Manage Speech Anxiety

Chapter 2

Public Speaking Anxiety? Research suggests that stress of public speaking

affects more than one in five adults. Meryl Streep, Barbra Streisand, Billy Graham…………

76% of experienced speakers feel fearful before presenting a speech

Females experience higher anxiety associated with public speaking

In a recent poll, the second most frequently cited fear was public speaking (2001 Gallup poll: public opinion). However, other studies cite it as the top fear and ranks above fear of death.

Understanding Anxiety Public Speaking Apprehension: fear or anxiety

associated with either anticipating or actually speaking to an audience. Anticipatory anxiety – worry you feel when looking ahead

to a speech and often starts when the speech is assigned. It usually decreases as you prepare.

Anxiety usually peaks when you first start your speech. Fortunately, as you deliver your speech, anxiety

decreases. Speakers felt less anxious about speeches for which they

had more time to prepare. The more prepared you are, the less anxious you will be.

Pinpointing the onset of Public Speaking Anxiety Pre-preparation anxiety – the anxiety felt

when the speech is assigned Preparation anxiety – for most people,

anxiety is lowest at this phase Pre-performance anxiety – as you rehearse

your speech Performance anxiety – there is a gradual

decline of anxiety that begins about one minute into your presentation

Why are you anxious about speaking?

Lack of positive experience? Feeling different? Being the center of attention? Fear of the unknown and fear of failure

contributes to public speaking.

Lenny Laskowski says…

PRIOR PROPER PREPARATION PREVENTS POOR PERFORMANCE OF THE PERSON PUTTING ON THE PRESENTATION!

Try saying that 3 times!

Consider How to Use Stress to Your Advantage

Accept speaking anxiety as normal. Rather than trying to eliminate it, accept it as normal part of performance.

Focus your nervous energy. That energy boost is meant to help you deal effectively with a threatening situation. Consider how athletes use anxiety to improve performance.

Desensitize yourself. When people face their fears, they often realize it isn’t as scary as anticipated. Research shows that desensitization can significantly lesson anxiety. The more speeches you give, the less anxiety you will experience! Systematic desensitization????

Consider How to Use Stress to Your Advantage

Prepare and Practice. Students who practice in front of others do better on their speeches and experience less anxiety.

Stay positive and Modify thoughts and attitudes (Cognitive Restructuring).Positive self-talk can be difficult but is important. Consider Communication Orientation Motivation (Performance vs Communication). Research suggests that positive thoughts and emotions help to relieve the body of negative effects of stress. Research suggests that negative thoughts can turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy. Those who suffer with communication apprehension tend to engage in negative self talk which leads to a negative self-fulfilling prophecy (Richmond & McCroskey, 1995).

Visualize a successful performance. Consider the work of Joe Ayres and Theodore Hopf. Visualization is also used with athletes. Create positive self-fulfilling prophecies!

Impact of Self-Fulfilling Prophecy?

A self-fulfilling prophecy occurs when a person’s expectations of an event make the outcome more likely to occur than would otherwise have been true

When people expect rejection, they behave in ways that lead others to reject them (Downey, Freitas, Michaelis, Khouri, 2004).

Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) studied effects of self-fulfilling prophecies in elementary school….what happened 8 months after beginning study?

Why Visualization?

Internal orientation versus external orientation? The Mind of a Champion (Scott, 1997)…….

Robert Schleser (director of the Institute for Sport and Performance Psychology at the Illinois Institute of Technology) has been studying the effects of visualization for over 20 years. He studied a group of schoolchildren. He reassured their success rate of shooting baskets.

Rummerfield also emphasizes the importance of visualization. For 6 days, he works with a group of golf students. Positive visualization boosted scores by 30%. Negative visualization lowered scores by 21%.

Bill Walton (great basketball player) said that he never approached a situation without having visualized it a thousand times.

Specific Techniques

Allow time to prepare!!!! Practice your speech aloud!!! Choose an appropriate time to speak Use positive self-talk Face the audience Focus on your message Use visual aids