist-lecturer. Always go first for presentations and speeches. I know that sounds terrifying and silly, but trust me. The longer you leave it, the more tension that rises. This will lead to more mistakes, and even if you have really good points, you'll be let down by inner-torment. Moreover, the longer you wait, especially in the case with the markers, the less concentration your audience will have. The markers will award less marks as they will be bored, and the students "listening" to your speech won't care. That might sound good, but it means there's no point for you to speak. They might even hold it to you if you make them stay there for a really long time. Your voice is a weapon. Be loud. Be confident. Speak at a nice easy pace. Interestingly, almost all people who go to a speech speaking at twice the speed of their practice runs. If you really must, you can try centre yourself, as if you're in a small room with just yourself. Most important job of your voice isn't just to communicate information, but also to make people excited. You need to break the ice, and combat awkwardness. By not being one of those boring people, and by using inflections, exaggerations and other vocal tools, you can make people really care what you have to say. Throw in a dash of comedy if you can pull it off, but don't if you can't. Comedy has very little do with the strength of your jokes. It's all about the atmosphere and your timing. If you can't nail the timing, and if you aren't lively enough to melt the awkwardness in the room, your jokes will become cringe-worthy. That said, having good jokes will absolutely increase audience retention, and should make your markers feel a little more inclined towards your presentation. If you do put in jokes, make sure to only give a very brief laugh (don't go on and on forever, because it soon becomes painful to watch), and don't overload your speech with jokes. There needs to be serious content in there somewhere. Don't overly prepare and memorise your speech. What you'll end up doing is, in the event that your miss a line, end up panicking and screw yourself over. To reiterate, don't memorise your speech. Instead, memorise the content, and know it well enough that your could speak about it in your sleep. Therefore, if something goes wrong, you should still be able to discuss the content without having to scramble to figure out what line you missed. Don't hide on stage, and stay still. Be relaxed. Your body language is as important as your speech itself. Just calm down, stand in the centre of the stage and keep your legs still. Don't slouch too much, just give just a bit of lean to show people you're comfortable, and they should be too. Use your hands as tools of expression, to show what you're speaking about. Also, remember your facial experiences, and use them to your advantage. Don't be sitting or stand behind a podium, unless you're sufficiently taller than it. The less you rely on palm cards, the more your audience will care. I don't use them at all. Your audience didn't come for you to read to them dry content. Furthermore, if you're looking at the palm cards, your voice won't be directed at the audience and so people up the back won't hear you. Don't put ANY words on your Powerpoint presentations, except for presenter notes. I rely on presenter notes to keep me up to speed with what I'm talking about, but all my slides are just visual stimuli that relate to what I'm speaking about. If the audience sees anything to read, they won't listen to what you have to say. Force them to listen to you. Oh, and that thing about imagining the audience in different clothes/naked? Total crock of s***.

Hello everyone! DM here with an update to lifeness and such. If you remember, I said that I was temporarily leaving RRU to work on a major project along with other things like learning how to drive and getting a job. Well let's be honest, I never really left in the first place. But I have been working on meeting the goals that I need to, and this is probably the biggest goal so far, getting a car. A relative was tired of it, and when the water pump went out, so he used that as a reason to get rid of it and get a new car. Well my uncle heard about it, and let him know I was in need of a vehicle. So he said just come pick it up and take it. So now I am the owner of a 1998* Mitsubishi Mirage DE * I said 1996 in the forum awards topic. Notes: Mitsubishi Mirage DE 1998 FWD Manual Transmission Red (it looks pink, but it just needs a good buff and wax, and it will be red once more) Need to fix the water pump. Slow oil leak. Left rear tire leak. Possible exhaust leak. 200,000 miles. So it has some problems and it's been well used, but it was free and it won't take much to fix it. It should be a good first car for me. That's about it for news on my life so far. Yay! (I can get the "I got a Ride" award now )

1. Create an account on RRU and make a few posts, leave your account for 1 year 2. A year later return and you might find yourself a Silver Member 3. Begin creating the 590 posts you need (also remember to attend one of RRU's anniversaries) 4. When you have 5 posts left to go, just spam and bump topics 5. You'll receive a warning (possibly several) from the mods, just continue spamming 6. Become a Gold member 7. Enjoy your five seconds of glory as a Gold member 8. Get banned from RRU for spam and bumping "How to become a Platinum member" coming never.