Have I lost my edge?

[Penguin]

I've been wondering, have I lost my edge when it comes to public speaking?  I can no longer deliver the grandiose oration that I have in my past.  Perhaps I had reached my peak, or perhaps my lack of study in the area has left me without feedback, focus and purpose.

My lack of eye contact astounds me, and my current speeches draw little more than a clap.  Perhaps some of you have a history in politics or oral debate, and could help me get out of my rut.

-Penguin

[EskimoJoe]

You're boring. Enough said.

[Flipperk]

I've been wondering, have I lost my edge when it comes to public speaking?  I can no longer deliver the grandiose oration that I have in my past.  Perhaps I had reached my peak, or perhaps my lack of study in the area has left me without feedback, focus and purpose.

My lack of eye contact astounds me, and my current speeches draw little more than a clap.  Perhaps some of you have a history in politics or oral debate, and could help me get out of my rut.

-Penguin

You become more wise and more mature with age. You say less and try not to impress as much because you realize it is pointless to do so...you try to say more with less...

so yes, you have lost that edge...and no, it will not come back.

[Jayhawk]

As you get older, more is expected from you.  Also, your audience gets more apathetic as high school goes on.

[Penguin]

Ouch, that's not a good prognosis.   However, it's not as if I haven't been aptly rewarded for my past efforts:

I've achieved fame across my school, even being featured on the Comedy Central website
My past speeches and audio recordings are used as course material by my previous school
After my first motivational speech, a girl in my class said "I wanted to go into space with you" (the speech was about a ficticious colonization effort on another world)

No, it's not that I don't enjoy it.  Perhaps something else is the case.

As you get older, more is expected from you.  Also, your audience gets more apathetic as high school goes on.

More is expected?  I see, so I have to work harder, then?  If it's effort they're after, then I will give them excess of it.  If I could find a good instructor I'd be set.  But wait!  Apathy?  It's the bane of any speaker, are you certain that this will be the case?

-Penguin

[Jayhawk]

Ouch, that's not a good prognosis.   However, it's not as if I haven't been aptly rewarded for my past efforts:

I've achieved fame across my school, even being featured on the Comedy Central website
My past speeches and audio recordings are used as course material by my previous school
After my first motivational speech, a girl in my class said "I wanted to go into space with you" (the speech was about a ficticious colonization effort on another world)

No, it's not that I don't enjoy it.  Perhaps something else is the case.

More is expected?  I see, so I have to work harder, then?  If it's effort they're after, then I will give them excess of it.  If I could find a good instructor I'd be set.  But wait!  Apathy?  It's the bane of any speaker, are you certain that this will be the case?

-Penguin

Of course you have to work harder as you get older.  Heck, I was one of the best orators in my high school, but only managed to get a C in my college speech class.  Of course though, getting through to high school students can be very difficult.

[Penguin]

More work, oof.  That's not a dealbreaker, no way.  I have the energy, I just need a way to channel it into helping me improve.  If only I had a captive audience.  What do you mean by getting through to them?  Are we pig-headed (which I can understand) or are we simply incapable of understanding the meaning of a speech?

-Penguin

[vNUCKS]

Your edge is fine, but as penguins can't fly, you've apparently chosen the wrong audience to orate to.  

[Penguin]

Now that is a witty use of my forum name.

-Penguin

[F22RaptorDude]

Get a girl friend, you'll care less about impressing the public and more about impressing her. Though speeches will not win a girls heart I might ad 

[Husky01]

Get a girl friend, you'll care less about impressing the public and more about impressing her. Though speeches will not win a girls heart I might ad 

Ya, listen to stud muffin here

[jimson]

Depends on your audience.

If same age or younger, perhaps you come across as pretentious and condescending.

If older, maybe annoyingly precocious.

It's just a fact that you "Philosopher Kings" can rub folks the wrong way.

[sluggish]

As you get older you'll be even less impressed with yourself.  Delusions of grandeur are a common trait among adolescents.  As you experience more and more of life you'll find that you're not all that.  Judging by the braggadocio in this thread, you've still got a long ways to go, but you're starting to get a clue.

[Penguin]

Do you mean that I've still got a long way to go to losing all interest in public speaking?

-Penguin

[dedalos]

Hey, sound waves do not propagate in space.  I would go with you for that reason too