12.1 Introduction

Emily has spent weeks doing research and crafting a strong, well-prepared, researched presentation. On the day she gets in front of the finance team, she makes a few mistakes because of nerves. While she may view it as a complete failure, her audience will have gotten a lot of good information, and most likely understood that her mistakes were due to nerves (surely they would be nervous in the same situation!).

Emily’s colleague, Chris, on the other hand, does almost no preparation for his presentation, but, being charming and comfortable in front of a crowd, smiles a lot while providing virtually nothing of substance. The audience takeaway from Chris’s speech is, “I have no idea what he was talking about” and other feelings ranging from “He’s good in front of an audience” to “I don’t trust him.”

As you read this chapter, consider strategies that Emily might use to reduce her nervousness, and ways that Chris might be better prepared for his presentations.

Many surveys have shown that public speaking is at the top of the list of fears for most people. Perhaps a few students are afraid of writing their speech or conducting the research: people generally mostly fear the delivery aspect of the speech, which, compared to the amount of time a student will put into writing the speech (days, hopefully), will be the shortest part of the speech giving process (5-8 minutes, generally, for classroom speeches). The irony, of course, is that delivery, being the activity that people fear the most, is simultaneously the aspect of public speaking that will require the least amount of time.

Watch this 15 minute TED talks video: Why People Fear Public Speaking with Dave Guin

(Guin, 2015)