Introduction
One of the common problems in any kind of professional work field is the fear of public speaking. Despite all the high-level qualifications and university degrees, they are all become useless when it comes to the presentation in front of a group of people. The person can be so nervous and scared that he or she cannot correctly express and structure all the gained knowledge and experience. Thereby the paper aims to observe public speaking anxiety as a phenomenon, causes of stress and instruments to overcome it.
The phenomenon of the Public Speaking
The first point to mention is that public speaking is not something that people are born with; this is a skill that can and should be trained in order to have the ability to perform in front of the public successfully. Even the most experienced and famous public speakers deal with the feeling of concern and anxiety, but unlike most people, they know how to handle this. In order to improve the level of personal and professional qualities, it is crucial to make changes in the self-presentation and increase the level of confidence (Raja 95). Overall, public speaking is one of the communication’s forms among people, and the development of this ability affects several aspects of human life.
Reasons of Anxiety
Many reasons cause public speaking anxiety and make the person feel nervous. For example, according to Raja, ” Public speaking anxiety is considered a social anxiety disorder and refers to the anxiety that an individual experiences when giving a speech or preparing to speak in front of others” (96). Those who enormously struggle with it can experience physical responses from the body such as dizziness, sickness, excessive sweating and overall weakness. In addition, the person can be scared of the audience’s reaction and the possible negative evaluation (Scheveneels et al. 2). The irrational fear and intrusive thoughts affect the person’s mental well-being before the performance (Gallego 2). Although the speaker can perfectly prepare for the presentation and have all the necessary knowledge, the inability to control the emotion and calm the nerve systems might result in the following anxiety.
The solution to the Fear of Public Speaking
However, it is crucial to work on the issue and overcome public speaking anxiety. If the person aims to keep moving forward in his career path and work for more significant career achievements, that skill is necessary. The ability to perform on the meeting and conferences to present the recent work or updated research may be helpful in the contribution of the career development. Therefore, people should expose themselves to stressful situations and perform with public speech as often as possible to improve the skill. They will eventually learn how to communicate with the audience effectively, interacting with the performers and giving them additional confidence. One of the tools to perform more effectively is to start and finish the presentation with the rhetoric question and make small pauses during the speech. It will allow an audience to process the information and keep their attention.
Conclusion
In conclusion, public speaking anxiety is a common issue among the majority of people. It comes from the lack of confidence or experience in public performances that may result in stress and fear. However, public speaking is another kind of social communication skill, and with regular practice and easy methods, the person can improve the ability of the public performance. The work on that problem can be essential for career development and strengthening social relations.
Works Cited
Raja, Farhan. “Anxiety Level in Students of Public Speaking: Causes and Remedies.” Journal of education and educational development vol. 4, â„– 1, 2017, pp. 94-110.
Gallego, Ana, et al. “Measuring Public Speaking Anxiety: Self-Report, Behavioral, and Physiological.” Behavior Modification, 2021, doi:10.1177/0145445521994308.
Scheveneels, Sara, et al. “Virtually unexpected: No role for expectancy violation in virtual reality exposure for public speaking anxiety.” Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 10, 2019, p. 2849. Web.