Overcoming the Fear of Speaking and Presenting in Public
Josh Wing
Salt Lake Community College
Comm 1010-060 TR
Communicating At Work
November 13, 2012
I have a fear of giving public speeches and presentations. I start to shake, sweat, and my
voice gets shaky. I will be applying different methods I have studied over the past three months
to develop a plan to overcome this fear speaking and presenting in front of audiences. After
reading this, they will be able to implement this strategy into their everyday personal and
professional lives to decrease their fear of speaking or presenting in front of an audience.
Description of Problem
Who experiences anxiety when giving a speech or presentation? Although many people
do not have a problem standing in front of an audiences giving a public speech or presentation, I
have a very hard time because my anxiety starts to build, my heart rate increases, I start to sweat,
and my voice, and hands get shaky. I will be using the information I have studied to outline a
plan to overcome my fear of public speeches and presentations.
When assigned to give a public speech or be the main presenter on a conference call, I
get extremely nervous. As the time gets closer and closer my anxiety builds more. Minutes
before, my heart starts to race and I start to sweat. As I get started my confidence is shaken and
my voice starts to get shaky. After a few minutes I start to rely heavily on my notes. My mind
starts to jump around and I get a little confused about where I am at, this in turn makes me more
nervous. As I get more confused, I read from the wrong lines, which makes me back up to make
sure I get the point I skipped over. The tone of my voice becomes shaky and I become more
monotone. I start to use “Um” and “Like” often. Let me give an example. I was assigned to
present in front of the company on our subcontractor subcontract. The objective was to review
and identify each section so our superintendents would know what each subcontractor is bound
too and where to find it. With not knowing exactly what was in the subcontract, it created more
anxiety and nerves. During the presentation my heart was beating so hard it felt like it was going
to come out of my chest, I couldn’t stop sweating, my voice was shaky, and I used the word
“Um” a lot. After the presentation someone told me I said “Um” about 75 times. I find that I use
“Um” when my confidence is low. This is a problem I will have to master to continue down my
career path.
This “communication apprehension” is just as much of a problem for businesspeople as it
is for the general population (Adler & Elmhorst, p. 393). I know that I am not the only person in
my family, at work, in school, etc. that has a fear of speaking or presenting in public. I believe
that some of the fear stems from worrying about criticism. Even though people understand the
fear of speaking and presenting in front of an audience, they still tend to criticize.
Resources
With today’s modern technologies, finding information on improving public speaking is
endless. I will use information from my text-book (Adler & Elmhorst, chapter 10-13), the
Internet, and find a person who conveys confidence when speaking or presenting publicly. With
the help of the text-book, “Communicating At Work,” I will be able to pick what type of
presentation will best fit the situation, create an outline, identify which room layout I should use,
and find just the right types of visuals aids. I will be using the Internet for two different reasons.
First I will research the past, present and future, of the topic at hand. With this information you
can speak or present with greater confidence knowing that you understand your topic. Second, I
will use Google to research tips for overcoming communication apprehension, and public
speaking tips and techniques to find different ways to help manage this anxiety. The Internet
offers hundreds of different tips and techniques pick one that you think will fit your style, if it
doesn’t work for you keep looking for one until you find one that your are comfortable with . At
this point I will have my presentation ready and prepared to start rehearsing. I have found that by
rehearsing aloud, I find other comments that will need tweaking. When I am confident I am
ready I will seek out an individual to give me pointers to increase my performance. This person
is someone who performs well at speaking or presenting in front of a crowd. The mentor should
be able to help give pointer on projecting confidence, breathing techniques, staying focused,
keeping within the time frame allotted. I will be able to test these recommendations out at work.
I have the opportunity to present on a weekly basis. If this were to change, the opportunity may
not exist. As I prepare each time, I plan to follow my plan.
Recommendation
To help improve my public speaking fear I have come up with a plan. If executed
properly it will help with the preparation and facilitation of the presentation. The first steps,
analyzes the situation, set specific goals, begin the research and make sure there is enough time
to become educated about the topic (Adler & Elmhorst, p. 305-313). Use the Internet to research
the past, present, and the future of your topic. The second step is using the “Communicating At
Work” text-book to decide on what type of presentation will work best (Adler & Elmhorst,
chapter 13). It is important to know who the target audience is (Adler & Elmhorst, p. 304-316).
How much time is expected, the layout of the room, how many plan to attend (you will need to
know this later if planning to bring handouts). The third step is to organize the outline of the
presentation. Here you will create an introduction, body, and conclusion of your presentation
(Adler & Elmhorst, p. 316-341), in addition to creating any visual aids and handouts (Adler &
Elmhorst, p. 357-371). The fourth step is to rehearse the material. There are two ways to
rehearse the presentation. The first is by reading through it in your head. This will help you
memorize part of the presentation. The second is to rehearse aloud. Rehearsing aloud will allow
you to hear physically what you are saying and help you find some of your mistakes. Chances
are if you hear the mistakes the audience will too. This gives you a chance to fix grammatical
error and make sure the information flows in an orderly fashion. The fifth step is to rehearse in
front of someone who you believe has the qualities you are trying to improve. Ask this person if
they would listen to the presentation twice and be willing to provide constructive criticism. This
process is like writing a paper, you do not write it onetime and turn it in. Have two people review
it to help make it better. You should take the comments as ways to improve and not personal,
after all the end game is to present well. The last step is on presentation day. If time allows arrive
early enough to stand where you will be giving the presentation and run through your
presentation. Allow enough time just before you present to calm your nerves and clear your mind
of everything but the presentation. Tell yourself you can do this. This will build your confidence
in yourself.
This six step process will increase confidence and quality of the message delivered. The
audience will have received a clear and precise message with little confusion. This plan can be
carried out by anyone because it does not need you to buy anything or get professional help. This
process requires you, as the speaker or presenter, to do more than you probably have done in the
past.
Summary
To some degree everyone has a fear of public speaking or giving a presentation. With this
fear come nerves, anxiety, sweaty palms, and a shaky monotone voice. By giving yourself
enough time to prepare, knowing who your target audience is, organizing your speech or
presentation to accommodate the audience, rehearsing both in your head and aloud, rehearsing in
front of a mentor, and to arrive early to rehearse and clear your head you should have success.
Some may not see this as valuable information but to those who struggle with public speaking or
presenting this will give you a roadmap of ways to give you a better chance on game day. Each
situation is a little different and may not need all the steps outlined. Using one or all the steps
will improve your performance. I have implemented some or all these steps over the past month
and have had immense success. With this outline I expect that anyone who follows will have the
same amount of success as I did.
Work Cited
Adler, R & Elmhorst, J. Communicating at work: SLCC Custom text (2nd ed). Boston: McGraw
Hill, 2013.