So I’m going to be taking a public speaking class this summer, but I’m absolutely terrified to be honest. I have really bad anxiety and whenever I speak in front of people to speak I shake, my voice shakes, the whole shabang. I have to take this class, because it’s a requirement. Plus, I know this will be beneficial to me regardless of the requirement. I so badly want to be a confident speaker.
I guess I’m just looking for some tips on how to approach this without chickening out and dropping the class before it even starts. What was you guys’ experiences with a class like this? How do I become less anxious?
I had to take a public speaking course. It was my worst nightmare. As a child, I was enrolled in ESL and speech therapy classes for about 3 years. Needless to say, I heard a lot of people saying I didn’t speak “correctly” throughout a good chunk of my childhood. I’m a lot “better” now, but there are still times when people just have to guess what I said. For instance, at a restaurant, I ordered milk to go along with my pancakes, but the waitress somehow thought I said coffee? They don’t even sound remotely similar.
Anyway, like mentioned above, you really need to practice. Maybe form a little group with other students and practice talking in front of them. For me, I can’t really make eye contact, so I often looked at the clock or something just above everybody’s gaze so it somewhat looked like I was engaging with them. Don’t spend your time looking down a note card (if you’re allowed to have one). My professor would deduct a lot of points from your presentation score if you did something like that. Overall, it was still quite challenging for me. I never was able to meet the minimum time requirements. I was always under. My professor was very understanding though and I still managed to get an A in the course.
First, know that most (if not all) the people in your class will have some sort of anxiety about public speaking, so you are in good company. Practice, practice, practice is key - if you feel like you don’t know what to say next or have to wing it, that will make you even more nervous. Have a few people you trust listen to you and give you honest feedback with regard to speed, clarity, emphasis, body posture/movement and verbal pauses (try not to fill those with “ums” and other audibles - it “dumbs down” your speech). Force yourself to slow down - nervous speakers almost always speed up, which makes it tough for the audience to engage with you. The more you do it, the less intimidating it will be.
Think of the stage actors who admit to having terrible stage fright. Clearly, they feel the rewards are worth the terror, and they’ve managed to overcome it enough to at least appear confident. That’s where you want to be - even if you are quaking inside, you can still give the impression that you are comfortable with yourself and your audience. You can do this!
Good for you for meeting this challenge head on! Public speaking is the Number 1 fear of most people and forcing yourself to work at it will put you in the lead for future job opportunities etc.
This is one of those things where practice will help. You’ve already gotten great advice (know your topic etc) - try giving your speech to different people before the class presentation day. Pick supportive audiences - family, friends, the mirror, the dog, your teddy bear - and once you get a little confident, ask the audience (probably not the teddy bear) to do something distracting that you’ll need to ignore.
Whatever you do, DON’T picture the audience in their underwear! No one needs that trauma!