Fear Of Public Speaking Essay

Communication apprehension has played a huge role on my life. Growing up I thought I was a social butterfly, not worrying about what people thought about me or how they viewed me. I had some great friends growing up that were always supportive of me. We would hang out all the time and meet new people and just have fun. It wasn’t until I was a little bit older that I learned of the fear of public speaking.

Public speaking is the number one fear in the world, which shows that the number one fear is really a deep fear of rejection from the connection of others. The narrator in “Typical First Year Professor”, who had a fantastic education and experience, has public speaking issues. She explains how her fear physically affects her in, “Ten minutes before my first class, I run to the bathroom and vomit. I’m afraid of public speaking, which

There is no question that after giving about four speeches, I have become a much better overall public speaker. In the beginning of the semester, I would tend to get nervous during some of my speeches and consequently the delivery of my speech would be greatly affected. If I had made a mistake, my level of nervousness would drastically increase and I wouldn’t know how to correct it. Although today I have improved on these aspects. Normally in order to control my nerves I try to think as positively as possible. This is critical because when I start to think even a little bit negatively then I severely hurt my chances of giving a good speech. Instead today, my main priority is to stay very confident and tell myself that I’m going to perform fine.

Public speaking used to be a daunting task that I would try to avoid as often as possible, often I would be the last to present a project and would refrain myself from having to read outloud. When I would speak my head would fill with thoughts of how other were perceiving me and how easy it would be to mess up. With this nervous mentality my speaking was stuttered and confusing.

Public speaking is the spark that leads to the realization of the need for change. When the world becomes so conditioned to not talk about the uncomfortable issues, it becomes easy to forget how harmful they truly are. However, public speaking is that opportunity to hold up that mirror to society, and command a change to be made. All of the great social shifts were fueled by the speeches of those who cared. The famous of all being the famous “I Have a Dream” speech, which still is quoted today. In order for change to take place, an individual must speak up in some sort of public forum to identify the problem.

This paper will go over the three main goals I would like to achieve in my public speaking career. My first goal is to improve upon the structure of my speeches to ensure that the topics that I discuss are in an order that will make sense to the audience. My second main goal I have for improving my public speaking skills is to improve on my confidence before, during, and after my speech. Finally, my last goal is to raise my delivery skills when I am giving my speech to assure the audience that I am confident and that I am a credible person. Together, these goals will help improve my public speaking skills.

Public speaking is something that I enjoy. Being able to talk to many people at once and having them get to know a part of me is something I find interesting. With me enjoying speaking to people I found myself running for the Associated Student Body (ASB) president my senior year in high school, I was the secretary previous year. Knowing that with the position of being the president of the school I knew it came with having to be very social not only with my fellow ASB team but with the entire school! However, that was the least of my problems. I knew that in order for me to run for the position having a speech to present to the former ASB president and administration of the school was mandatory. Writing speeches have never been my cup of tea. I have always winged it, mixing my personality into the core of the message I was trying to deliver seemed to always work for me. I worked on the main points I was going to present, had a few lines that I knew I was going to follow but the rest I knew would come to me when the day came. It was the day for everyone running for office to have their presentation ready. Because I was running for the highest office that was available everyone who applied for a lower/ different position went first. Starting from the lowest office of being the freshman representation moving all the way up to the president. Because I was one of the last to present I had an advantage of

Claudia Stepanovich gave me a message through power point that I completely agree with and that is that public speaking is not a skill you are born with; it is something that you have to learn and get better at. This message spoke to me, because I am extremely nervous about public speaking and I always avoid it when I can; when I can’t avoid it I always get nervous and start to stutter and forget information.

“Public speaking is the process of presenting a message to an audience, small or large”.

Public speaking is often described as the most common fear in the world. It is also something that many people are required to do. It may be to give a toast at a wedding, to present a seminar at work, to make an argument to a local council, to receive an award or to be interviewed by a board of directors for a job. Public speaking is something few people can avoid and yet it continues to be a major fear. To understand this fear and how it can be managed and prevented, the issue will now be looked at in more detail. This will begin with a definition of public speaking anxiety and a discussion of the

Throughout life we express ourselves through words. The way we present ourselves through speech says a lot about our character. The way one speaks to others can jeopardize the amount of respect and trust others have for them. From the way one pronounces a word to their posture can affect the way an audience interprets what is being said. Personally, I am not confident with my speaking skills at this point. I would like my audience to fully comprehend the concepts or facts that I would present to them. In order to do so I must improve my speaking skills I believe that a problem most people, including myself, have when giving speeches is facing an audience. Just looking out to an audience of a mere ten

Only a select few people take pleasure in giving presentations or public speaking. I am not one of those people. Public speaking has always been a problem for me. G.A.D. or general anxiety disorder, has been a substantial factor in my life and being graded or judged on how well you speak in front of people, doesn’t exactly help. Whether it is five people or over a thousand, when pressure is put on you-you have to react. For example, when your grade for the quarter depends on how well you give a presentation, or when you have a competition or a big game. Consequently, you could become exceedingly anxious, and begin to doubt yourself, and that can lead to horrible situations.

Everything in this earth is in a continuous state of enhancing, refining, raising …improving. In order to make progress we should know what prevent us from being successful, what specifically causes this type of social anxiety. Form my own experiences, I have realized that the fear of speaking in public is triggered by three things – fear of forgetting, fear of judgment and expectation of perfection. Even though I practice before I give a speech that is not enough for me to succeed. Being in front of the audience makes me feel anxious, nervous, apprehensive and concerned. Sometimes these symptoms makes me forget everything. As McDermott said, “Much of the pressure and anxiety of public speaking arises from the unrealistic expectation of recalling every word of talk in its exact order.” So I try not to memorize all the information, instead I connect my ideas by using different methods. In this way I manage the fear of forgetting. In addition speaker, including myself, are also concerned about the audience’s judgment. The main purpose is to grab their attention, share ideas and have a good feedback form them. If you show that you know the material very well, you are enough prepared and confident in yourself fear starts to minimize. The opposite will result in loss of self-esteem, concentration and control of the situation. And the third cause of stage fright is expectation of perfection. Personally, when I have a speech I practice a lot in order to deliver

I used the search engine Google with the search term “public speaking fear” and it brought up a great deal of interesting websites pertaining to public speaking. The first one I decided to peruse was 5 Tips to Reduce the Fear of Public Speaking on Psychology Today’s website. I learned that public speaking is the number one fear in America, while the fear of death is second in line. This means that we’re more afraid of speaking in public than we are of dying. I also learned five tips on how to reduce public speaking nervousness.

In public speaking of any form to a diverse group of individuals, my main consideration as the speaker is my concentration on the audience that I am speaking to. In starting an effective presentation,