1 More current research indicates that three techniques can reduce speech anxiety. These include desensitization (relaxation, deep breathing, visualization); cognitive restructuring (identifying what causes your anxiety and developing coping strategies); and, most fundamentally, learning and knowing your material and practicing your speech. For more, see T. Docan-Morgan and T. Schmidt, “Reducing Public Speaking Anxiety for Native and Non-Native Speakers: The Value of Systematic Desensitization, Cognitive Restructuring, and Skills Training,” Cross Cultural Communication 8, no. 5 (2012): 16–19.

2 See, for example, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nuclear.

3 J. S. Tuman and Reverend Paul Levine, personal communication, 1976.

4 D. Matsumoto and H. S. Hwang, “Body and Gestures,” in Nonverbal Communication: Science and Applications, ed. D. Matsumoto, M. Frank, and H. S. Hwang, 75–96 (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2013), 75.

5 V. Manusov, “Perceiving Nonverbal Messages: Effects of Immediacy and Encoded Intent on Receiver Judgments,” Western Journal of Speech Communication 55, no. 3 (1991): 236.

6 J. K. Burgoon and B. A. LePoire, “Nonverbal Cues and Interpersonal Judgments: Participant and Observer Perceptions of Intimacy, Dominance, Composure, and Formality,” Communication Monographs 66 (1999): 107.

7 Much of the original research on proxemics was pioneered by anthropologist Edward T. Hall: E. T. Hall, The Hidden Dimension (New York: Doubleday, 1966). See also M. L. Patterson, “Spatial Factors in Social Interactions,” Human Relations 21 (1968): 351–61.

8 Patterson, “Spatial Factors,” 351–61.

9 J. K. Burgoon and others, “Relational Messages Associated with Nonverbal Behaviors,” Human Communication Research 10 (1984): 351–78.

10 E. T. Hall, Hidden Differences: Doing Business with the Japanese (New York: Doubleday, 1987).

11 Communication scholars note that other elements of physical appearance, such as physiognomy, hair color, and height, can also affect how audiences respond to speakers. For more, see J. K. Burgoon, L. K. Guerrero, and V. Manusov, “Nonverbal Signals,” in The Sage Handbook of Interpersonal Communication, 4th ed., ed. M. L. Knapp and J. A. Daly, 239–80 (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2011), 241.

12 L. J. Smith and L. A. Malandro, “Personal Appearance Factors Which Influence Perceptions of Credibility and Approachability of Men and Women,” in The Nonverbal Communication Reader, ed. J. A. DeVito and M. L. Hecht (Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press, 1990), 163.