Real Communication An Introduction

Chapter 14  Delivering Presentations 405

Upsetting Experiences

Anna forgot her line in the second grade school play, and the
audience laughed. They thought it was adorable, but to Anna,
the experience was devastating. It’s fairly common for a nega-
tive experience in our past to shape our expectations for the
future, but it’s important to remember that it’s never too late
to learn or improve personal skills. Anna needs to think about
other skills that she has mastered, despite her initial nervous-
ness: she was anxious the first time she drove a car, for exam-
ple. With practice, she was able to master it—even though she
failed her first road test. She needs to approach public speaking
with the same kind of “try, try again” attitude.

Fear of Evaluation

Anna’s anxiety about public speaking may not be about speak-
ing but about being evaluated on her speaking abilities. We all
feel this way from time to time, but Anna must remember that
her instructor will consider other aspects of her speech prepa-
ration, including her organization and research. In addition,
she should recall that she’s not under the intense scrutiny that she imagines.
In most public speaking situations, the audience wants the speaker to succeed.
In fact, research shows that audiences are usually far less aware of a speaker’s
nervousness than the speaker is (Sawyer & Behnke, 2002). Keeping the presen-
tation in this perspective will help Anna to feel less anxiety.

Distaste for Attention

Alonzo loves to sing in the car, in the shower, and at concerts. But he refuses to
sing a solo in his church choir because being the center of attention makes him
feel incredibly uncomfortable. Although he may be able to avoid singing a solo,
he will likely have to speak publicly at some point. He can minimize his discom-
fort with being the center of attention by thinking of his speech as an opportu-
nity to communicate with a group rather than to perform. In other words, if he
were to give the best-man speech at his brother’s wedding, he’d be communicat-
ing with a group of family members and close friends rather than putting on a
performance. Similarly, when giving a speech for his human communication
course, he’s part of a group—nervous speakers with similar hopes of succeeding.

Building Your Confidence

Most people can cope effectively with periodic bouts of public speaking anxiety
by applying the following advice, which can also be employed for more general
cases of communication apprehension.

c Embrace your anxiety. Anxiety can have positive effects, such as driving

you to be more prepared and giving you energy. For example, anxiety over

forgetting your speech’s main points might cause you to prepare with solid

notes. By thinking about what might go wrong, you can come up with sim-

ple solutions for just about any scenario. In addition, that jolt of adrenaline

PUBLIC SPEAKING

anxiety manifests itself

both psychologically and

physically, but it can be

overcome by identifying the

triggers of the anxiety and

building `confidence. Blend

Images/Veer

Since many people are

apprehensive about speak-

ing publicly, we might

assume that communica-

tion apprehension (CA)

is limited to this context.

However, throughout this

book you learn that anxiety

can occur in many con-

texts. Some people experi-

ence high levels of CA in

interpersonal relationships

(Chapter 7) whereas others

get anxious when work-

ing in groups (Chapter 9).

And still others find that

interviews (Interviewing

Appendix) trigger CA. The

techniques in this chapter

are useful in all situations

where CA occurs.

Since many peopleare

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