Presenting Your Message -Public Speaking Anxiety (PSA) -Types of Delivery

Dealing with Public Speaking Anxiety ► Facilitative Stage Fright  Can improve your performance

“You need an element of risk, a challenge to perform at your peak. The right amount of risks throws you into a state of total concentration where there is nothing but the moment. You feel as if you have more time and more strength to accomplish things than you ever thought possible. But before you take that risk, you’ve got to master the fundamentals and become competent in the technical aspects of what it is you are doing.” Willie Unsoeld Willie Unsoeld

Debilitative Stage Fright ► Debilitative Stage Fright  Inhibits effective self-expression  Problems: ► Limits clear thinking ► Speaking attempts to make the problem go away

Sources of Debilitative Stage Fright ► Previous negative experience ► Irrational thinking  Catastrophic failure ► Murphy’s Law: if something bad can happen, it will  Attempt at perfection  Approval of others  Overgeneralization ► One poor experience is blown out of proportion

Overcoming Debilitative Stage fright ► Be rational  All class members have to speaker; Most are nervous ► Be receiver-oriented  Concentrate on the audience; Not on yourself ► Be positive  Visualization ► Be prepared  Lowest level of PSA occurs during the preparation stage of the speech

Successful Risking ► Siegelman’s (1983) seven step risk-reduction process: ► Stage 1: Become aware of negative feelings ► Stage 2: Recognize the need to change ► Stage 3: Experience ambivalence ► Stage 4: Reducing the risk through preparation ► Stage 5: Letting it be ► Stage 6: Taking the plunge ► Stage 7: Evaluate the outcome

Types of Delivery ► Extemporaneous  Planned in advance, but presented in a direct, spontaneous manner  Most common speech given  Planned and researched, but the exact wording is not memorized

Types of Delivery, cont. ► Impromptu  Given off the top of one's head, without preparation  Tips: ► Take advantage of the time you have ► Don’t be afraid to be original ► Adjust the speech to the audience ► Practice positive self-talk ► Speak within the time frame given

Types of Delivery, cont. ► Manuscript  Read word for word from a prepared text ► Memorized  Most difficult and often the least effective  Most formal  The key to this speech is practice