Have you ever done Karaoke?
Spoken in public?
Been interviewed on TV?
How about called in to a radio or podcast?
How did you do? Were you nervous or at ease? Enjoy the experience or want to throw up?
How do you do when you are in the public eye?
Karaoke once on a bet that I couldn't get 21 people on stage together to sing - I got friends in low places . Most were drunk, we sounded aweful, but it was fun. I won, got 22 to do it.
Public speaking, I was nervous in Mr. Bracke's class in Jr High but no problem at work decades later doing the security presentations. The Irish and the Scotts were my favorite bunch. Enjoyed it too much to be nervous.
No TV interviews, radio or broadcast.
I do customized weddings. I'm a little nervous for the first few seconds before I speak. I scan the faces of strangers for one person with kind eyes. I look them in the eye & get them to smile. Then I'm good to go. If my nerves start to rise again, I zero in on that person's eyes for 3 seconds while speaking and it calms me. When I married off my former daughter-in-law to another man I had a hard time at the end presenting them as Mr & Mrs ... she was like my own daughter. I just scooched them together and stepped back, tears had started to well up and my voice cracked a little on the surname. I knew it would so I was prepared, I'd choked at the same point when I practiced my part earlier before the ceremony. Nikki told me later that nobody noticed.
Job interviews get my nerves stirred. I've given countless interviews in my life. Second nature after you do it so many times, but when it was me across the desk as an applicant, I'd be nervous. Looking them in the eye would fix it.
When I was young, I had a hard time looking someone in the eye if I didn't know them really well. I had a lazy eye and was teased a lot. Grandpa taught me to soften my gaze & look at their nose briefly before looking them in the eye. If I felt my eye drift, look back at their nose again. Grandpa said you'll gain respect if you can look a person in the eye, even those who try to intimidate. With years of practice, I was able to control the drifting eye and bring it back in without it really being noticed. Grandpa was right about eye contact, and it wasn't hard to smile if you're having to look at a very odd nose while trying to keep your focus on the conversation at hand. Thanks Grandpa!