Building Confidence and Overcoming Fear

1
Building Confidence and Overcoming Fear

• Communication Skills

2
What is confidence?

• Confidence is the feeling you have when you
  believe that you are capable of handling a
  situation successfully.
• You are not born with confidence!
• It is something that anyone can develop.
• Confidence is the framework of effective oral
  communication.

3
What is stage fright?

• Stage fright, or communication apprehension,
  means that a person is afraid to speak in public.
• Surveys indicate that 80 to 90 percent of
  Americans admit to feeling extremely
  uncomfortable about public speaking.
• A phobia is an irrational fear.
• Public speaking cannot harm you! Therefore, if
  you have an ongoing fear of it, then you have a
  phobia, which is irrational and can be overcome!

4
Common Physical Symptoms of Communication
Apprehension

• Upset stomach
• Flushed face
• Dizziness
• Fast heartbeat
• Shortness of breath
• Excessive perspiration
• Wobbly legs
• Why? The body is being flooded with energy, or
  adrenaline, because the person is perceiving an
  emergency situation.

5
Why do we get stage fright?

• The body is flooded with energy (adrenaline)
  because we sense an emergency situation.
• We dont like to be judged.
• We dont think our ideas are worth listening to,
  we dont think we can express our ideas well, or
  we fear the audience wont like us while we are
  speaking.
• We dont feel prepared.

6
So how can we overcome a fear of speaking?

• Think your way out of uncomfortable feelings.
  Let your mind overcome your emotions!

7
Perception

• Perception is how you see things.
• How you perceive a situation when you feel fear
  is often very inaccurate.
• An inaccurate perception of a situation can cause
  a person to blow things out of proportion, or
  make a problem seem greater than it is.
• We must learn to see things as they are rather
  than how our fears might lead us to see them.

8
Perception of Your Audience

• You may think that your audience
• automatically knows that youre nervous.
• Consider this
• Studies on how well an audience perceives
  anxiety should comfort nervous speakers.
  Researchers have found that most report noticing
  little or no anxiety in a speaker. Even when
  individuals are trained to detect anxiety cues
  and are instructed to look for them, there is
  little correlation between their evaluations and
  how anxious speakers actually felt. (Ch. 2, p. 33)

9
Perception of Your Speech

• Consider it your opportunity to share something
  meaningful (your message).
• It is not a performance! No Hollywood screen
  tests here!
• The speech is an extension of yourself. It
  exemplifies your personality, feelings, likes,
  and dislikes.
• The audience will not judge or
• score you!

10
Perception of Yourself

• Dont compare yourself to others.
• You dont have to be perfect!
• Dont equate a few mistakes with
• total failure.
• Mistakes are an opportunity to
• learn and improve!
• Self-esteem, or confidence, is the result of
  discovering who you are, with all of your
  strengths and weaknesses.
• We are all unique and have a lot to offer one
  another.

11
Building Confidence

• Content
• Organization
• Notes
• Friendliness
• Impression
• Dedication
• Empathy
• Newness
• Conviction
• Enthusiasm

12
Content

• Have something worthwhile to say.
• Do your research and develop your content.
• Use a variety of sources (books, websites,
  magazines, newspapers, interviews, etc.).
• Use a variety of appeals (logical, emotional, and
  ethical).

13
Organization

• Have some type of an outline that is easy for
  both you and your audience to follow.
• Have a main idea, clear areas of analysis, and
  supporting evidence that fits the topic.
• You always need
• An introduction that leads to
• A thesis statement,
• Support, details, and elaboration that proves
  your thesis statement,
• And a conclusion that summarizes and provides an
  ending appeal

14
Notes

• Jot down your ideas in a brief, directed
  (preferably outlined) form.
• Note cards to guide your speech rather than a
  fully written-out speech!
• Avoid having too many words on one card and
  having too many note cards.
• Do not read to your audience!
• Key words and phrases to remind you.
• Notes cannot substitute for preparation!

15
Friendliness

• Showing friendliness will encourage your audience
  to give positive feedback.
• Smile and use your nonverbals.
• Make eye contact.
• Talk to individuals (Dont view the audience as a
  mass of faceless people.)

16
Impression

• Getting off to a good start is essential in
  building confidence.
• Smile and be positive from the moment you walk to
  the front.
• Be well-dressed and
• well-groomed.
• Dont detract from your
• message.

17
Dedication

• Practice. Practice. Practice.
• Try to simulate the real thing.
• Become acquainted with your voice and how to use
  it.
• Practice looking at people while delivering your
  speech.
• Practice your gestures.
• Practice movement.

18
Empathy

• Know how it feels to feel that way.
• Empathy is a sincere understanding of the
  feelings, thoughts, and motives of others.
• How is your audience feeling? What is important
  to them?
• Make an attempt to put yourself in their shoes.
• Try to find common ground with your audience.

19
Newness

• Apply some originality.
• Gives confidence to have something new to say.
• Take a different approach or slant to the topic.
• Use a clever anecdote,
• meaningful quote, artwork,
• charts or graphs, or tell a
• personal story.

20
Conviction

• Believe in what you say.
• Some speech topics can be boring unless you add
  your own special dimension of personal
  conviction. (Create a value statement out of a
  boring topic.)
• If you are confident about the importance of your
  message, then your audience is more likely to be
  persuaded.

21
Enthusiasm

• Get fired up!
• You need energy!
• Great outlet for nervous energy.
• Intellectual enthusiasm comes from the sharpness
  of mind that your research brings.
• Physical enthusiasm comes from your energetic
  nonverbal communication.