On Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:40:06 +0100, Invisible wrote:

> As an aside...
> 
> My therapist seems to think that I'm nervous of public speaking because
> I'm autistic. I was under the impression that *all* people are nervous
> of public speaking. (Or at least, the vast majority of people anyway.) I
> didn't think this was "abnormal" in any way...?

I think most people are nervous about public speaking to some degree.  
Whenever I get up in front of a class (or one of the toughest crowds - an 
audience of other instructors, which I do at least once a year for a 
whole day - along with several other presenters that I select), I'm 
always nervous and I *always* think I've done a poor job.  It's 
reassuring to have these people - many of whom are lifelong instructors - 
come up and tell me what a good job I did.

The first time I did one of *those* talks, I was asked to lead the day's 
sessions 5 minutes before it started.  The conversation with my VP at the 
time was something like:

VP:  "So, who's leading the proceedings today?"
Me:  "Well, [boss] was planning on doing this, but he's moved on to a 
different job a week ago."
VP:  "I guess it's your show then."
Me:  "Uh, OK...."

I basically had to completely ad-lib the opening bit.  I was *sure* I was 
making a total ass out of myself.  But everyone thought I did a great 
job, even though I wasn't prepared - they didn't know I wasn't prepared 
and thought it went off very smoothly.

Jim

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