Public speaking is no joke. In fact, it's one of the biggest and most common fears that people have.
We asked members of the BuzzFeed Community to tell us their public speaking horror stories. The responses had me laughing, crying, and cringing at my desk. Here are some of the wildest:
1. "I competed in speech and debate during high school. When you go to a tournament, you have to dress up in professional clothes to perform for judges and other students throughout the day. I was competing in a final round, and the girl next to me was SUPER nervous. She also had to wait a long time. They called her up to speak, and five minutes into her performance, she peed all over the floor. She was wearing a pencil skirt, so you can imagine the mess. Get this — she didn't stop speaking. She kept going and even walked through her urine, soaking her high heels. No one knew what to say when she finished. I wish I could say she won, but she got last place."
2. "I was probably around 10 and was asked to read a scripture in front of my church. I was used to doing this. I was an old pro, and I had practiced over and over. But, for some reason I will never understand, when I reached the word 'Gentiles' in the Bible verse, I said something that basically sounded like 'genitals.' My mom said a lady in the back had to get up and leave because she couldn't stop giggling."
3. "I was doing a presentation in my social studies class. Being the procrastinator that I am, I didn’t do the project until the night before it was due. When I pulled up the PowerPoint, it was entirely blank. I then realized I had forgotten to press save the night before. The class was silent for a good five minutes, and then the teacher made the class grade me. It was my first and last 0."
4. "In high school we had to write persuasive speeches and I chose to do mine on the ‘Free the Nipple’ movement (which was a bold move for a shy 13-year-old). When it was my turn to speak, I got through one cue card of the introduction while shaking viciously. Then, I starting crying and staring at the wall, so I sat down."
5. "In college, I was asked be on a sex discussion panel since I ran the campus LGBTQ+ Outreach. They gave us some possible topics to research ahead of time so we could be somewhat prepared. Someone asked, 'Is it true that the taste of semen changes depending on the person's diet?' and I excitedly jumped in saying, 'I'll answer this. I've researched it!' I didn't understand why everyone laughed."
6. "I got so anxious during a presentation in history class that I got nauseous and threw up on someone. I had already begged and cried to the teacher to let me skip the presentation beforehand. After that incident, she never made me present again."
7. "On the very first day of my public speaking class in college, we had to pick a song lyric from a hat and say something about it. I got, 'Sherry baby, won’t you come out tonight?' I couldn’t speak, so I just blurted out. 'I’m not a lesbian.' I was so damn embarrassed that I did not say anything else. My best friend at work was named Sherri and she was a lesbian, so that’s why I randomly said that. The whole class was very confused. I dropped that class after three weeks."
8. "I did competitive public speaking in high school, and my senior year, I made it to the finals of the state competition. All my teammates watched my performance, and I noticed some of them look amused or concerned, and it threw me off my game a bit. As it turns out, my fly was open, and in a very noticeable way. So not only did I not win, I had to endure 'your fly is down' jokes for the rest of the year."
9. "My mum sat through a presentation on public engagement, and the ‘L’ of 'public' was missing from every slide. Eventually someone told the poor lady, who blamed her husband, who she claimed was supposed to have spell-checked it all for her the night before."
10. "I went to a private Catholic school, and in 7th grade, I developed a fear of public speaking. We had to go to Mass every Friday, and junior high students had to read out the opening verses. I tried to avoid it, but got picked. I was so nervous while waiting to walk up to the stand that I didn’t realize my uniform skirt had ridden up my hips and was now about mid-thigh. I read my part perfectly, and felt so good about myself walking back to my seat. However, in a Catholic church, you have to bow when you walk in front of the altar. My whole school saw my ass. I cried and called my mom to pick me up early."
11. "I was doing a reading at my parents vow renewal and I said 'contraceptive' instead of 'conception.' Everyone, including the priest, was laughing."
12. "I didn’t even get to the public speaking part before I embarrassed myself. I had received an award at a large ceremony, and on my way to the stage, I tripped on a wire and it got unplugged. The next thing I know, the electricity went out for the whole venue. It was an easy fix and the power returned, but I’ll never live it down. Seriously though, why would you put the cord in the middle of the walkway?"
13. "In middle school, I said 'orgasm' instead of 'organism.' Ugh."
14. "I’m a tour guide at a small but popular museum. I made the mistake of eating a breakfast burrito before I had to lead two tours, even though eggs give me indigestion (because I’m stupid and also a masochist). I was doing fine until near the end of tour number one, when I started getting rumbles. I rushed through the last few minutes and spent my entire break in the bathroom. Then, I burped out loud while addressing the next tour group. I’d like to say I’ve learned my lesson, but I’ve learned absolutely nothing."
15. "I once told a class of 30 learners that I’m a HUGE fan of role play. I was a trainer and was trying to explain how important role play can be in developing customer service skills. While it was an obvious connection in my head, all 30 learners went with the alternate interpretation. After a brief pause, they all roared with laughter. I still haven’t lived it down seven years later."
16. "My dad, a student with a hangover, gave a presentation on an old court case where he meant to say 'Cunningham' (the defendant's surname), but it came out as 'cunnilingus.' He made this mistake again a few times, which made his lecturer think he did it as a prank. So, the lecturer yelled at him in front of the entire class."
17. "During my senior year of high school, I took a public speaking class at my local city college. I had a 5:30 a.m. swim practice, then would go straight to this class at 8:00 a.m. I ended up not eating very much for breakfast before the first big speech because I was nervous and I didn’t pack enough food the night before. Four minutes into my speech, I started to feel dizzy and light-headed, and had a ringing noise in my ears. I had to fight to stay upright to keep from blacking out. One of the college students in the front of the class had to get up and help me outside. I ended up sitting outside for someone else’s speech and then went back in and finished mine. The worst part was that we had to have someone record our speeches so we could watch them later and critique ourselves, so I have it all on video."
18. "Back when I was a TA in grad school, I was teaching a freshman composition class when I got a massive paper cut from my teaching notes. It was on the top of my finger right behind the fingernail and hurt like hell. The embarrassing part was that it also bled like crazy. I didn't have a bandage or even a tissue, so I basically kept teaching while squeezing the top of my finger with my other hand until it stopped bleeding 10 minutes later. By the time I left class, there were so many bloody fingerprints on my notes that a CSI team would've convicted me in under a minute."
19. "In 8th grade, we were supposed to memorize 'The Gettysburg Address' for an English assignment, and I forgot the words. I started crying halfway through, asked for a moment, was told no, skipped to the end, then the teacher proceeded to have the whole class grade me. Mortifying."
20. "My undergrad minor is in Spanish, and part of my final for a class was to prepare a 15-20 minute speech on a specific topic in Spanish. I’m not fantastic at speaking Spanish, but I worked incredibly hard on this presentation and knew my topic inside and out. Well, cut to the day of the speech. I stood up in front of the class and I forgot EVERYTHING. I just repeated 'lo siento' for a solid two minutes before the professor interrupted me and proceeded to ask me questions about my topic to get the information out of me. This went on for the entirety of the 52 minute class. It was pure torture. Students approached me the following session to tell me that they didn’t think I’d ever return to class."
21. "I sometimes did the morning announcements while I was in elementary school. One morning I had to run to go do the announcements because I forgot I was scheduled. I was so frazzled that I ended up telling the whole school lunch was pasta with 'marijuana sauce' instead of marinara."
22. "I started having a panic attack in the middle of my 6th grade presentation on industrialization in the Soviet Union. For background, when I have a panic attack, it's not always obvious, and sometimes I'm able to just ride it out. In this case, I started hyperventilating and my hands were shaking uncontrollably. My poor teammate, Gavin, had no idea what was happening, but I had memorized my part well enough that I was able to finish my presentation, WHILE HAVING A PANIC ATTACK. After I finished, I asked for a bathroom pass and hid in a stall for ten minutes, trying to calm down."
23. "I had to give a group presentation during my freshman year of high school that was filmed. After our presentations, we would watch the videos in class. I don't like watching myself on film, so I purposefully looked away. My friend nudged me and said I had to look. The kid who filmed had slowly moved the camera from my face to my boobs (I was well-developed, and on that day, I was wearing a low-cut shirt) and then he slowly zoomed in on my boobs before zooming out and moving the camera back to my face. I was mortified and thankfully no one acknowledged it to embarrass me further. WTF Josh?"
24. "I had to give my thesis presentation in front of the entire senior class. I referred to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act as 'Title V one one' at least five times. Apparently, I missed the day where we learned what Roman numerals were."
25. "During my sophomore year of high school, I had to give a presentation entirely in Spanish. I stayed up all night memorizing and repeating it to a mirror. I got to class and was selected to present first, so I stood in front of the room, opened my mouth, and no words would come out. I think I squeaked once, and then, to my absolute HORROR, I started silently crying. My whole class stared back at me as tears streamed down my face. Eventually, my teacher cleared her throat and I ran out of the classroom and to the bathroom where I called my mom to come pick me up from school. I dropped Spanish the next year and have had a fear of public speaking (in any language) ever since."
26. "Freshman year of college, I was having health issues where I would get really dizzy everyday. It made going to my classes extremely difficult. I was taking a professional speaking class at the time where we got recorded speaking in front of groups. I wasn't feeling well the day of one of my final speeches, but knew I had to just do it. I blacked out and fainted DURING my speech. I did eventually come to, and gave the rest of my speech seated (like a champ). I never told the professor what was going on. The incident is recorded, and I have a copy at home. I have never been able to rewatch it because I just remember being so scared. Miraculously, I did pass the class."
27. Finally: "In 7th grade, I had to give a presentation on a book I'd read. When I’m nervous, I sometimes switch up words and say the wrong thing, especially if I'm reading off a slide. I was recapping my book in front of my class and I meant to the the character was given some 'edible plants,' but instead I said they were given edibles. Someone said, 'Wait, like drugs?' and it started a whole ruckus in my class. I never got to finish the presentation."
Have you ever had a terrible public speaking experience? You're certainly not alone! Tell us your story in the comments, and we can commiserate together!
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.