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[VAL0R]

Why!? It's distracting and uncomfortable viewing in an event that may have been hugely expensive to produce. If you have a live event that will be broadcast to hundreds of thousands or millions of people, please, please, stop featuring people who are a trembling ball of nerves and who suffer from obvious public speaking anxiety. Take the recent X019 conference as an example with the EA rep speaking with Kareen Choudhry about Xcloud. I have no doubt the guy is a good person, very intelligent and highly capable of explaining EA's streaming relationship with MS. But I literally could not focus on the content of the poor man's speech as I was suffering sympathetic vicarious embarrassment for him. It was obvious he was experiencing the classic physiological symptoms of glossophobia (fear of public speaking): difficulty swallowing, difficulty speaking, trembling voice, etc. I honestly hate to even single this guy out because I have seen it many times, but he was a recent clear case.

Every speaker at these major events should be screened for this phobia, as it affects a huge portion of the population (myself included). I'm not talking about some lengthy psych exam, just an informal interview would weed out many people who could self-diagnose as having a "major fear." An observational practice speech screening could be done before a live small crowd in a rehearsal setting as well. And there is a range, right? I mean Phil Spencer is obviously somewhat nervous and jumbles his speech a little at times. But he's good enough that it doesn't drag down his segments. Honestly, sometimes when you see a head honcho flub a little it can come across as them having an "every man" quality, a "realness" that can be endearing and easily "forgivable." But when the speaker is just crushed by nerves, it's not easy to watch and their message gets lost a bit. And what good comes from it? Do these people feel good about themselves after their obviously nerve wracked performance? Probably not. "Yeah I was a nervous wreck, but at least I did it in front of millions of people!"

There are at least 2 obvious solutions:
1) Let the poor souls do a neatly prerecorded video segment instead where they can be relaxed and have full control of their style and message.
2) Get someone else who can speak well on stage with clarity and confidence in their place.

I am not judging these people by any means. What is there to judge? There is no moral failing in having uncontrollable physical symptoms that affect your speech. As I said, I too experience this anxiety. I have to give a presentation at work in a board room once a month and this has filled me with dread, though I think it may be getting easier as I must slog through it again and again. So I have nothing but empathy for these people.

 

[nikolino840]

So before to promote/make a career someone have to ask if they can make a "normal" video interview?

 

[ThatGamingDude]

Everyone who does public speeches has to learn to give speeches in public

It's not difficult once you do it a few times; going to the venue and doing a dry run helps. Can imagine the same room with no people in it and just do your thing

If it's required for the job, and they want the job, they'll develop the skill. That or the company will find someone who can do both. Just how it works.

 

[VAL0R]

So before to promote/make a career someone have to ask if they can make a "normal" video interview?

What?

 

[Ulysses 31]

For the cringe videos of course!

Now you made me look up the event in question, OP!

 

[diffusionx]

Public speaking is not some ingrained instinct, it is a learned skill like anything else. The only way to get good at it is to practice a lot. A lot of times these people are considered rising stars and a venue like X019 is a relatively low stakes environment to get reps. It's better to make mistakes there than at, say, a board meeting when you've just been selected as CTO.

 

[Mistershine.]

I knew this would be about XO19 before I opened it.

I'm not normally afflicted with empathy for people I don't personally know but I did have a pang of pity when she was on stage.

 

[Husky]

but if they're nervous enough the Twitch chat can spam BibleThumps and promise to buy the guy's game to make him happy
Remember Unravel?

 

[Siri]

I had to give a presentation in the 9th grade and literally could not get any words out. The teacher quietly told me to sit back down, and later gave me a C for doing nothing.

 

[June]

I don't mind a bit of cringe, it adds flavour. Plus maybe the person is more directly tied to the product and so the message is more authentic that way. It's better than every speaker being a well-spoken conformist suit.

 

[VAL0R]

I knew this would be about XO19 before I opened it.

I'm not normally afflicted with empathy for people I don't personally know but I did have a pang of pity when she was on stage.

"She"? Did you read the OP? I was talking about the EA guy. Which woman are you speaking of?

 

[hybrid_birth]

I had to give a presentation in the 9th grade and literally could not get any words out. The teacher quietly told me to sit back down, and later gave me a C for doing nothing.

At least you didn't have the shakes. When i gave a presentation on stage my hands were shaking so much I couldn't read what I had wrote.

Later I punched a kid for saying that I shook as much as he shook my mom in bed last night.

 

[molasar]

I was never impressed by any public speakers. They are so unnatural.

 

[Nobody_Important]

As a gamer it seems more genuine to me having the people directly involved with the projects on stage talking about them instead of paid processional mouthpieces.

 

[VAL0R]

I had to give a presentation in the 9th grade and literally could not get any words out. The teacher quietly told me to sit back down, and later gave me a C for doing nothing.

My wife was so nervous in college during a public speaking class she stood and then just sat back down at her desk and cried. Because the topic of her speech was rape, the professor thought that perhaps she had been raped and couldn't emotionally handle the topic (she wasn't). He kindly let her give the speech in front of a few of her friends.

Fast forward a couple of years and she is a leader in our Christian club on campus and speaking in front of large groups regularly, like a pro. She said before she took her faith seriously she was always worried and obsessed about what others thought of her. Once she became a serious Christian and realized that everyone is a sinner in need of salvation, God is not a respecter of persons and ultimately only what He thinks matters, it changed her whole worldview and she lost the fear.

 

[ThatGamingDude]

I was never impressed by any public speakers. They are so unnatural.

There's natural ways to give speeches; Phil Spencer is pretty good at that IMO.

You can definitely tell when someone is over prepared though, or getting into character too much on stage.

And fuck, I'd rather have people nervously give speeches than the sort of numbers-for-investors shit they did in the past; shit gave us consumer under fucking no take away from them other than trailers

 

[VAL0R]

As a gamer it seems more genuine to me having the people directly involved with the projects on stage talking about them instead of paid processional mouthpieces.

They wouldn't have to be paid actors typically. In a large dev studio,for example, you could find a good speaker to speak for the team. Or just get the guy you want and do a video, as I said.

 

[ThatGamingDude]

They wouldn't have to be paid actors typically. In a large dev studio,for example, you could find a good speaker to speak for the team. Or just get the guy you want and do a video, as I said.

Yeah but if I'm not getting paid extra to publicly speak I'm not going to do that, since it wouldn't be the same responsibilities given to my coworkers in the same position. Creating a position with a different pay amount is what you would need to do...which sounds like something they already have, lead developers

Regardless, if you want to keep the job, you develop the skill. Whatever you need to do (Outside of dumb shit, of course) to remove mental blocks from being able to achieve that goal, you do that.
Even if it is something like how you referenced your wife having her faith help her over come it.
Me is was just taking ownership of the speech; I get to get up here and tote my ass around and say whatever I want and it's right and you can't back talk me right here right now so I'mma do and say what I want and you can yell at me later.

Then of course I go home and think "Oh I should have phrased it like this...I'll do it next time..." and continue improving

It's a skill, not a trait

 

[Mistershine.]

"She"? Did you read the OP? I was talking about the EA guy. Which woman are you speaking of?

The woman taking about xCloud, she looked on the verge of breaking down and was totally thrown when they missed a part of the presentation.

 

[SirKicksalot]

I don't get second hand embarrassment from awkward people on stage. It's the super fake American CEOs that get me. Americans are psychopaths, with their fake smiles and "please welcome my good friend, John" texts. It's a creepy warped take on the Asian concept of face.

 

[o5ca12]

I don't mind a bit of cringe, it adds flavour. Plus maybe the person is more directly tied to the product and so the message is more authentic that way. It's better than every speaker being a well-spoken conformist suit.

this X 100.. if anything i'm glad to read i'm not alone that nowadays i prefer to hear from the source, especially if the guy is an authentic train wreck when it comes to public speaking haha; i mean, watching that video, i found myself actually cheering for EA just because i found that guy endearing lol

 

[Enjay]

So before to promote/make a career someone have to ask if they can make a "normal" video interview?

dafuq?

 

[H4ze]

Would say... git gud?

Jokes aside, as many stated, it's a skill, you can actively train it and you should if you are in a position like that.

 

[Three]

I don't care if the presenter has soft skills or not and they are actually more involved with the product. Often what you get is some suit spokesperson who knows nothing but has rehearsed his lines. I'd rather the awkward developer or producer spoke than that hollow presenter.

 

[Pejo]

You're crazy OP. Awkward speakers and video game events go hand-in-hand. This is what I miss most about E3. Think of all the laughs you would have never had if the Wii Music thing never happened, or the wan mirron troops, or doodily doodily guy.

 

[brian0057]

Ubisoft: The Thread.
Can you people get someone that can speak, not only in public but, with an English that doesn't have an accent as thick as Yves Guillemont's skull?

 

[MetalRain]

On the other hand, we have had Joel McHale and VGX kind of show as well. I'd rather take shy developer.

 

[MiguelItUp]

If it's required for the job, and they want the job, they'll develop the skill. That or the company will find someone who can do both. Just how it works.

This was basically what I was going to say. A lot of companies will give their employees room to grow, learn, adapt, and move up in the company. Some great opportunities, and that's something we should all want and desire in our careers.

Maybe they ask these employees to be speakers, maybe these employees offer to take a stab at it. Either way, it's probably something they'd appreciate regardless. If they do really well, well then, good! They'll continue to do it. If they weren't that bad, but could use more experience, they'll probably get the same treatment.

Now, if they're horrible, maybe they'll get replaced. But it all depends on a number of variables I'm sure.

But all in all, everyone has to start somewhere.

 

[GreyHorace]

I don't get why game companies ask developers to do presentations on stage. Many of them are not cut out for pubic speaking and sometimes will make things worse because they don't now how to read the crowd. The presentation of Diablo Immortal at Blizzcon 2018 is a classic example of this.



There are some exceptions. I think Todd Howard is good at onstage, even though I find him to be a lying POS. Another developer who knew how to build hype for his game was Jason Vandenburg of For Honor.



That's a man who knows how to hype up his game. But seriously, game companies should get some good public speakers to do the presentations and let the developers do their jobs off the stage.

 

[prinz_valium]

Inclusivity. And you sometimes have to throw people out in uncomfortable situations.

 

[KorbinDallas]