[btilly]

As with anything else, make your mistakes in small domains.

And you would be amazed at the kinds of mistakes that you can make!

A few years back I did a 3 hour tutorial at OSCON. I put a lot of effort into making sure that I had 3 hours of material I planned on presenting, with some extra I could slip in. I "presented" to an empty room and was sure of my timing.

Turns out that I speak quite a bit faster in front of a real audience. I was done in 2.5 hours, including what I planned on leaving out...

[kbenson]

Many of us talk a bit quicker when nervous. I've only presented twice, both to a very small audience (6-10 people) for a local user group nearly a decade ago. The first time I was very nervous and self conscious. The second time, I was still somewhat nervous, but the first time is always the worst. I felt like I did rather well, with a more conversational style, the second time. Unfortunately, there's no video.

Then again, it's probably doubly cringeworthy if I did see it. Once for the mistakes I would see, and once again for the difference in how well I felt I did to what I imagine would be apparent once I could review it.