Communication Apprehension seems to be a major focus on student's hestitates to take a public speaking course. We reviewed in class that two important ingredients to effective speech delivery are reprogramming your "self talk" and putting in proper preparation so you really "know your stuff". Take a look at this clip. Then, post to the blog what your self talk sounds like and a portion of this interview that you identified with in your experience. What does your self talk sound like? What are three practical suggestions that you can give yourself to begin to conquer your speech anxiety?
30 comments:
After watching this clip I have come to realize my self-talk is mostly negative. Instead of reinforcing positive energy before approaching the audience I assume that I will be nervous. I also begin to doubt myself with thoughts such as, "I don't think I organized this correctly," or "I'm going to forget everything." I could relate to the part of this clip when they addressed the topic of giving into butterflies and sweaty palms by assuming these things are a “self fulfilling prophecy.” When my palms start to sweat I automatically go into panic because I think, “Oh no my palms are sweating, I must be nervous.” To improve my self-talk I can feed myself positive thoughts instead of negative. Also, instead of feeling that I am not organized, I will prepare myself so that this is not a doubt. I can also relax myself to the best of my power by practicing new techniques. I believe that doing these three things can help me with my public speaking issues.
I tell myself to imagine that you're speaking with just one other person, but when there is the whole audience in front of me my heart starts pounding and the palms get sweaty. I tell myself to, "Calm down, take a deep breath, gather your thoughts and pull yourself together. You speak with people all the time without any problem." I think that what we learned in class yesterday "It's not about you, it's about the message" is going to be a helpfull self-talk in many public speaking situations in the future.
After viewing the clip, I have realized that my self-talk is usually positive before I get up in front of a group of people. I tell myself that I am going to do fine and it is not that big of a deal, but once I get up and stand in front of everyone I become extremely nervous. My heart begins to pound and the room goes blurry and I stumble over my words. I realize that I give into that self-fulfilling prophecy of expecting to be nervous and I need to overcome that. To overcome this problem I need to relax more and focus on the message that I am giving to my audience. I will fully prepare myself about the topic of discussion, because the thought of not fully knowing my stuff also gives me anxiety.
In reality, there is no difference whether you are speaking your message to a group of five or a group of five-thousand people. Speech anxiety can become evident regardless of the audience in front of the speaker. According to Mike Aguilera, speech anxiety usually increases due to a bad experience that happened during the course of speeches given in one's life. Therefore, recognizing this experience can truly help get over the anxiety factor. I can identify with this because I rememeber in elementray school, one of the first speeches I ever gave, my face turned bright red and when I was finished, all my peers were making fun of me and saying how my face looked like a tomatoe! Ever since that moment, I feel like if I do get up in front of a crowd, my face will always have the tendency to turn bright red. Truth is, that this "self talk" is what makes me more nervous than I have to be. About a year ago, I started to gain more confidence and deliver speeches with barely any anxiety at all. I would tell myself there is no reason to be nervous and to just focus on the message I am trying to deliever, rather than focusing on my face turning red. Turns out, this technique really worked for me!! It is true when Mike Aguilera said that the more confident you are the better you can deliver your message. Preparation really is everything. Some practical suggestions that could really improve my speech anxiety is to rehearse, rehearse, rehearse! If one rehearses out loud, they will be more and more comfortable with their message and be able to speak to others with confidence. Another suggestion that could help me is to positively "self talk" my message before getting up to give it. The more positive I am, the more confident I will sound. One more thing I could do to improve my speech anxiety is to organize my speech so that it flows continously. It is better to keep your audience on track so that they do not get lost within your delivery; the minute the audience gets confused is the minute that they stop paying attention to what the speaker is saying. Overall, speech anxiety can put a really downfall on the result of a public speaker, but as long as one learns how to overcome it, they should do fine in the long run!
I did understand everything that what was being discussed in this video clip. Most of it was no new news to me, but regardless I think that it is something that can only be overcome through practice and repetition. My self-talk now, was reflected to me in class as I felt my heart leaping out of my chest, but when I finally was in front of the class I felt more relaxed than before. I think I am just so used to expecting to bomb up there, that I too act in a self-fulfilled prophetic sort of way. My self talk now consists of my nerves filling up my head with insecurities which leads to my thought process becoming scattered. I am good with conversation and Q&A styled discussions, but generally do worse when I feel that something is expected out of me. I related to the part discussed at the end about preparation relieving the situation. When I do not prepare, I do horrible. When I read from notecards, I do horrible. However, last semester I rehearsed a speech for just 40 minutes before class and felt much more calm in having my thoughts organized. It actually branded the content into my head so that any nervousness could not disorient me. This feeling of certainty actually doubled as a device to limit my nerves in knowing how confident I was on the subject. In that, three ways I would best benefit my public speaking skills would be to make an outline, review my content, and rehearse; first the main points and then the complete speech.
Before I give a speech I always try to relax to myself. I tell myself not to put so much emphasis on what people are going to think of me. My dad always told me to never care what people might think of you as long as you get the message out. However, when I am finally in front of people I forget all of the advice and I stand there petrified. I definitely relate to the self fulfilling prophecy. Once I make a tiny mistake my entire body starts sweating and I can feel my face getting beet red. Once that happens, I race through it and usually leave out a lot of information so I can finish faster. Sometimes my voice gets extremely raspy and I feel embarrassed.I really want to learn new ways of relaxing myself during a presentation. Like they stated the best solution for speaking is to make sure I am fully prepared.
After reviewing this video I realize that my self talk is all wrong. My self talk consists of me telling my self how nervous I am and all I think about is not messing the speech up. I realize now that I have to make my self talk a positive talk. I have to tell myself that I will do fine on this speech and that I will not mess it up because I am prepared as I ever will be. When the anchorman from this news station talks with the public speaker about adrenaline rushes I realized I can directly relate to that. Before I get up to talk I get a huge adrenaline rush that makes me nervous. I need to learn how to control this rush into a positive way. Before my next speech I will definitely make sure my self talk will be more positive. I will also rehearse over and over until I know the information of my speech like the back of my hand. Thirdly I will calm myself down and relax myself. I will try to channel my adrenaline rush into focus and concentration on my speech.
I have every known symptom of speech anxiety. Then my self talk tells me that everyone can see my symptoms. My heart beets so hard I feel like people can hear it. My hands start to shake, and I think everyone can see it. Then I feel like my voice starts to crack and crack more as the speech goes on. I end up focusing on these symptoms, and I assume the audience has stopped listening to the topic and is now watching my nerves get the best of me. By watching the clip, I found that I can use these symptoms to my advantage. I can “embrace the adrenalin” that is being pumped through me and focus it on the topic at hand. I should try to stay excited about the topic and force the adrenalin there. And when I do feel anxious, I just have to refocus by asking myself what I want the outcome of the speech to be and what points I want to make to the audience. I should stay centered on that. Lastly I should stay enthusiastic about my topic and know as much as I can because research is the backbone to all speeches.
My self-talk wants to control every detail about my speech, right down to when I make certain hand gestures and who I look at at what points in time. I can definitely relate to the idea of the self-fulfilling prophecy, because that same voice also tries to anticipate what's going to make me nervous. Even though it's trying to help me get through the speech, it's by far the noisiest distraction I'm dealing with.
I think the best thing I can do to shut that voice up is practice more. Even though I know the material, and I know what I have to say, more often than not, I go into a presentation without ever saying it all out loud before. That makes my self-talk goes into overdrive trying to make it all run smoothly.
Another thing I can do to clear my head of all the Noise is remember that the speech doesn't have to be perfect. Things are rarely perfect with live speech anyway, so it's a little pointless to try to control every single aspect of every single moment. Aside from that, it's just plain impossible to do.
If I can shut the voice up, practice out loud more and just flat-out slow down my perspective, I believe it will greatly improve my speaking ability.
After watching this clip I realized that I am negative nancy when it comes to giving speeches. I keep telling myself things like "oh man my speech is so bad everyone is going to think it is so bad." Pretty much every bad thought runs through my mind before I have to give a speech and I could not tell you way. But then when I get up to give a speech I am fine, I am not nervous I don't think that anyone is judging me no more, nothing, I am just myself when I get up there. Something that I would do to improve my self-talk is to try and think positive and realize that no one really cares about what I have to say everyone just wants class to be over. Also to make sure I speak loudly when I start my speech I have a low voice I have been told and when I get up to speak all my teachers always have to tell me to speak up. Also I will better prepare myself for my speeches. I make sure that I leave time to practice saying my speech in front of people but not to over practice it. Also I need to make sure that I make better eye contact with the audience and not look down, I have a tendency to do that when I talk to people. I hope this class will help me with my public speaking issues and make a better speaker.
The clip definitely named many of the feelings I have before I present a speech. The discussion of nervousness was brought up and that is something I can relate to.
Every time before a speech I can not help but to feel nervous. But, once I am up there presenting my speech, it does not seem to be that bad anymore. That is the one part in the clip I related to.
To improve my own self-talking, I can think about positive things versus thinking about how nervous I am. I think me practicing my speech in my head and to an audience would help prepare me for the actual speech giving. And I just need to concentrate more on my speech giving rather that my feelings of nervousness. These three things will be a huge factor in helping me be prepared for my next speech.
After watching this clip I really took time to think about my self-talk and I feel it comes off in a positive way. I always tend to go up with confidence which is the number one key that any speaker should have. I always talk as if i know exactly what i am talking about even if I might doubt myself. Three things i belive i can do to help my self-talk is one i tend to do alot of movement which I need to start minimizing, two I should start preparing more for my speaking so even though Ill always act as if I know what I am talking about I still have that concern in the back of my head that someone may be catching on and If I can eliminate that little concern I belive it will help. As for the third thing im not sure. But i definitly need to focus on less movement and more preperation.
As i watched the clip "Speech Anxiety" i thought to myself i do not get nervous until i get up in front of a group of people. While i go over and prepare for the speech i think i can do it and i try to just remember everything i said but i start to shake and i know that most of the time my face gets bright red. A lot of my problem is because i worry about what people will think about me. So i usually think negative thought as i am getting up in front of an audience, but sometimes after i think "oh that was not as bad as i thought, i need to stop being so shy." One of the main things that i need to work on is not thinking about it as much as i do and to just prepare more and go up and say what i got to say and then take the criticism as advice for me to get better.
Let's face it, everyone has some type of form of speech anxiety, you can self-talk and rehearse all you want but when you get up infront of the crowd you're going to get nervous. But what i think they were trying to say here is that if your confident in yourself and "know your stuff" you will grab the audience's attention right away.
watching this clip i realized that i definitely get an "adrenaline" rush every time i speak in front of a crowd. I get butterflies i mess up my words. Which a lot of people do but i have to try and tell myself that it can only be over in a few minutes, so i can just try and make it worth my time. If i know what i am "speaking" about then i should not have a problem with speaking my words. I know that just preparing myself in advance is a good way of helping me speak in public.
I would consider my self-talk to be positive. I am usually confident in front of a crowd. I haven't always been that way though. I can relate to the freezing in front of a crowd part of the clip. I have gotten in front of a class to present a project and completely froze. It was not a good experience, but it made me feel better knowing I wasn't the only one that let nerves get the best of me. The three suggestions I could give myself would be to stay relaxed, know my stuff, and stay organized. I think as long as I do those three things I could be an effective public speaker.
The most important thing about giving a speech is making it apparent that the audience can feel the passion and understand the underlying meaning. This clip was helpful because it allowed me to understand that the symptoms I experience during a publis speech can be used to my advantage. A couple things that I have learned about dealing with speech anxiety is that one must pick a topic that is interesting to he or she, one must become familiar with what he or she is going to state, not to script it, and to imagine oneself succeeding. Anxiety is defined as a feeling of worry, nervousness, or agitation, often about something that is going to happen. It was shown in a recent study that just about one hundred percent of people who have to make a public speech fear it and become extremely anxious about the entire task. John Ford once stated, “You can speak well if your tongue can deliver the message of your heart.” I truly love and admire this quote. With this class, I will loose my fear of public speaking. Anxiety can be conquered as long as you tell yourself it can be. Think of anxiety as an obstacle that you are longing to get over, and public speaking will sooner or late become a breeze!
After watching this informative clip, I realize that more than anything the negative information I bring with me when I speak causes me to become nervous. Once I put myself in the situation where I actually need to speak, my nervousness intensifies and I began to think, "I can't do this, everone is looking at me", or "What will they think of my speech, is it boring?" I realted mostly to the part of the clip when they explained the importance of "immensifying" your nervousness by not telling yourself that you have butterflies or sweaty palms because when you tell yourself you have these issues and nervousness, you usually end up having them. In order to improve my "self-talk" I wish to stay calm, feel as if I am having a conversation with the audience, and create good chemistry with the listeners in order to get my points across. I also wish to practice positive techniques, such as the two provided in this clip, that will enable me to become a successful and fluent public speaker.
Prior to speaking in front a group I tell myself not to be nervous and that no one is there to judge you. It works for about 2 seconds and then I get up front and become nervous. I think the clip made a good point about one cause being "mass media". All you ever hear is that you will be nervous and that gets into your sub conscious. I'm not so sure that public speaking is a top fear of mine but it definitly isn't a favorite thing to do. To conquer my anxiety I will have to focus on the speech itself and not get distracted with other things in the room. I can only control my speech and the way I deliver it.
This video has made me realize that I am part of the self-fulfilling prophecy group. I start of totally psyched and ready to go when I am sitting down. Then I get up to speak, and everything happens at once. I start thinking that I did not dress properly, people are looking critically at me, I made a mistake and everyone noticed, and it all goes downhill. I end up sounded forced and stiff.
There are several things that I could do to make speaking easier, however, such as practice more. I tend to learn what I need to say and then wing when I get up. I could also be more prepared with my material. I also tend to procrastinate and gather my information and the last minute, so I am not properly prepared. I could also be more concious of my negative self-talk while I am giving my speeches and concentrate on being more positive.deo
When I am about to speak or do a presentation my self talk is usually just running through my presentation in my head a couple of times, trying to think positively, and trying really hard to convince myself that it’s going to be a good presentation. However, when I actually get up infront of everybody I tend to freeze up a little bit. One thing I can relate to from the clip is the “self fulfilling prophecy,” you’re going to be nervous. Even if I’m not nervous before I walk into the room, as soon as I walk into the room I start thinking of stuff that can go wrong which makes me nervous. One thing a can definitely do to conquer my anxiety if prepare more I really don’t practice to much be for I give a presentation. Also one thing I want to try is a technique a director gave our drama club at my school on how not to be nervous. He said to embrace the nervous energy and focus and turn it positive energy. Also I can have other people look over my presentations to get their input on how to improve it.
After watching the clip “Speech Anxiety”, I realized that my self talk was mostly negative. I get very nervous before I speak in front of people. I tell myself that I am going to mess up even before I start. I also get butterflies and my hands start to sweat when I have to speak in front of people. The reason I lack confidence and speak negative to myself is because I do not have enough experience. One suggestion they stated from the video is that being prepared is the key to a great speech. I agree with the points made in the video and by using the tips hopefully I will overcome my fears and become a great speaker one day.
After watching the clip I can see that most of the time the nervousness I have is created by me. I always seem to worry what people think of me. For example, when I get up to talk and I see everyone is looking at me I always think “I hope I don’t have anything on my face” or “I don’t think they like my speech” and thinking that stuff just makes me even more nervous. I feel I need to not listen to myself talk as much because when I do acknowledge it really seems to make everything worse and what I fear comes true. I also need to make sure I am totally prepared because I feel that would relieve so much stress and I would be a lot more confident.
While viewing this video, I correlated many of the common nervous actions with things that I am faced with while speaking in public. I find that even before I speak in front of a crowd I start having negative thoughts like; everyone can tell I’m nervous or that people will be judging me while I’m talking. Instead of just using the adrenaline to my advantage I automatically make adrenaline out to be nervousness. I would also like to improve on my eye contact while speaking unless I feel completely comfortable with what I am talking about I tend to stare down at the floor or I totally blank out on what I was suppose to say. Some ways I can over come this is by preparing my speech and performing it in front of people so I can become more comfortable and get some critics on what I can improve on. As Fred Couples said "When you're prepared, you're more confident.
When you have a strategy, you're more comfortable."
I know that my problem is when I'm presenting something and I have to look at everyone in the room the amount of eyes looking at makes me nervous hence why I tend to focus on one person. Usually my self talk is to hurry up and get it over and done with but I can't do that anymore. I need to self talk myself to calm down and to always think positive. The positive factor is, I know my message and why I feel it is important and fasinating for everyone to know about it. Yet this is easier said than done.
Post a Comment