Public Speaking

20 CHAPTER^2 Giving Your First Speech: Developing Confidence

Develop Strategies to Overcome

Performance Anxiety

Performance anxiety comes in two forms: physiological and psychological. Physiological

anxiety is how your body responds to the feared event. Psychological anxiety is your

mental worry, dread, and feelings of inadequacy about the performance itself. In Rainer

Martens’s model, this is your perceived response capability in light of the real or per-

ceived seriousness of the consequences. In the following pages, you’ll find a number of

specific ideas you can use in combination to overcome both kinds of nervousness.

Strategies to Deal with Physiological Responses

You know from experience how your body responds to danger. You might freeze. Or

you might experience the fight-or-flight mechanism—a rush of adrenalin that pre-

pares you to run or stay to fight the threat. Unfortunately, bodies don’t distinguish

between physically threatening situations (where you need extra physical energy to

escape) and psychologically threatening experiences (where your rapid heart rate, but-

terflies, and adrenaline rush only add to your stress). Chris Sawyer and Ralph Behnke^15

identify four milestones of anxiety-producing events: (1) anticipation, the prespeaking

period; (2) confrontation, beginning the speech; (3) adaptation, completing the speech;

and (4) release, the period lasting one minute after the speech. Anxiety peaks in the antic-

ipation period and steadily decreases, virtually disappearing in the release milestone,

although some symptoms may linger.^16 (See Figure 2.2.)

Here’s how Hattie described the process:

On speech day, I try to eliminate unnecessary stress. I sleep well the night prior, eat

well, and especially make sure I exercise, as this has the biggest calming effect aside

from good preparation. I feel well up until I step into the classroom when my heart

begins to race. I start to question if I used deodorant and if my outfit is appropriate.

When my name is called I feel a surge of anxiety similar to what I imagine a heart

attack feels like, but I also feel relief, as all the anxiety will soon be over. During the

speech I try to be mindful to purposefully breathe and pause. If I don’t, I tend to race

to the end. Once I have finished, I think of ways to improve next time but mostly

I relish the fact that it is over!

physiological anxiety bodily
responses to a perceived
threat (increased heart rate,
adrenaline rush)

psychological anxiety men-
tal stress about a perceived
threat

fight-or-flight mechanism
physiological mechanism
your body automatically
activates when threatened;
helps you fight or flee

your First speech

U

sing the five canons of rhetoric, prepare a self-introduction or the introduction of a

classmate. Throughout your preparation, consider the following questions:

1. Do I understand the assignment?


2. Is my topic somewhat unusual? If not, do I have a unique or novel approach?


3. What is my purpose in speaking?


4. How will I adapt this speech to this audience?


5. Is my speech clearly organized?


6. Are my language choices appropriate to the audience and the situation?


7. Which friends can I ask to listen to me rehearse?

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