{
  "schema_version": "1.0",
  "id": "CC-011",
  "title": "How did I practice talking in a crowd?",
  "topic": "Anticipation, preparation and the listener",
  "author": {
    "name": "Craig Coffee",
    "id": "https://usedtostutter.com/craig-coffee#person"
  },
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  "content_kind": "author_published_article",
  "context_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/about-this-material",
  "source_sha256": "8a62c88a3c7f8bc6045ed51c8ff67a7d424be21f54857b26a77c8f985c7cb818",
  "source_markdown": "# How did I practice talking in a crowd?\n\nBy [Craig Coffee](/craig-coffee)\n\nI worked up to it. The first time I went to the market to practice, I felt scared as shit. When I recorded the busy market walk later, I wanted to show the little things I had learned inside what used to feel like one huge, intimidating world.\n\nIt was Small Business Saturday, right after Thanksgiving. The place had food, art, jewelry, people walking around and a magician. There was a lot happening. I could find something real to talk about by paying attention to what was in front of me.\n\n## The crowd wasn't my first conversation of the day\n\nOn the walk from wherever I had parked, I had already chatted with a couple of strangers. I explained that before stepping into the busiest part. I liked giving myself a smaller interaction before taking on something harder.\n\nI had also talked about what happened before leaving the house: reading something I could get into, remembering a small experience when my speech was better and playing music that helped change how I felt.\n\nThose were parts of [how I prepared](/confidence-before-speaking). By the time you saw the crowd, I was already using my voice.\n\n## A missed trash can gave me an opening\n\nA man threw something toward a trash can and missed. I saw it and said, “Hey, so that was pretty close man.”\n\nThat was the whole opening. We both knew what had just happened. I didn't have to come up with a subject from nowhere. I commented in the moment, then explained why I liked that kind of spontaneous start.\n\nIt is the sort of thing I mean when I say to look at what you have in common. Sometimes what you have in common is simply standing there when something happens.\n\n## Football gave us somewhere to go\n\nLater I said, “Go Gators man!” I'm a Florida graduate and a Gator fan. We started talking about the team. I brought up having thought we might fire the coach, then how things had turned around and the recruiting class had improved.\n\nWe also talked about Florida and Florida State. I ended with, “Alright buddy.”\n\nThe subject was something I was interested in. I could comment, hear the other person and respond. I didn't have the whole exchange written in my head before I started it. That is what I wanted the example to show.\n\n## Some of the moments were much smaller\n\nA man looked at me, I looked back and said a quiet “hey.” Elsewhere I said, “Hello. How are you? Good morning.” I pointed out that those small things were ways I could use my voice too.\n\nEvery person I passed didn't become a long conversation. I was practicing the ordinary moments of being there and talking.\n\n## Coming back gave an exchange some history\n\nAt one stall, I asked whether the woman's son was there. I had met him before. She said he was getting her hot chocolate. I said, “Oh, he's a good son,” and told her I would stop by again.\n\nThen I explained that you can build relationships by [returning to the same places](/returning-to-places-where-you-practice-speaking). That interaction started from a person I remembered. It had a little history already.\n\n## I also talked about when I wished I had left\n\nDuring this same walk, I retold the earlier embroidery-store incident. It happened in a different place, when I had gone to help a friend get a patch made. A man asked me to repeat my name for his buddy after hearing me struggle with it.\n\nI explained that I had felt something was wrong and wished I had walked away. Learning to talk in public also included learning that I could leave a bad interaction. [That whole experience](/hostile-listeners-and-stuttering) is part of what shaped my judgment.\n\nThe market used to feel like one big world I did not know how to enter. By the time of this recording, there were smaller things I knew how to do inside it: have a conversation on the way in, notice an opening, ask a question, say hello and return to somebody I had met.\n\nThose are the decisions behind the walk. They came through years of practicing, and I still used them when I filmed it.\n\n## Related answers\n\n- [How do I start a conversation when I stutter?](/starting-conversations-when-you-stutter)\n- [How did I learn to speak in loud places?](/speaking-in-loud-places)\n\n[Find your question](/questions)\n",
  "relative_link_base": "https://usedtostutter.com/talking-in-crowds-when-you-stutter",
  "sections": [
    {
      "id": "reading-content",
      "heading": null,
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      "citation_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/talking-in-crowds-when-you-stutter#reading-content",
      "role": "source_context",
      "source_markdown": "I worked up to it. The first time I went to the market to practice, I felt scared as shit. When I recorded the busy market walk later, I wanted to show the little things I had learned inside what used to feel like one huge, intimidating world.\n\nIt was Small Business Saturday, right after Thanksgiving. The place had food, art, jewelry, people walking around and a magician. There was a lot happening. I could find something real to talk about by paying attention to what was in front of me.\n\n",
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    {
      "id": "the-crowd-wasn-t-my-first-conversation-of-the-day",
      "heading": "The crowd wasn't my first conversation of the day",
      "heading_level": 2,
      "citation_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/talking-in-crowds-when-you-stutter#the-crowd-wasn-t-my-first-conversation-of-the-day",
      "role": "source_context",
      "source_markdown": "## The crowd wasn't my first conversation of the day\n\nOn the walk from wherever I had parked, I had already chatted with a couple of strangers. I explained that before stepping into the busiest part. I liked giving myself a smaller interaction before taking on something harder.\n\nI had also talked about what happened before leaving the house: reading something I could get into, remembering a small experience when my speech was better and playing music that helped change how I felt.\n\nThose were parts of [how I prepared](/confidence-before-speaking). By the time you saw the crowd, I was already using my voice.\n\n",
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    {
      "id": "a-missed-trash-can-gave-me-an-opening",
      "heading": "A missed trash can gave me an opening",
      "heading_level": 2,
      "citation_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/talking-in-crowds-when-you-stutter#a-missed-trash-can-gave-me-an-opening",
      "role": "source_context",
      "source_markdown": "## A missed trash can gave me an opening\n\nA man threw something toward a trash can and missed. I saw it and said, “Hey, so that was pretty close man.”\n\nThat was the whole opening. We both knew what had just happened. I didn't have to come up with a subject from nowhere. I commented in the moment, then explained why I liked that kind of spontaneous start.\n\nIt is the sort of thing I mean when I say to look at what you have in common. Sometimes what you have in common is simply standing there when something happens.\n\n",
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      "heading": "Football gave us somewhere to go",
      "heading_level": 2,
      "citation_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/talking-in-crowds-when-you-stutter#football-gave-us-somewhere-to-go",
      "role": "source_context",
      "source_markdown": "## Football gave us somewhere to go\n\nLater I said, “Go Gators man!” I'm a Florida graduate and a Gator fan. We started talking about the team. I brought up having thought we might fire the coach, then how things had turned around and the recruiting class had improved.\n\nWe also talked about Florida and Florida State. I ended with, “Alright buddy.”\n\nThe subject was something I was interested in. I could comment, hear the other person and respond. I didn't have the whole exchange written in my head before I started it. That is what I wanted the example to show.\n\n",
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      "id": "some-of-the-moments-were-much-smaller",
      "heading": "Some of the moments were much smaller",
      "heading_level": 2,
      "citation_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/talking-in-crowds-when-you-stutter#some-of-the-moments-were-much-smaller",
      "role": "source_context",
      "source_markdown": "## Some of the moments were much smaller\n\nA man looked at me, I looked back and said a quiet “hey.” Elsewhere I said, “Hello. How are you? Good morning.” I pointed out that those small things were ways I could use my voice too.\n\nEvery person I passed didn't become a long conversation. I was practicing the ordinary moments of being there and talking.\n\n",
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    },
    {
      "id": "coming-back-gave-an-exchange-some-history",
      "heading": "Coming back gave an exchange some history",
      "heading_level": 2,
      "citation_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/talking-in-crowds-when-you-stutter#coming-back-gave-an-exchange-some-history",
      "role": "source_context",
      "source_markdown": "## Coming back gave an exchange some history\n\nAt one stall, I asked whether the woman's son was there. I had met him before. She said he was getting her hot chocolate. I said, “Oh, he's a good son,” and told her I would stop by again.\n\nThen I explained that you can build relationships by [returning to the same places](/returning-to-places-where-you-practice-speaking). That interaction started from a person I remembered. It had a little history already.\n\n",
      "source_span_sha256": "9912a02dfdf3b286f3ea1425c5bc33e8da50e0e164c973f1ff2a6ecbbd2ad8c9"
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      "id": "i-also-talked-about-when-i-wished-i-had-left",
      "heading": "I also talked about when I wished I had left",
      "heading_level": 2,
      "citation_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/talking-in-crowds-when-you-stutter#i-also-talked-about-when-i-wished-i-had-left",
      "role": "source_context",
      "source_markdown": "## I also talked about when I wished I had left\n\nDuring this same walk, I retold the earlier embroidery-store incident. It happened in a different place, when I had gone to help a friend get a patch made. A man asked me to repeat my name for his buddy after hearing me struggle with it.\n\nI explained that I had felt something was wrong and wished I had walked away. Learning to talk in public also included learning that I could leave a bad interaction. [That whole experience](/hostile-listeners-and-stuttering) is part of what shaped my judgment.\n\nThe market used to feel like one big world I did not know how to enter. By the time of this recording, there were smaller things I knew how to do inside it: have a conversation on the way in, notice an opening, ask a question, say hello and return to somebody I had met.\n\nThose are the decisions behind the walk. They came through years of practicing, and I still used them when I filmed it.\n\n",
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      "id": "related-answers",
      "heading": "Related answers",
      "heading_level": 2,
      "citation_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/talking-in-crowds-when-you-stutter#related-answers",
      "role": "navigation",
      "source_markdown": "## Related answers\n\n- [How do I start a conversation when I stutter?](/starting-conversations-when-you-stutter)\n- [How did I learn to speak in loud places?](/speaking-in-loud-places)\n",
      "source_span_sha256": "970f347d2cd6e1812f6d51e2c2d2a093f256a6b33ff7ab7ead789eb69762d5c1"
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}