Speaking Confidence and Anxiety

Question 1

Strategies to manage speech anxiety?

Answer 1

-avoid catastrophic thinking (only seeing failure
-be aware of Spotlight Effect
-be aware of Illusion of Transparency

Question 2

What is the Spotlight Effect?

Answer 2

overestimating how much the audience notices you (being center of attention)

Question 3

What is the Illusion of Transparency?

Answer 3

overestimating the extent audience members perceive a speaker’s nervousness (they don’t notice irl)

Question 4

Habitual Strategies to manage speech anxiety

Answer 4

1. Practice, Practice, Practice - Prep. boosts your confidence and decreases anxiety
2. Avoid caffeine, junk food, cigarettes, and alcohol
3. Get to class early - prep and prepare

Question 5

How to consider your anxiety:

Answer 5

SEVERITY of feared occurrence times PROBABILITY of the feared occurence
-gives you a sense of how rational your anxiety is

Question 6

Public speaking should be viewed in what orientation? Performance vs Communication Orientation

Answer 6

Communication orientation = public speaking as a conversation
-You’re having a conversation with your audience, NOT performing FOR them

Question 7

What are some other active strategies

Answer 7

-take deep breaths
-tense and released your muscles
-Visualize success
-desensitization - visualize anxiety situation and imply relaxation technique to calm down

Question 8

What not to do?

Answer 8

-don’t tell audience you’re nervous, they don’t notice (Illusion of Transparency)
-Don’t tell us you made a mistake, people won’t know
-Don’t be a perfectionist