With summer on their minds, many students are forgetting that the end of semester often brings with it a multitude of in-class speeches and presentations.
Before you begin to sweat and anxiously bite your fingernails, here are some no-fail tips to combat speech anxiety and achieve speaking success.
Get straight to the point with a clear and understandable message.
“People don’t remember much of what they hear, so focus and keep it simple,” said Nick Morgan, the president of Public Words, Inc., and author of Trust Me: Four Steps to Authenticity and Charisma, to Forbes.
Keep your topic simple and use an organizational pattern appropriate for your audience.
Use body language that makes you appear comfortable. If you show signs of nervousness, like crossing your arms or swaying from side to side, your audience will sense your anxiety and be less open to your message.
Instead, concentrate on using your body language effectively – use hand gestures or walk to the other side of the room during your transitions – to make your speech delivery even more powerful.
Beau Bingham, director of the Oral Communication Center, and an associate lecturer in the Department of Communication and Journalism at UW, said he recommends using conversational delivery.
This will help to keep your speech flowing and relaxed, which in turn calms you, the speaker, as well as the audience.
When delivering your speech, it is essential to articulate your words, fluctuate your tone and replace “ums” and “likes” with silence.
Bingham suggests using cognitive restructuring in his Human and Business Communication class, as a way to combat speech anxiety.
The first step of cognitive restructuring is to create a list of negative thoughts you are afraid of when giving a speech, such as “What if I can’t remember what to say next?” or “What if the audience responds negatively to my speech?”
Next, eliminate irrational fears off the list, like “What if I faint during my speech?” and develop coping strategies for the more realistic fears you have on your list.
An example of a coping strategy is using “sign-posts” to remember the main points of your speech.
Memorize the coping strategies you come up with to combat your speaking anxieties, because knowing you have thought out a way to fix possible negative outcomes may help relax and prepare you for your speech.
A more positive approach to take to combat speech anxiety is visualizing yourself enjoying the delivery of your speech.
Picture yourself feeling confident, comfortable and having a great time in front of an audience who enjoys hearing you speak.
The anticipatory nervousness you once felt while imagining your speech can be soothed into a feeling of confidence and calm through visualization. Practicing this visualization in your mind is like performing actual public speaking. If you are able to do this visualization and be calm, it is much easier to speak in public calmly.
“The real Zen secret is to love what you’re doing in that moment,” said Morgan. “If you can relax and be happy about being there, the audience will feel that way, too.
Knowing your topic really well through extensive research, as well as practicing often, whether that be in the shower or in front of a friend to see how they respond, will help you feel comfortable giving your speech.
Exercising beforehand and using deep breathing will help to ease your nerves as well. Now that your upcoming speech anxiety problems are solved, you can begin to concentrate on other important aspects of your presentation, like visual aids, research and outlines.
