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Communication Apprehension seemed to be a major focus in presenting speeches. Two important ingredients to effective speech delivery are reprogramming your "self talk" and putting in proper preparation so you really "know your stuff". Take a look at this clip. Then, post to the blog what your self talk sounds like and a portion of this interview that you identified with in your experience. What does your self talk sound like? What are three practical suggestions that you can give yourself to begin to conquer your speech anxiety?
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Looking back at my childhood and young adulthood, I can not pinpoint the event or event that caused me to lose my confidence in speaking in front of a group a people; yet, I do not remember having this fear when I was younger. I believe that public speaking is similar to the skill of speaking a second language; hence, if you don't use it, you lose it. Prior to delivering a speech, I focus on the possibility of me making a mistake. I try to rely ion memorization to carry me through the presentation which makes me nervous that I will suddenly forget what I am talking about.
ReplyDeleteAfter listening to Mike Aguilera, I realized that my negative "self talk" only intensifies my anxiety level. I am hoping that changing my internal dialogue will help me to embrace my adrenaline rush. Mr. Aguilera recommends rehearsing the ability to use an adrenaline rush as tool for success. In addition to changing my "self talk" and embracing my emotions, Mr Aguilera suggest that focusing on the intended outcome of the speech will aid a person in overcoming speech anxiety. I hope that with the practice of the these three suggestion that I may regain my lost confidence. Jennifer Farina
Whenever I have had to speak in public I usually let the idea of being nervous seem ridiculous until the moment right before I'm about to give my speech. This strategy is extremely noneffective. I end up getting nervous right before speaking anyway. However, I do feel less anxiety when I'm fully prepared or when I'm speaking of a topic that I'm interested in.
ReplyDeleteMike Aguilera made some great points. I think the adrenaline rush is necessary in order to give a proper speech. I usually feel a "good adrenaline" whenever I'm about to debate an issue I feel strongly about. I feel that the negative "self talk" comes right before I give my speech. I'd like to try his "Instant Zone" technique in order to feel calmer before speaking.
Up until seeing this video it had never occured to me that there may be a reason I have such a fear of speaking in public. After Mike Agiulera said that there may be a cause for my fear, I began to think back to my youth. It didn't take long for me to pin-point the source. In third grade we would have to get up in front of the class and be quized on our multiplication tables. I dreaded this exercise each week, much like I dread public speaking today. I think that it is amazing that I have never made that connection before.
ReplyDeleteI find that it is much easier for me to do a presentation that I did not create. I have done countless presentations for work and although I get nervous, it is nowhere near how I get when I am presenting my own material. I assume this comes from insecurity. My "self talk" is telling me that if people don't like the presentation it is all my fault. I know this seems exagerated but it can be very overwhelming.
Three things that I could do to conquer my fear of public speaking are; overcome my apprehension of being judged, have a solid understanding of my material and work on my voice's tendency to shake when I am nervous. This last point is crucial. When my voice starts to sound nervous
I enter a public speaking vacuum that never ends well.
Over the years, my "self talk" has drastically changed from negative to positive. I find it interesting that with experience, we adapt to the same type of situation (in this case, a public speaking platform) in future opportunities and learn how to avoid making mistakes or displaying weaknesses that we have encountered in the past. From the elementary school age, I have always been shy and reserved. If there has been one factor that has contributed to my fear of public speaking, I firmly believe the personality trait of shyness would be it.
ReplyDeleteIt has not just been a fear of speaking in public in front of people, but even when I was grouped with others in a circle (in any environment; whether I was speaking or not), I had an unhealthy nervous disposition. The "self talk" that would naturally flow out of me would be along the lines of, "Why exactly do we have to be in a circle? I don't see the point. Get me out of here! This is so annoying. Why am I so nervous?" As Mike Aguilera mentions in the clip here, the fact that I was questioning and agreeing with my negative "self talk" simply made me more nervous. Though I never realized it at the time, and in fact, this realization just dawned on me as I was watching.
I first took a public speaking course in my freshman year of college, and I was absolutely dreading it going into the semester. It turned out to be a wonderful course, and was a definite turning point in my life. I not only learned how to deliver a well-written speech to a group of 15, but also believe this was where I was introduced to positive "self talk" for the first time. I have applied what I learned and experienced in this class in other courses that I have taken, as well as in several settings outside the classroom. In the past two years, I have overcome my fear of speaking (and even being) in a circle. Positive "self talk" has helped this become a reality. Though public speaking is not my favorite pastime, I would love to be completely rid of the fear and anxiety that is associated with it. We grow through everything we experience - whether good or bad at the time. I have heard it said before that, "failing isn't falling down, it is choosing to not get back up."
Three practical suggestions that I can give myself to help conquer my speech anxiety are: number one, to not procrastinate even an inch in the preparation of a speech; number two, rehearsing and practicing every speech several times, days before it is being delivered; and finally, to embrace any nervousness that I may have going into a speech and training it to be used to my advantage.
I can definitely identify with the idea that anxiety occurs before delivering a public speech. It’s natural. With consistent practice and preparation it will surely help control the apprehension of speaking to an audience of people.
ReplyDeleteI suppose what causes me the most discomfort in front of an audience is the thought of other people judging my character. It is not that I feel like people are deliberately throwing kudos or daggers at me in their minds, but rather unintentionally making up their own assumptions about whether or not they like me or agree with me. I always hope that everyone I’m speaking to is on the same page as me, but it’s not always the case in all public speaking situations. As long as I can tell that I am pleasing my audience, I am not nervous. If someone calls me out on a mistake or asks a question that I am unsure how to answer, I regress and have trouble recovering my thoughts.
Three ideas to conquer my public speaking anxieties are to prepare my speech well in advance, practice in front of a few friends and get their feedback, and to organize my ideas so that they are clearly portrayed to my audience. My self-talk probably needs a bit of work because I have the tendency to say “umm” “uhhh” and “like” quite often. When I catch myself doing this in a public speech I start to get nervous and sort of psych myself out until I can reorganize my thoughts again. I believe that having a positive mainframe and feeling confident about my knowledge of a topic usually helps me to control my stress.
*Brittany Gomulka*
When i first took public speaking last semester i was so nervous. My self talk went a little like i am so nervous and i felt as if i was getting really hot. Taking that course and getting up over and over again made me more comfortable in front of those people. I do a lot better when i focus on what i am speaking about then me being nervous. It helps a lot to focus my brain and nervousness towards what i am talking about.
ReplyDeleteFocusing the nervous energy on you topic and what you are speaking, helps a lot to get more comfortable with public speaking. Feeling confident defintely helped me too. I still get nervous talking, but with taking that class last semester helped me alot. Now with taking public speaking again i think will make me even better and even make my nervousness go away completly.
I think if I just make sure i am prepared for my speech, focus my nervous energy on the topic, and boost my confidence a little more,, my speech anxiety will defintely disapear and I will be comfortable with public speaking. I need to work on talking to fast and being nervous and I will surely conquer that fear.
In elementary school I was in speech from 2nd grade all the way up to 5th grade I had a very bad speech problem and barley anyone could understand what I was saying. I stuttered so many that it bothered me. I remember getting made fun of every day and being told that I will never be able to talk correctly. By going to speech as much as I did I was able to learn little tricks that would help me and ease my stuttering a little bit. As time went on I was able to control it tremendously and when I tell people that I stutter they don’t believe me. I came to conclusion that I stutter more when I get really nervous or really excited my speech teacher use to always tell me to just breathe and to just relax. From having a speech problem all my life I tend to talk really fast so before every speech I have to tell myself to slow it down and to breathe.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this video and liked when he said to ask yourself what you can do to relax and ask yourself what you want your outcome to be weather it is getting the job if you’re in an interview or trying to sell something to a company. It is good to try to focus your energy on what you’re trying to prove to the audience then how nervous you are.
I also feel that it is very important to be prepared for your speech and to know the material 100%. The more prepared you are the more confident you will be I also noticed if you are able to pick the subject you want to discuss, try to talk about something that you are patient about doing this will let you feel extremely more comfortable and a lot more confident.
Just like everything else practice makes perfect. The more you get up and give a speech the more comfortable you will become.
When I was in grade school, I used to love getting up in front of the class and give presentations, do math problems, etc. As I grew older my mind started changing from, “I can’t wait to do this” to “What are people going to think about me?”. My “self talk” tells me to run away and not make a fool out of yourself.
ReplyDeleteMy mind fills with negativity, thinking of every possibility that could happen if I mess up.
After listening to Mike Aguilera, I learned that I need to rehearse more and focus.
I need to turn all my negative thoughts and feelings, into thoughts of what I want to convey to people, and the adrenaline to do it. I also need to remember want my speech is about and remain calm.
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ReplyDeletePersonally, speaking in public always was (and still is) very scary to me. In the class I had at OCC the topics were relatively comfortable and the material came easy to me, but there’s that whole aspect of internal noise and having an actual audience. I think the internal noise is one of the biggest contributors to nervousness for me. Not so much thinking about what other people are thinking of me or my presentation, but more on me being too focused on speaking clearly and remembering the important points of my speeches. Mike Aguilera makes a good point though when he talks about channeling your adrenaline and using it to empower yourself. Maintaining that sense of control over yourself while giving the speech is one of the biggest challenges I think for most people, myself included.
ReplyDeleteThree practical suggestions I can give myself to begin to conquer my speech anxiety would be to try and eliminate my internal noise as best I can, because the thinking that goes on inside of my head while giving a speech clusters and confuses. Secondly, managing and controlling the adrenaline rush that surges up when you stand in front of the audience, and turning that adrenaline into a positive and empowering energy to help focus myself. Lastly, practicing and knowing my source material will be a bigger issue in this class and something I’m going to have to put more work into. In my OCC public speaking course we were allowed to read our speeches off our papers verbatim, which made things more simple but also took away the aspect of having to know your topic better and being comfortable with your pacing and style of delivery. Focusing less on over concern about making mistakes and being embarrassed and paying more attention to your topic and own individual ideas to help deliver a more concise and effective speech is what I’m going to try and aim for in this class.
Mike Aguilera's tips and thoughts on the common issue and fear of Public Speaking Anxiety provided valuable tips to those in need of added confidence in their speech endeavors. He speaks of a "self-fulfilling prophesy" people fall victim to, citing causes such as childhood ridicule for their inherent anxiety.
ReplyDeleteI have always subscribed to the belief that knowledge is power. Without the confidence that comes from "knowing your stuff" and fully understanding the material, I believe it is impossible to convey a feeling of credibility to an audience. My problem lies in an internal fear (or the noise we discussed in class) that I will choke under the pressure that is common to feel when all eyes are upon you. Will I freeze? Will I stutter? Will I fail to deliver the message to the best of my ability, that I have carefully planned out, and as a result, do an injustice to the time put in to prepare and research my message.
My last minute "self-talk" can do a disservice to all the time spent becoming comfortable and confident leading up to "showtime". After pinpointing this fault of mine, my immediate suggestions to myself were to practice and recite my main points more, in order to hammer home my material so that I would know it like the back of my hand. Also I would like to think that with time and practice speaking publicly in general, that this issue might manifest itself less and less. Once I start to feel some degree of comfort with the feat of speaking to a crowd through sheer repetition, I would like to think that preparedness would shine through and rule the day. But after watching the interview, this issue still lingered in my mind, in regards to the short-term and to this class, in particular.
I decided to dig a little deeper. I browsed through You Tube's suggested playlist of relevant videos at the conclusion of "Public Speaking - conquer the fear" and found something interesting. The American Seminar Academy has published a short clip claiming to provide a potential aid to what I would think is a fairly common problem of freezing under pressure (or even the fear of doing so) entitled, "Stage Fright Attack - How to Become Calm Instantly".
click here for video
It details the technique of "de-focusing your eyes", which they suggest can be accomplished and self-taught by practicing speaking while only paying attention to your hands held by the sides of your face. It admittedly sounds odd, and the visual seems a bit strange. However, at the same time, it does appear to be a promising solution and at the very least a potentially plausible way of dealing with stage fright or freezing under pressure. I look forward to trying the method out and hopefully ridding myself of this self-sabotaging problem.
When I'm required to speak in front of an audience of any magnitude I tend to have a general idea of what I'd like to accomplish. At first, I decide how I'd like to present myself to my audience and what type of connection I want to make with them. An important aspect of this idea is trying to appear calm and almost becoming playful with the time I'm given to speak. I use this strategy to help calm my nerves and convey the sense that I have control of the situation and I'm fully prepared to deliver my message effectively. Of course, when the time comes for me to speak, I forget things I prepared to say and my "self-talk" seems to become a group of voices in my head all speaking my thoughts at once, and turning what once was an organized thought process into a distorted mess.
ReplyDeleteAfter taking the OCC-level public speaking course, I learned to develop strong eye contact and a better sense of preparation and practice for my speeches. However, as discussed in the interview, we can feel we're fully prepared, but still seem to freeze and forget our game plan. I faced that situation for every speech I was required to deliver. That's when I realized I needed to try to speak to groups of people more often to strengthen my ability to organize my thoughts and call on the ones I needed at the appropriate time in my speech without conveying the notion that I forced or just remembered what I wanted to say. It was then I conditioned myself to become "playful" with the time I was given to speak in the sense that, "Hey, I'm here to deliver a message and I'm going to have fun with it. Even if I'm literally shaking, I'm not going to stand here and freeze. I'm going to finish strong and win this audience with a personal connection complimented with humor and confidence." I learned that we must try to dig deep for any amount of confidence we can find. Even if its a small bit a confidence, I learned that little bit can carry you all the way through your speech and help fight your anxiety.
Three suggestions I can give myself to conquer my speech anxiety are as nervous as I may feel, stare the audience in the eye and let them know I am confident, believe in myself and know I have the ability to effectively deliver my message, and practice, practice, practice. Practice makes perfect is as cliche as it gets, but when I look back on all the experience I have attained, I owe a good portion of it to practice. Sure, I owe a good portion of my experience to trial-and-error as well, however sometimes I simply could not excel in certain aspects just by making mistakes and doing it right the next time around. After a while, you just want to do something and do it right. That is exactly how I feel about public speaking.
Adrenaline rush, that's what is is, and here I was thinking that I was afraid of speaking in front of a crowd. Funny thing is that sometimes I am 'afraid', get red and my palms start sweating and sometimes not.
ReplyDeleteI remember in 8th grade I had to go on the stage and play the piano. I had practiced a lot, but when I started to play, nothing came out. So I locked up for a second turned to the people and said out loud: "Well this is awkward". That seemed to entertain them so I got my confidence back sat back behind the piano and played the song from beginning to the end with no problems. Stood up and got the biggest applause anybody else got.
So the moral of my story is to never give up.
I wanted to share with you all something that you may, or may not be aware of. A number of you commented to me that they were unaware that it was possible to post links to other sites within these comments, after seeing the ones I provided above in regards to "Public Speaking - conquer the fear" blog. The process involves some simple HTML coding. Follow the following steps to insert links into your replies.
ReplyDeleteEnter:
[a href="http://www.kean.edu"]KEAN UNIVERSITY[/a]
substituting the [ for < and the ] for >. I had to type the example with [] instead of <> in order for you to see the code without your browser displaying the link instead.
This will provide a link to www.kean.edu (any URL will work, just enter where you want the link to take the user) with the words between the brackets "KEAN UNIVERSITY" (type what ever you would like to be clickable as the link's text) as the only displayed text as the clickable link. everything within < and > is not shown at is coding interpreted by the browser. I hope this was helpful, and clear, I tried my best to describe it, please feel free to ask me if you have any questions or problems