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Discuss the Sources of Podium Panic / Speech Anxiety.

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1) Pessimistic Attitude towards Speaking
Your perception and reaction to the situation you face is the first and most immediate source of
anxiety. If you perceive and react to the speaking situation positively, anxiety is minimized. If
you perceive it negatively, then you are likely to be very anxious.
2) Inadequate Preparation and Practice.
Many speakers put off preparing and practicing their speech till the last minute. They end up
being so fearful due to lack of confidence and as a result they find the speaking situation so
traumatizing.
3) Negative or Insufficient Experience
Your prior experience with any task influences how you approach and complete your present
task. If your past experience with public speaking proves both successful and personally
rewarding chances are you will look forward to another public speaking. But if the experiences
were unpleasant then you might harbour some doubt about your ability to succeed and therefore
you are likely to be very anxious or fearful. If you have little or no experience in public speaking,
you may be considerably anxious about speaking in public.
4) Unrealistic Goals/Expectations
Though it is important to set high goals, they should be realistic because unrealistic goals can
lead to irrational fears about the speaking situation. Research showS that people who set realistic
goals for themselves are less anxious and more successful than their counterparts with unrealistic
goals.
5) Inaccurate Perception, of the Audience
Many beginning speakers feel that public speaking in general and their audiences specifically are
a threat to their well being. They convince themselves that the members of the audience are just
waiting for them to commit some social blunder, lose their train of thought or blow a quotation
or mumble through a sentence. Such speakers end up being very fearful of the speaking situation.
6) Negative self –talk (intrapersonal communication)
Self defeating patterns of negative self talk can cause anxiety. Self talk is silent communication
within oneself sometimes referred to as intrapersonal communication. Self pressurizing and any
negative statements made to oneself which emphasizes doubts about speaking publicly can cause
a lot of fear. Many people criticize themselves without sufficient reasons.

sharon kalunda answered the question on February 27, 2019 at 14:04

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Discuss the Sources of Podium Panic / Speech Anxiety.

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