Bitcoin Forum

So two days ago I had my first proposed bitcoin lecture to my colleagues at work. Prior to this time I had written and gotten approval to have a 30-minute session on bitcoin during our biweekly meeting. I was excited and pumped up knowing that this is the moment I've been waiting for. I already have a fair knowledge about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies and I thought it would be easy to transmit that knowledge so my colleagues. How hard could it be, this are my colleagues I see everyday.

However , just like Murphy's law anything that can go wrong will go wrong. The first thing that went wrong was instead of the 30 minutes for the talk my supervisor said it would be 15 minutes. Second, the air conditioning system decided to break down on that day, everywhere was so hot and you could see that my colleagues were visibly uncomfortable. Third since I was going to be the last speaker they had already had a heated argument about something that went on in the office the previous week. It was crazy.

When I was giving the floor to speak, I literally froze because the look on their faces was not one of enthusiasm but one of let's just get it done with. I forgot my presentation. I was stuttering. Sweating profusely. Everywhere was so hot that my colleagues were grumbling. My supervisor reading the room understood, dismissed the meeting. He gave me another chance to talk to them about Bitcoin in the next biweekly meeting.

I know by then the AC would have been fixed but I want to ask members of this forum how do I overcome stage fright in my next meeting? This right now is my biggest worry and concern. I do not want to mess this up again. Please share some tips with me, Thank you.

I don't think you really need any tips besides that you making sure to be prepared. like 90% of what happened wasn't under your control and was just unfortunate events in the first place.

I just hope you focus on the tech/economic side of things rather than bitcoin being an investment.

Bad things happens every time, even a perfect speaker make mistakes what you should have done is this:
Break the ice, instead of blasting them with your lecture or information about bitcoin, you should get their attention first, what do I mean by that? calm them by making them laugh throw a joke first, to make them smile, most speaker I see does this all the time why? to get the audience interested, since they were tired or too focus on the last speaker.
You should also learn to adjust on the situation, by now you know what to do next time, experience is also a good teacher.

Stage fright is normal, many people experience it. It shows that you care because you are worried how it will go. So, don't run away from it, embrace it and learn how to control it. Be interesting and fun, and don't speak in a monotonous and boring voice. You can practice your speech at home in front of friends and family. That way you will gain some experience in standing in front of a crowd of people. See how they will react. Ask them for some feedback and what they thought about it when you are done. Ask them if you should change something in the way your present your ideas, if the speech should be shorter, longer, if they understood the points you were trying to make, etc.   

You've make a nice attempt and it may looks ugly on the first approach but it's a challenge to never give up and strike harder the nexttime, there's always an opportunity for a second chance which I believe you've got, i never expected them (your colleagues) to investment or show a positive response on the first day because they will need time to renumerate about it and also consult people and the internet in making a research about bitcoin for those just coming across bitcoin for their first time, also just as been said by you, one has to study the present emotions of the intended audience and considers some factors that could aid or depressed the learning ground and deal with it in other not to serve a barrier just as you've experienced.

As with many other things in life, practice makes perfect! Practice your material as often as you can. The more familiar you are with it, the more confident you will feel when presenting it. Everyone makes mistakes; it's no big deal. It's important to recognize that feeling nervous before a presentation can be normal and even helpful. Don't let one small error throw you off. Try to focus on the big picture and tell yourself that it's okay to make mistakes. And even if you do experience some stage fright, remind yourself that it's normal and that you have the skills and knowledge to deliver a successful presentation.

This is not about bitcoin, nor about your colleague's lack of enthusiasm. It's more about the fear of speaking to a larger public.

Some get over that easier, some harder and I don't have a good advice for it. Maybe just break the ice and try to present something (even something else) to a bigger public, to try to get over the natural fear of being not listened or even being mocked in public.

From what I know, one basic rule to start without really looking at them. Focus on your thoughts, not their faces. After the topic gets some traction and you have a clear idea what to tell next, you can move on to their faces too if you want to, but don't have too high expectations.

Although anyone can make mistakes, as many people have mentioned, I will interpret your actions as showing a lack of confidence in yourself. When we are confident, I think that everything is simpler to accomplish, especially when it comes to public speaking. In order to avoid becoming persuaded whenever there is a distraction, I would encourage you to practice regularly on whatever you are preparing to give that day and attempt to grasp it properly rather than merely cramming. I believe sometimes confidence attractive people attention because everyone will like to pay full attention to whatever you want to say due to your confidence action

I believe many other will like to ask questions,In order to quickly have questions answered, try coming up with some questions yourself for each section you chose to discuss. This might also help your presentation, in my opinion.

I’m always on this shitty situation during my school days when we are assigned to report a lecture into the class. It’s very hard to overcome it unless you are very confident to your lecturing skills.

I usually just use copy paper and read it often while lecturing. I avoid I contact while I’m speaking and makes my presentation complete and easy to understand so that I will have less talk directly to the people since the presentation speak for itself. I suggest that you should express yourself on your presentation material as if it is the one talks for you so that you will have less interaction as much as possible during your lecture.

Dude that’s normal. Don’t feel bad about yourself. You know that successful people starts with failing a lot in their first attempts.

I remembered during the early days of the pandemic, I was hosting my very first online panel discussion about the impact of COVID-19 in the crypto and blockchain space. I have invited around 5 speakers that time.

During that time I was on my way to become broke again. I didn’t have a high quality camera and microphone, lighting, etc. My room was messed up in which it’s kinda ugly.

It was the first time that I have hosted despite without any experience at all. I only have the guts. Because of my lack of experience, some guests are correcting me the way I handle the panel while I was streaming live. But I just kept going until the end of the panel discussion.

The second live session that I have was an AMA. But during that time, I forgot to turn off the camera when I went outside for a bathroom break. Yeah it was embarassing and I lately realized.

It was ugly at first. I did acknowledged the feedback from both the speakers and the viewers, but never discouraged me. I kept going and improving until I am finally comfortable doing it until today. Because of it, I can finally afford to upgrade my “room studio” with upgraded CPU, lighting, green screen, cam and mic, software and skills in handling AMAs, panel discussions, podcasts, etc.

Planting stage is the hardest. But once you’ve kept building and being consistent in what you do, you’ll finally gonna bear fruit for as long as you want, and that is what I am enjoying right now thanks to my previous experience in being embarassed but on a positive perspective.

Hope this inspires you bud. Just keep it going and love what you do. Never stop improving.

Always apply the 4 pillars “Decide. Take Action. Assess. Adjust”. Repeat that and you’ll eventually become better in no time.

Even though the AC is fixed, you may still sweat under pressure of talking to many people if you do not get yourself together. I have been engaged in some few public speaking, and my technique to always avoid melting when it is time to speak to the many people is that I always find the most comfortable and welcoming face, and there if there are no welcoming or comfortable faces, I just look slightly above the head of the people listening to me, and just occasionally glance at them. I do that so I do not get nervous or intimidated by the expressions on their faces. Try it, maybe it will work for you.

You just need to have all the necessary basic information about their questions and you can get some answers here:

Frequently Asked Questions About Bitcoin (http://https://www.weusecoins.com/en/questions/)

The reason for your stage fright is you are not used to speaking about comprehensive and technical issues on the stage and to reading more about your topic and constantly learning from it, I'm sure you will gonna be more improved every time you step up there.

Good luck and be easy on yourself  8)

Good experience you witnessed out there mate and good you opened up knowing how embarrassing it will become if this happens again during your next bi-meeting with your colleagues.

Firstly, I will like to know how prepared you were before your presentation because regardless of the familiarity with your colleagues your ability to capture their interest and attention depends on your level of knowledge which can be gotten from adequate preparations without this, you will always fumble hence you won't have the right words to speak to them and if you can't be ahead of them then you can't have them listen to you as you wish since the whole thing will sound boring to their ears.


Before finding a way to fix the AC which may help to keep the environment cool, I suggest you try not to look at the faces of your colleagues when talking to them this will help you to reduce stage fright and being bold and in control of the conversation will always keep you away from stage fright but in all, get enough knowledge of what you want to teach them before you begin.

If you have a computer and a printer, you can create an opening presentation about what you want to tell your friends and colleagues about bitcoin. Just copy and distribute the abstract and invite those who are interested in the lecture, and there you can tell more.
People today are as lazy or as busy as they believe; they must be interested in the right way. And if you are confused and doubt what and how they might think of you, then the second meeting will be easier for you and your colleagues.
Last but not least, do you have friends? If you have the passion to spread the word about bitcoin, start with your friends.
Do you know how human radio works? One will tell three, and those three will tell six more. Most importantly, do not give up your enthusiasm, and everything will work out for you.

I really don't have the capacity for bitcoin lectures because I've never done it and I'm also not good at speaking in front of people directly. But in my opinion, you really have to prepare everything, if you are given 15 minutes, whereas you can finish in 30 minutes, you really have to trim your material well and just use a few cores to be more on and clear.
Maybe I would feel the same way if I were in your condition at that time. But it's a good try. You should have a small notebook that you use to read each core bitcoin lecture that you want to explain. If you have memorized anything related to bitcoin, it will be easier. You just need to mentally prepare yourself to be able to speak in front of many people well and fluently. It's just a simple tip, but you need to try it.

Hmm not to be a killjoy but it seems this “I teach bitcoin” threads are fast becoming a generic way to farm merits and if we are not careful it may become a norm where we see a page littered with “I teach bitcoin “. Bitcoin discussion board is full of them, it’s great if the creators of these threads are actually doing what they pair about and are making some form of impact in their surroundings. No offense OP but I have become skeptical of these kind of posts.

Firstly i would say try idea of you trying to brief your colleagues on something you know even if its bitcoin related. But the whole situation wasn't not totally your fault although you had a stage fright and you felt they have already had a pissed day and your timing wasn't just correct which is true in a situation like that seeing there tensed faces even myself i will freeze up trying to give a speech or share a knowledge on something i know. But in my case i need this prior lecture also because am a little confused in this whole bitcoin stuff i have been seeing and hearing about it from my colleagues and friends

I think you should go first in next meeting.

To have better presentations in future, it's good if you read more resources

The bullish case for Bitcoin (https://vijayboyapati.medium.com/the-bullish-case-for-bitcoin-6ecc8bdecc1)
Bitcoin information & resources (https://www.lopp.net/bitcoin-information.html)
How does Bitcoin work? (https://learnmeabitcoin.com/) (Learnmeabitcoin.com)
5 Resources to teach Average Joe about Bitcoin (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5156874.msg51545936#msg51545936)

In a presentation for your colleagues, time is limited so you'll have to choose one or two points about Bitcoin for your lecture.

I battled seriously with stage fright even since my elementary class days but now I can stand to talk to a whole crowd.
First I hope the Air conditions gets fixed before then and if you must talk to them or pass your message verbally, then try as much as possible not to do so at the end of the meeting but before the meeting starts officially.
The 15 minutes would be nice in just summarizing all you've got and I would suggest for now since you're still trying to get things straight, you should try to put all you want to say in a written form and possibly give a copy to all that would be present and just go straight to summarizing what you've got, that might go a long way to help them pick up interest as they might still have to study those papers at their free times.

Thank you all for taking time to share these tips with me. I know that they would be very useful to me in my next presentation. I have noted some of them below.

• I need to focus on the technological and economic aspects of things rather than bitcoin being an investment.
• I should use icebreakers
• I'll practice my presentation in front of close friends and family. And ask for feedback.
• I need to focus on your thoughts, not their faces
• I should apply the 4 pillars “Decide. Take Action. Assess. Adjust”
• I should create an opening presentation about my presentation and distribute to colleagues prior the meeting.

I feel your pain, bruv, cause stage fright can make one look like an unlearned fellow seeking to make a fool of himself. You have been given another chance and if I should suggest, it's best to not let the looks on their faces intimidate you by picturing the positive outcome that could come out from the lecture.

 If I read correctly, your stage fright was borne out of several factors so I believe just like you have said, there'd be no hitches this time around. But still be prepared for anything.

I am sorry to hear that and sorry to say this, but you were just unfortunate with the situation. Your situation at that time was bad enough. That is why it's driving you to a condition like that. However, if I were your colleague, I may also be in the same situation. Our brain may have been very hot and super pressure because of the previous meeting discussion and with that uncomfortable place and ambiance, this will really worse the situation. Moreover, if we are going to get something very new, this will really influence your mood to accept it.

Then, you should be relieved at first, moreover, you are given the second chance, and this is a very good chance for you to make them excited. You may not need to expect all people excited about what you are going to say, but at least, you are trying to ensure them and get their interest first. Because in the next meeting, you may also face quite similar conditions where they have been having previous discussions about other serious things, and they may be again not in a very good mood. So, what you need to do is first by ensuring yourself not to be fright. Actually, stage fright is very normal and happens to most people, moreover if that is the first time. but, you can train it and ensure you are ready with what you want to explain. Secondly, make the situation of the discussion and meeting lively up and cheer up again so that they can put aside their previous discussion and get new brainstorming. You may not need to teach them a very technical discussion about Bitcoin with a serious explanation because this will make them bored during the explanation. You may need to explain with something fresh, easy examples and proof, or with something that cheers up the room, that is suitable for the audience of course.

Do not be too hard on yourself. Most people mess up on their first public talk. So, breath in and relax. I have had my own fair share of the embarrassing public speaking. My suggestion, Watch some Toastmasters speeches on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@toastmasters).  It would give you some great ideas. Goodluck

You have done well to come up with this concept, for you to be able to give a speech or presentation in public, you should put yourself in charge and don't think about whoever is sitting down to listen to you. You should have control over the people and see them like your friends or children,this will help you have the boldness to talk.

Secondly,you can start with telling them an interesting story related to what your presentation will be or a story that will catch their attention. Practice is a way out, you can practice what you will be presenting to them so that you can be very sure of what you will say. It is not easy to talk in public especially those persons who are not used to it.

these are good tips you have compiled from the comments. I am not trying to discourage you but just a reminder that knowing all these things does not mean that the next presentation would go as you planned or that the adjustments or improv you made would work. it could take several presentations before you can successfully and properly present your lecture. also, on every presentation you make it would be best to take notes on what you think you could have done better next time. anyway, Goodluck!

Every presentation has to be associated with preparedness. No matter how knowledgeable you are on a certain topic, if you do not have any presentation available, then it is actually a recipe for disaster. I would definitely recommend creating a flowchart/framework on how you would be able to explain the fundamentals of BTC. Divide the sections and explain them as if you are explaining something to a 5-year old for them to easily understand.

Another recommendation is to show visual aids during your presentation. This will not only help them picture what you are discussing but this will also make the presentation more interesting.

What if he isn't a hilarious type?? So he tries to get funny and everytime,he gets into the worst dilemma he would ever think of; the audience will be like, who's this guy in the first place??What's he got to say to us?? Huh ???

Man, Everything gets fucked immediately when you/ things Begin just the way you didn't plan out. It'll instill some kinda redundant fear in you and at this point, you've started mixing words already. Inferiority complex would do alot more, that someone could just urinate in their pants at the sight of a crowd.
My advice is, stick to the plan no matter what. When it goes rough and everyone seems not to pay attention, just keep doing your job and believe me, a short moment of enthusiasm would simply get them sweaty, just when they get to realize the truth in it. Immediately when it begins to look catchy to them, remember them of the bad times.
You could tell them about the loses during the DIP and they still get interested, depends on the orator which is you. Everything lies in your hands, take not of that.

Regardless of how it went great start, bitcoin needs more ambassadors like you for it to survive and grow to its full potential.

What could go wrong  :P I guess you being the last speaker was to save the best for last and maybe neutralize whatever tensions other discussions might have brought.... Its all about seeing the positive side in any situation, it will save you from any kind of stress.

That went well, you needed the time and you got it, don't put so much pressure on yourself you gat this...

These are your colleagues you see almost on a daily basis no need for the stage fright, if you can make this presentation about them to try and explain and break the ice do so and if it helps what a few YouTube videos to help give you more ideas of how to give this presentation in the easiest way .