Speaker Anxiety

People are afraid or anxious when presented with the task of delivering a speech in front of a live audience.

This is a result of the flight or fight response which is a natural human reaction to stress or danger.

What triggers the flight or fight response are two things:

• novelty and
• perceived threat.

What happens when we experience the flight or fight response?

Adrenaline levels in the blood stream suddenly increase and the body is mobilized to take action.

When we experience flight or fight response we may feel any of the following symptoms

• Increased respiration and heart rate
• Slowed rate of digestion
• Shaking
• Constriction of the blood vessels causing paling or flushing of the skin
• Loss of hearing or ringing in the ears
• Relaxation of the bladder or body sphincters
• Inhibition of the salivation resulting in dry mouth
• Dilation of the pupils
• Increased perspiration

Novelty

We are more inclined to feel stress when the situation in which we find ourselves is new and different from our everyday encounters.

For example, I teach in front of a class every day and I do not experience anxiety or fear.

However, I remember the first time I taught a class in public speaking and I was standing in front of the class. I thought my knees were going to give way.

My palms were sweaty and I felt butterflies in my stomach.

I recognized the symptoms and had a "little talk to myself" where I reminded myself how this situation was not so different from previous public speaking experiences and reminding myself that I could do it.

For most people, delivering speeches in public is not something they do every day so it is a novel experience

Perceived Threat

The other factor in flight or fight is perceived threat.

When I ask people what they are afraid of their response is usually quite vague but they often indicate that it is the audience that poses the threat.

I have been in situations where the audience was not pleased with the message that the speaker was delivering but I have never been in a situation where the physical safety of the speaker was in danger from the audience.

For most of us the threat is more to our identity and sense of well being.

We are afraid that the audience will not like us; will laugh at us; or are just vaguely threatening.

Sometimes these fears have a basis in past experience and reality, such as from giving a speech in school where our friends or classmates made fun or us or teased us, but more often they are generalized fears.

Often it is simply that the audience will be looking at the speaker that is threatening.

What speakers do to counteract this is to try to avoid eye contact with the audience which as I will explain is actually the last thing you want to do!

Another source of fear stems from a lack of confidence that the speaker has in his/her own ability.

The fear that I "might forget what I want to say," "get up there and draw a blank," or "make a fool of myself" all stem from a lack of confidence which is something which good preparation and practice can help to alleviate.

Standing in front of a group is in itself scary and can produce the flight or fight response if we feel threatened by all those pairs of eyes staring at us.

Our body may respond the same as it would if we were alone in a dark alley confronted by a group of unknown and scary faces.

The difference is that in a public speaking situation the speaker is the one who is in control and the audience is usually firmly planted in their seats.

Remember after 12 years of sitting is a classroom and being told that they cannot stand unless they raise their hands and are given permission most people in this culture are trained to sit quietly and listen to someone who is standing up in front of the room.