[debugunit]

Public speaking. I joined Toastmasters [1] at the start of the year and highly recommend it. Friendly, supportive atmosphere. Challenging, assuming you're not currently comfortable speaking in front of groups. Lots of people who've been there a while comment on howit's improved their careers. One of the most useful bits is learning to evaluate other people's speeches, a skill which can be applied in a variety of situations, and (so I'm told - I'm still learning) leaves a very positive impression on people.

[1] https://www.toastmasters.org/

[pmiller2]

I am not the world's best public speaker, but I do enjoy it. Some of the things that have made me better at it include realizing:

* I will always be nervous before a performance. * The audience doesn't know what I'm about to say, so they don't know if I "screw up" most of the time. * Live demos will go wrong. :) * Talking to 30 people is actually easier than talking to 3 people, because you don't have to pay individual attention to anyone.

The worst part for me anymore is preparing the slide decks.

[askafriend]

What's so bad about preparing the deck?

[pmiller2]

Nothing, really. It's just time consuming and tedious.