Preview

Effect of Nervousness on Speaking Ability, and Strategies to Manage It

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
250 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Effect of Nervousness on Speaking Ability, and Strategies to Manage It
Week 1 assignment

Activity One: Nervousness (Chapter 1)
Write at least a short 200 word response discussing the extent of your nervousness and how it affects your speaking ability. What strategies will you use to control your nerves and make them work for you?
First, I felt that it has been a while since I’ve stand in front of a large audience like this. I have been giving brief reports occasionally which mean that I do have some experience in informing and organizing ideas for presentations and speeches. I do however feel the pressure of delivering the wrong message especially in front of the senior editors and the regional managers. Secondly, I felt that if I mispronounce a word and have long pauses to remember what I indented to say, I might have a stage fright and lose the company’s faith in my abilities. Even worse, I could get demoted and lose the respect of the members of my work team. The first strategy that I will use to control my nerves is to think positive about what I could accomplished after successfully delivering my speech. If I can pass this speech, than I will be more confident on the next one. Secondly, I will write down my speech and practice on saying it so that I will remember my subtopic and present it better. Lastly, I will prepare a couple of weeks in advance so that what I want to present will become second nature in my

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    In the first three chapters of Michael Motley’s book Overcoming Your Fear of Public Speaking: A Proven Method, Motley goes over other people’s methods compared to his own, physical reactions spurred on by the anxiety, and also how to change ones style of speaking from “performance orientation” to “communication orientation” (Motley, 1997, p. 41) These three chapters hold several very strong points of interest for someone with any kind of anxiety about public speaking, which would be everyone, that could help him or her manage the symptoms of anxiety. In chapter one Motley starts out with giving the audience different scenarios that helps form a connection between him and the readers, by doing this Motley is able to create credibility with the readers. Credibility is important in any field, literature and public speaking in particular, because if the author/speaker doesn’t form this connection then he is just some random Joe off the street.…

    • 1278 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    speaking anxiety can be debilitating P.287-288 3. Making public speaking anxiety an advantage P.288-290 A. Accept public speaking anxiety as a normal response B. Focus the nervous anxiety C. Visualize a successful performance D. Desensitize E. Stay positive Practicing Effective Delivery 1. Visual elements affect delivery P.290-293 A. Facial expression B. Eye contact C. Posture and body position D. Gestures E. Personal appearance 2. Vocal elements affect delivery P.293-295 A. Volume B. Articulation C. Fluency 3.…

    • 260 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fdr Infamy Speech

    • 649 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Public speaking is an art form that takes time and practice to perfect. Some people are more inclined than others at getting their message across to an audience effectively. There are many different types of speeches but the outline and the main points that you need to touch on stay relatively the same.…

    • 649 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I agree with principle 7 that when you speak nothing bad can actually happen. When you receive feedback from the audience you can use it to strengthen your skills which can also be useful. I believe principle 8 is not useful. The principle says you don’t have to control the behavior of your audience. I believe that it is hard to control your anxiety when someone is talking during your speech because it makes you think about the topic your delivering and what the audience thinks about it (do they think my topic is lousy?). Principle 9 states the more you prepare, the worse you will do. I agree with this because when you drill the speech into your head it builds up unnecessary stress. I agree principle 10 that your audience truly wants you to succeed. I agree because most of the audience has been through public speaking and knows the troubles of it too. Three Strengths that I have that could help me overcome fear of public speaking are that I am understanding, optimistic, and non-judgmental. I feel that these characteristics to understand, always looking at the positive side and not judging allow me to speak without…

    • 517 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Intro Speech 100 Midterm 1

    • 3765 Words
    • 16 Pages

    2. Discuss methods of controlling nervousness and making it work for, rather than against, the speaker…

    • 3765 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    While keeping their interest with your words and delivery style, you are build a rapport with your audience. Treat a speech as a conversation, while making eye contact and using relaxed hand and body gestures. The delivery style is the vehicle that will deliver your message to its destination. Controlling the pitch and tone of your voice, using variable speeds and occasional pauses will attract the attention of the audience. Be genuine and honest. If a mistake is made while delivering your speech, acknowledge it, and move on calmly. The most important thing to know when speaking in public, is knowing when and how to stop. Speaking too long can…

    • 484 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    This is the first opportunity for me to present information of any topic to my class in a while. I’m not sure if I remember the last time I presented in front of a class full of people, which made me very nervous for this presentation especially in front of people I didn’t know and had never talked to before. As the date for me to present was arriving I began to get more nervous because again I haven’t done this is a while but once I entered the class I did a good job of keeping my nerves down and simply reading the slides to the class and presenting the information of my particular dialect very well I feel like. For many people presenting such things are enjoyable and fun for them but for me I’ve never been a big fan of presenting in front of a classroom full of students and in this case a classroom full of students I don’t know.…

    • 669 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    My whole life, public speaking has daunted me. When I am forced to present in front of a class, I do not feel nervous until I am at the podium facing thirty other students. Even though I am confident in what I am saying, my body and words prefer to shake. I have tried to improve my speaking abilities but have not had much success. It wasn’t until I decided to really challenge myself that I found…

    • 783 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    why speeches are bad

    • 313 Words
    • 1 Page

    Then there’s the speaking side of your public speech, the part where you spend the night before printing cue cards, rehearsing it around the house, you then get to your big day you feel prepared you’ve rehearsed you have even brought your cue cards to school. Then there’s your big moment and you forget everything you have rehearsed, you just had last year’s public speaking champion speak before you. The butterflies in your stomach are going mad. You start reading your speech, you start stuttering so much that you keep your head down and start reading off your cue cards which are really just your speech cut up into several pieces. You finish your speech and wait for your feedback and all you get is C.…

    • 313 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    PLR: Acknowledging Anxiety

    • 1154 Words
    • 5 Pages

    It is more than likely that I will always have some anxiety before speaking in front of a room of people; this is a natural reaction and can be managed quite easily. I have learnt to take this type of anxiety as an advantage as I use the anxious feeling to focus on what I need to remember. I have learnt that by being congruent and showing positive regard to myself that I can increase my confidence levels. When trying to deliver a message in a way that wasn’t true to me I became confused and this showed in my role play work.…

    • 1154 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This was the easiest speech, considering that all I had to do was rant about the story I was telling. For this speech, I didn’t feel that nervous because it was something that I remember vividly and nothing could go wrong with it. Moving on to the next speech, which was the informative speech, I felt nervousness once again. The fact that we had to research everything well and make sure the sources were cited correctly, then try memorizing what we would say for 6 minutes, and aside from that remember to do the speaker’s triangle, I got anxious. Fortunately, I did not do horrible, which is what I was expecting. Continuing to the next speech, we had our persuasive speech. This speech at first seemed easy because it was similar to the informative speech in many ways. The only difference was the time limit and the PowerPoint we had to make. For this speech I was well prepared and I felt great about it, I thought it was going to be the best speech. I had high hopes, but not everything goes as planned because as soon as my speech started and I was about to change the slide, I was unable to use the clicker. I got embarrassed and did not want to continue, but I knew I had to. I pushed along through the speech until I finished it. Although it wasn’t the best speech, I had to learn that not everything will flow the way you want things to, and instead you need to move…

    • 852 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Research is a key when preparing for a speech. Gather information about the audience that the message will be delivered to, dress code, time limit, and most importantly the topic. If giving a speech the audience expects the speaker to be the subject matter expert. Deliver original information that the audience will not find elsewhere. Take time to gather the information needed for the presentation, and ensure good solid information is delivered and repeat key points that should be remembered by audience to remember. Ensure that to get plenty of rest and water in the days before the speech. Practicing in front of a mirror or video can also help figure where weak points are. Make sure to speak slowly and clear using pauses to relax and build anticipation in the…

    • 682 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Americans today tend to believe that public speaking is an effortless fear to overcome. Nevertheless, I had a whole different experience with conquering this challenge. It took numerous attempts, many hours of speaking to myself, and a stutter of words. But without it, I wouldn’t have known the confidence and courage I had in me.…

    • 55 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    logs

    • 893 Words
    • 3 Pages

    My first skill is about how I struggle when communicating in verbal presentations. I’m confident when it comes to verbal communication in conversations or interviews. However when being in front on large audiences I find it hard to be as confident. During college I never needed to prepare my own presentation and present them. It was a new experience for me to get into groups or prepare a presentation by myself in front of my peers. I have experienced around 5 presentations now and I feel I am becoming more confident in myself and don’t get as worried when I know I have to do one. However I still feel like it’s a weakness when it comes to my skills and would like develop myself to become clear and confident when doing presentations. An example of how I no I’m doing better in this skill is that my grades have become higher. I feel I’m weak when doing presentations because I experience feeling nervous and forget to say things when I know what I’m talking about, so it comes across unprofessional and weak.…

    • 893 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    What I did find out though is that I can improve in so many aspects. Although it won't be easy to just stop being nervous out of nowhere I can improve by rehearsing more as well as preparing more for the next speech. Rehearsal is a really important factor in speech delivery and it is one of the main steps to achieve confidence. Delivering a speech can be really easy, but many factors actually contribute to it. What I need to do next time is rehearse everything well. I have to be able to organize my speech in a way I feel comfortable presenting and in ways it is easy for me to recall the information while I am giving my speech. What I really need to work on is my speech delivery. When I present my next speech I can't seem nervous. I need to have pleasing facial expressions and body movement where it seems i’m comfortable and confident with what I am saying. I have to get over my anxiety with presenting. I can't stress enough how much I have to rehearse. With that in mind everything else will just fall smoothly with presenting the information, as long as it is reliable and interesting…

    • 881 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays