Chapter 1.3: Managing Speech Anxiety “Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.” -Marie Curie

What Makes Speakers Anxious? Factors that underline the fear of public speaking –Lack of a positive experience –Feeling different –Being the center of attention Public Speaking Anxiety (PSA) is the fear associated with either actual or anticipated communication to an audience as a speaker.

Pinpoint the Onset of Public Speaking Anxiety Pre-preparation anxiety begins the minute a speaker knows that they will be giving a speech. Preparation anxiety occurs during the preparation stage; research shows that anxiety is at its lowest during the preparation stage. Pre-performance anxiety a feeling of anxiety when the speaker begins to rehearse a speech. Performance anxiety occurs during the speech and is most pronounced in the introduction.

Behaviors Associated with Speech Anxiety Voice- quivering, too fast, monotonous Fluency- stammering, awkward pauses, speech blocks Mouth & Throat- breathing heavily, swallowing repeatedly Facial Expressions- no eye contact, rolling eyes, tense facial muscles, twitches Body Movement- swaying, weight shifts Nonvisible- dry mouth, butterflies, too warm

Strategies to Boost Your Confidence Prepare and Practice Modify Thoughts and Attitudes Visualize Success— visualization is a highly successful way to reduce nervousness and help you prepare effectively for your speech. Activate the relaxation response (page 20) –Briefly meditate –Use stress-control breathing Use movement –Natural gestures –Move as you speak Learn from feedback

Seek Pleasure in the Occasion

Chapter 1.4: Ethical Public Speaking ZIaHxC7BT0A

Ethical Speaking and Responsibility Responsibility (a charge, trust, or duty for which one is accountable) is the heart of ethics. Ethics is the study of moral conduct—how people should act toward one another. –Laws dictate what we must do, ethics suggest what we ought to do.

Earn your Listeners’ Trust Ethics is derived from the Greek word ethos, meaning “character.” –Positive ethos includes: Being well prepared Honest Respectful toward audience Speaker credibility –Solid grasp of the subject –Sound reasoning skills –Honest and straightforward –Genuinely interested in the welfare of listeners

Respect Audience Values Our ethical conduct is a reflection of our values—our most enduring judgments or standards of what’s good and bad in life, of what’s important to us. –Values shape our worldview –Drive our behavior –Form the basis on which we judge the actions of others. Public speaker’s should respect the values of their audience and bring their own values into focus.

Free Speech and Responsibility The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution plays a pivotal role in enforcing these safeguards by guaranteeing freedom of speech. –Freedom of speech is defined—as the right to be free from unreasonable constraints on expression Strongly protected even when targets of that speech claim that it infringes on their civil rights to be protected from discrimination.

Limitations of Free Speech Rights Certain types of speeches are actually illegal –Speeches that provoke people to violence (incitement or “fighting words”) –Speech that can be proved to be defamatory, or that potentially harms an individual’s reputation at work or in the community –Speech that invades a person’s privacy Reckless disregard for the truth is when you know what you are saying is false, but you say it anyway.

Observe Ethical Ground Rules Dignity refers to ensuring that listeners feel worthy, honored, or respected as individuals. Integrity signals the speaker’s incorruptibility. Trustworthiness is a combination of honesty and dependability. Respect is demonstrated by addressing audience members as unique human beings and refraining from any form of personal attack. Responsibility means being accountable for what you say. Fairness refers to making a genuine effort to see all sides of an issue and acknowledging the information listeners need in order to make informed decisions. Avoid offensive speech. –Hate speech- any offensive communication (verbal or nonverbal) that is directed against people’s racial, ethnic, religious, gender, or other characteristics.

Avoid Plagiarism Plagiarism—the passing off of another person’s information as one’s own— is unethical. –Cutting and pasting from sources –Rearranging words and sentence structure Orally acknowledge your sources Exception of common knowledge (information that is likely to be known by many people) When citing other peoples ideas, you can present in one of three ways: –Direct quotations- statements quoted verbatim, or word for word, from a source. –Paraphrased information- restatement of someone else’s ideas, opinions, and theories in the speaker’s own words. Paraphrases alter the form, not the substance –Summary- brief overview of someone else’s ideas, opinions, or theories Condenses the same material paraphrased, distilling only its essence. Example page 28

Respect the Laws of Copyright and Fair Use Copyright is the legal protection afforded original creators of literary and artistic works –Includes: musical, dramatic, choreographic, pictorial, graphic, sculptural, audiovisual, and architectural works). –Copyright is good for the author’s life, plus 50 years. After that time it is considered to be within the public domain, and anyone may reproduce it. The Fairness Doctrine permits the limited use of copyrighted works without permission for the purposes of scholarship, criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, and research. –In public performance (ex. public speaking forum) situations, you need to obtain a performance license from a performing rights society (i.e. ASCAP) Creative commons is an organization that allows creators of works to decide how they want other people to use their copyrighted works (

Chapter 1.5: Listeners and Speakers

Listeners and Speakers Listeners and speakers are interdependent –Listeners need someone to whom they will listen, and speakers need someone to whom they will address their remarks. Communication scholars call the continual flow or circular response between speaker and listener, the feedback loop.

The Selective Nature of Listening Listening is the conscious act of recognizing, understanding, and accurately interpreting the messages communicated by others. –Hearing is largely reflexive or automatic in nature. –Selective perception Several factors influence what we listen to –What we hold to be important –Information that touches our experiences and backgrounds –Sort and filter information on the basis of what we already know.

Listening and Speaking as Dialogic Communication Dialogic communication is the sharing of ideas and open discussion through words. –True dialogue encourages both speaker and listener to reach conclusions together

Barriers to Active Listening Active listening is focused, purposeful listening; it is a multi-step process of gathering and evaluating information. –Listening distractions are anything that compete for attention that you are trying to give something else External listening distractions are virtually anything in the environment (noise, movement, heat, etc). Internal listening distractions are thoughts and feelings, both positive listening distractions and negative, that intrude on our attention (i.e. daydreaming, time pressures, emotional turmoil, fatigue).

Barriers to Active Listening “Scriptwriters” think about what they will say next, rather than focusing on the speaker. People who engage in defensive listening decide that they won’t like what the speaker is going to say or that they know better. Laziness and overconfidence also present listening barriers. Cultural barriers, such as differences in dialect or accents, nonverbal cues, word choice, and physical appearance can serve as barriers to listening. –Watch for idioms (colloquial expressions)

Practice Active Listening Active listeners use their eyes as well as their ears to decode a speaker’s nonverbal and verbal cues. Active listeners –Set listening goals (page 34) –Listen for main ideas –Watch for the speaker’s nonverbal cues. –Try to detect the speaker’s organizational pattern.

Evaluate evidence and reasoning Evaluate the speaker’s evidence. Analyze the speaker’s assumptions and biases. Assess the speaker’s reasoning. Consider multiple perspectives. Summarize and assess the relevant facts and evidence.

Offer constructive and compassionate feedback Be honest and fair in your evaluation. Adjust to the speaker’s style. Be compassionate in your criticism. Be selective in your criticism.