Fear Of Public Speaking

When it comes to public speaking, I tend to fumble my words. I do not always communicate my thoughts as I would like. In the past, I was hindered from public speaking due to my intense stage fright. Oddly enough, I am heavily involved at my church, and they have asked me to speak on several occasions over the course of this year. I did not ask for this, but I suppose it is God’s calling for me. I preached my first sermon at age seventeen in front of over 700 people. Shortly after, my high school asked me to speak in chapel for over 400 students around my age. Those are a few examples that have gotten me to this point, today. I have had very little professional instruction with public speaking, so I anticipate learning a great amount this year, including: word flow, different tactics, memorization, and gaining more confidence. I do not enjoy public speaking but I feel it is necessary for my career. I truly am a living, breathing paradox.

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.

One of my more vivid experiences of public speaking was when I was taking a class at a community college. While taking this class I would often have to give speeches and demonstrations in front of the class. As I was waiting for my turn to give my very first speech, I was very certain that I would have no problems at all, it would a piece of cake, or so I thought. All of a sudden, I hear my name being called as it was my turn to deliver a knockout performance, but as I stood in front of that small class of people I just blanked out. An overwhelming amount of anxiety came over of me. I could feel my heart beginning to race and my hands starting to sweat. I could not for the life of me remember what I was going supposed say. In addition, the

In the United States alone, as much as 75% of the population struggles with the fear of public speaking, also known as glossophobia. Glossophobia is the fear of public speaking, some cases more extreme than others. Certain cases of glossophobia may be just a phobia, while other cases may just be as simple as stage fright. Throughout my life, I have had to give speeches on topics from Justin Bieber to the Jack Trice football stadium in Ames, and each minute is one I will never get back. Even though speeches are something I hate doing, I feel as though I learn something new each time I give a speech. The things I struggle with the most in giving speeches is the fear of being judged, the fear of failure, and how nervous I get before and

Actually, not too long ago I was reasonably confident and had no problems with talking to people. This all changed the day we were given the assignment of a presentation. The word presentation already sends shivers down my spine thinking about it. Everyone hates them, right? Not me. Not when I was in first year anyway. Truth be told I was ecstatic to do this presentation, I loved speaking infront of others, forcing them to laugh at my "witty" jokes and boring them to death with things I considered interesting. When the word "presentation" or "solo talk" was mentioned, I used to jump for joy. Now, I shrink into my seat and stare at my desk, hoping it will go away. I would spend hours on talks, preparing them and memorising them. A few years down the line I would find myself struggling to write notes as I begin to think about standing in front of an audience, causing my heart to beat rapidly and my hands to shake. It's not fair, really. Even now I still panic when trying to think of what to say, as it has to be

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 a fear faced by over 75% of the Earth’s population. In fact, 5.3 million of Americans today face social phobia and speech anxiety. Commonly referred to as “glossophobia”, speech anxiety is fear people face when delivering speeches and/or lectures to large audiences. The article, “Conquer Fear of Public Speaking through Emotional Intelligence”, written by Gleb Tsipursky, provides people with expert advice on how to conquer their speech anxiety. As someone who presents ideas and projects on a daily basis, I have started to conquer my speech anxiety. When I first moved to Hillsborough in 2013, I was petrified when delivering my student council speech. No one knew me, and I only had a scant amount of friends. I patently remember being extremely

From exploring the Internet to acquiring my classmate's opinion, I came to realize that nothing had worked for me and needed to come up with my own tactics. So, I've adopted the habit of practice until made perfect. This motto that I abide by has been utilized since the early stages of my life. I remember the first time I learned how to ride a bike. At first, I was taught the basic understanding. Then it was all about the enduring practice until I had gained confidence to successfully perform the task. I took what I did in the past, and I applied it to the obstacles that I had found most difficult such as riding a bike. Carrying over the same experience for the twelve-year-old me, I struggled with public speaking for as long as I could have remembered. In order to conquer this phobia, I had practiced speaking in front of the mirror over and over again, until it was simply second-nature to

For all those deathly afraid of talking in front of unknown strangers, here are some ways to help while presenting, and feel a little less anxiety, I hope. I recently watched the Ted Talk titled “How to Spot a Liar” by Pamela Meyer. This Talk was very intriguing and made me think about myself, which is something I like after watching a speech. But as I was watching, I came over some characteristics of an effective speaker and speech.

Although this article is relevant to my current situation of my fear of public speaking, overall I think my case have both some similarities. My biggest symptom is that when I go to speak publically my mind rushes. Instead of thinking clearly about what I am going to say next, I get into my own head and start thinking about everything down the line as well as my audience and the fact that I might mess up or get even more nervous. The article points out that the fear of public speaking usually come from a “Traumatic experience” with your first time public speaking. Although it was not my first time and traumatic might be a bit of an overstatement, I think this statement rings true. Pinpointing my fear comes after an early presentation senior

I joined an array of classes and clubs all focused on public speaking or performance. This included theater, debate, speech and leadership to name a few. I would practice over and over, trying to ingrain the words in my brain so they wouldn’t instantly jump ship the second I got in front of the class. I practiced in front of the mirror, in the hallway before school and in my mind right beforehand. I performed. I got up and I opened my mouth. Words that made sense came out, I think, and I did it again and again. I didn’t cower or run in fear, even though I wanted to. This worked for me – kind

According to a Chapman University survey on American fears, more than twenty-five percent of Americans’ biggest fear is public speaking (Ingraham, 2014). This ranked higher than heights, bugs, snakes, blood, and even dying. So what is it about speaking in public that is scary? And how can one get over this fear? It turns out that “most people tend to be anxious before doing something important in public” (Lucas, 2015, page 9). Being afraid of speaking in public is very common, and many people will never be able to completely overcome the fear of public speaking. However, there are many ways to manage and control this fear.

For as long as I can remember, public speaking has always been one of my greatest weaknesses. Whether it’s a simple in-class presentation or a speech in front of an auditorium filled with people, I can barely get my words out from the anxiety and

This public speaking taught me many new concepts. The three I found to be the most important were speech anxiety, audience types, and the nature of attention. Learning about speech anxiety made me realize that feeling nervous at the beginning of a speech was normal and everyone feels it, but dysfunctional speech anxiety occurs when the anxiety prevents an individual from giving a speech effectively. Through learning about speech anxiety I learned the most common causes of the anxiety such as the ‘illusion of transparency’ which is the fear that the audience can tell that you’re nervous as well as different coping mechanisms such as visualizing success. Learning about this helped me examine myself and figure out my own sources of anxieties for public speaking. Another important concept I learned was the different types of audiences. I had always that that one audience was the same as another, but through this concept I realized that there were many different types of audiences. This concept helped me think about the different types of audiences I could have in the future and how to approach them. For instance, you would talk to a committed audience, who chose to be there and want to listen to

Most people tend to fear public speaking whether it be the feeling like what you want to say won’t come out when speaking or just the fact that you have to stand in front of an audience and speak its self may be frightful to most people. Although that may be so with practice, public speaking shouldn’t be feared but be seen as a useful skill that may be applied to everyday life weather you’re in school or in your job. I believe learning how to publicly speak is something that will most diffidently take time to achieve but with the right mind set and practice it should come more easily. As it says in “The art of speaking” it is normal to be nervous and public speaking is one of the most nerve wracking experience for most people. Although that might the case for most it is a great skill to achieve even though you may have that intial fear. For me public speaking is not something I would prefer to do, it’s also somethings am not that great at, I am actually quite the opposite am pretty bad so when I was first approached with my first presentations fear came over but with the help of my professor and her guidance it wasn’t such a horrific first experience.