Public speaking makes me go jelloid - help!

Hi! I have been trying to be confident. Like when I am talking in front of loads of people, I always plan what to say in front of them very well, but when I go up there I just go all jelloid.

My friends call me bonkers, but in a good way, as in like I do a lot of funny stuff and I can cheer people up easily. But when I am making a speech or something else in front of a lot of people, and I want to be the fun me, my confidence just goes to zero.

Please give me some tips on speaking confidently in front of so many people. :)

Cho, 14

Your thoughts:

Hi Cho,

Yeah, I get what you mean. I know loads of people who hate doing things like speaking in public.

In my opinion, the way to do it is to be prepared to laugh at yourself if it goes wrong.

The main scary thing about speaking in public is that you think people will make fun of you if you do it wrong, so you've got to be ready to get in there first.

That way, you haven't really got anything to fear.

Also, if you think of it in a relaxed way like that, you'll sound less nervous when you speak. Hope that helps. x

Alice, 14

Next week's question:

Some of my less friends smoke cannabis. They're not very close friends but they're good ones and I like them and everything and they don't put pressure on ME to smoke it, but I worry about it quite a lot.

And please don't just tell me to go to an adult or something coz it's really not that simple! I want to help them but I don't want to lose them as friends or lose my reputation and be a grass!

Sally, 15