Managing Speech Anxiety

All the time you spend rehearsing can be undermined if your nerves take over once you’re in front of an audience. But being nervous about speaking in public, or speech anxiety, is a common experience for many people, because no one wants to lose face or become embarrassed in a public setting (Buss, 1980). Potentially adding to that fear are your own negative thoughts. As Chapter 2 discusses, self-fulfilling prophecies are predictions you make about interactions that lead you to communicate in ways that make those predictions come true. This can happen in any communication context, whether group, interpersonal, or public speaking. Studies have shown that people who experience high levels of anxiety about giving a speech often have thoughts such as “I’m really going to blow this!” (Ayres, 1988). If you think like this, it is more likely to happen.

Finding remedies for speech anxiety has long been a focus of research (McCroskey, 2009; Smith, Sawyer, & Behnke, 2005). Although there is no “magic pill” cure, there are several strategies to help reduce the nervousness associated with public speaking. If you experience speech anxiety, here are some suggestions to try:

Finally, your enrollment in this class will provide experiences with public speaking. This will reduce its novelty and help you feel more confident when presenting.