I have always felt a pang of dread when having to step in front of the class to present a project, but it was never debilitating. A requirement for communication and rhetoric majors at Pitt is the completion of the public speaking course. Planning to get it out of the way, and hoping to enhance my own speaking skills, I enrolled in a class this semester. Before this class I was unaware of how common it is to have a fear of public speaking.
Three out of every four people experience speech anxiety. Public speaking, or glossophobia, places as the top fear- even before death. Considering this statistics, many of my fellow classmates would also be struggling to overcome their fear. Surprisingly it isn’t only my classmates, but also my instructor, Rachel Borgman. Before the first major speech of the class she began by stating that public speaking wasn’t her ‘thing’. I wasn’t the only one surprised. Rachel is a third year in the communication and rhetoric doctoral program at Pitt working specifically in medical communications. Despite studying and being an instructor in public speaking she still has to face her own fear of public speaking. Surprised by this I decided to ask her how she does it and any advice to give collegiettes™.
Before being a speechwriter for corporations, Rachel claims she had little exposure to public speaking and wasn’t one to volunteer to speak. However with more exposure it became easier to overcome her nerves. “I get nervous, but I know I can get through it.” Besides enlisting the help of mind over matter Rachel had this advice for students:
1. Go to an Oral Communication Lab on your campus, for Pitt it’s located in the Cathedral of Learning. Offering services to both groups and individuals and varies from helping chose a speech topic to controlling speech anxiety. Even better, the lab is offered to students free of charge. So take advantage of it while you can!
For more information visit:
http://www.comm.pitt.edu/undergraduate/commlab.html
2.Find an honest mentor or someone willing to analyze your performance. Likely, if you ask your best friend for their opinion they will feel uncomfortable giving effective critical advice. (This is where the Communication Lab comes in)
3.Expose yourself to different viewpoints and critical thinking. Having an understanding of the opposing perspective, or simply your audience, will help you prepare the content of your speech, while feeling confident before your speech.
4.Listen to good speakers or lecturers. Notice what makes them effective and how they achieve the ability to connect to their audience. While it’s important to have experiences in public speaking it is important to have exposure to other speakers.
And most importantly,
5. Realize you don’t have to be perfect. It isn’t necessary to be a super star to be effective in speaking in public. If you are confident that you can give the speech to the best to your ability you won’t have any problems.