VAL0R
Banned
Why!? It's distracting and uncomfortable viewing in an event that may have been hugely expensive to produce. If you have a live event that will be broadcast to hundreds of thousands or millions of people, please, please, stop featuring people who are a trembling ball of nerves and who suffer from obvious public speaking anxiety. Take the recent X019 conference as an example with the EA rep speaking with Kareen Choudhry about Xcloud. I have no doubt the guy is a good person, very intelligent and highly capable of explaining EA's streaming relationship with MS. But I literally could not focus on the content of the poor man's speech as I was suffering sympathetic vicarious embarrassment for him. It was obvious he was experiencing the classic physiological symptoms of glossophobia (fear of public speaking): difficulty swallowing, difficulty speaking, trembling voice, etc. I honestly hate to even single this guy out because I have seen it many times, but he was a recent clear case.
Every speaker at these major events should be screened for this phobia, as it affects a huge portion of the population (myself included). I'm not talking about some lengthy psych exam, just an informal interview would weed out many people who could self-diagnose as having a "major fear." An observational practice speech screening could be done before a live small crowd in a rehearsal setting as well. And there is a range, right? I mean Phil Spencer is obviously somewhat nervous and jumbles his speech a little at times. But he's good enough that it doesn't drag down his segments. Honestly, sometimes when you see a head honcho flub a little it can come across as them having an "every man" quality, a "realness" that can be endearing and easily "forgivable." But when the speaker is just crushed by nerves, it's not easy to watch and their message gets lost a bit. And what good comes from it? Do these people feel good about themselves after their obviously nerve wracked performance? Probably not. "Yeah I was a nervous wreck, but at least I did it in front of millions of people!"
There are at least 2 obvious solutions:
1) Let the poor souls do a neatly prerecorded video segment instead where they can be relaxed and have full control of their style and message.
2) Get someone else who can speak well on stage with clarity and confidence in their place.
I am not judging these people by any means. What is there to judge? There is no moral failing in having uncontrollable physical symptoms that affect your speech. As I said, I too experience this anxiety. I have to give a presentation at work in a board room once a month and this has filled me with dread, though I think it may be getting easier as I must slog through it again and again. So I have nothing but empathy for these people.
Every speaker at these major events should be screened for this phobia, as it affects a huge portion of the population (myself included). I'm not talking about some lengthy psych exam, just an informal interview would weed out many people who could self-diagnose as having a "major fear." An observational practice speech screening could be done before a live small crowd in a rehearsal setting as well. And there is a range, right? I mean Phil Spencer is obviously somewhat nervous and jumbles his speech a little at times. But he's good enough that it doesn't drag down his segments. Honestly, sometimes when you see a head honcho flub a little it can come across as them having an "every man" quality, a "realness" that can be endearing and easily "forgivable." But when the speaker is just crushed by nerves, it's not easy to watch and their message gets lost a bit. And what good comes from it? Do these people feel good about themselves after their obviously nerve wracked performance? Probably not. "Yeah I was a nervous wreck, but at least I did it in front of millions of people!"
There are at least 2 obvious solutions:
1) Let the poor souls do a neatly prerecorded video segment instead where they can be relaxed and have full control of their style and message.
2) Get someone else who can speak well on stage with clarity and confidence in their place.
I am not judging these people by any means. What is there to judge? There is no moral failing in having uncontrollable physical symptoms that affect your speech. As I said, I too experience this anxiety. I have to give a presentation at work in a board room once a month and this has filled me with dread, though I think it may be getting easier as I must slog through it again and again. So I have nothing but empathy for these people.
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