Most often, speech delivered poorly distracts us so much from a message that we don’t even evaluate or absorb the information being presented. a well-researched and well-prepared speech is not much without effective delivery. Some of the things that can ensure effective speech delivery includes:

•  managing public speaking anxiety
• choosing the appropriate delivery method
• Practising your speech
• Employing effective vocal and physical delivery to enhance speaker credibility.

 Managing Anxiety

 Although speaking anxiety is natural and normal, it can interfere with verbal and nonverbal delivery, which makes a speech less effective.

Sources of Speaking Anxiety

1. Communication apprehension (CA):  This is fear or anxiety experienced by a person due to real or perceived communication with another person or persons. It is a more general term that includes multiple forms of communication, not just public speaking. This anxiety is psychological where  the novelty or uncertainty of some situations is a common trigger for communication anxiety, and public speaking is a situation that is novel and uncertain for many.
2. Public speaking anxiety is a type of CA that produces physiological, cognitive, and behavioural reactions in people when faced with a real or imagined presentation. Physiological responses to public speaking anxiety include increased heart rate, flushing of the skin or face, and sweaty palms, among other things. These reactions are the result of natural chemical processes in the human body that are triggered from the brain to cope with the challenges of the expected speaking task. It happens because your body detects threats because their is a perceived expectation from the audience which will be evaluating you and the risk of failure likely to happen and possibilities of facing judgement from your presentation.

Addressing Public Speaking Anxiety

Research on public speaking anxiety has focused on three key ways to address this common issue:

• systematic desensitization
• cognitive restructuring
• skills training

Systematic Desensitisation

It refers to the fact that we become less anxious about something when we are exposed to it more often. The novelty and uncertainty of public speaking is a source for many people’s anxiety. So becoming more familiar with public speaking by doing it more often can logically reduce the novelty and uncertainty that comes with it. Therefore, systematic desensitization can result from imagined or real exposure to anxiety-inducing scenarios.

Imagine yourself going through the process of preparing and practising a speech, delivering the speech and returning to your seat after making your conclusions.

taking a communication course where an instructor leads you through a series of relaxation techniques is a great way to directly engage in systematic desensitization.

Cognitive Restructuring

Entails changing the way we think about something. It is where we cognitively process through our fears to discover that many of the thoughts associated with public speaking anxiety are irrational.  It’s irrational imagine that the consequences of giving a speech will be fatal.  Once we realize that the potential negative consequences of giving a speech are not bad as we have thought, we gain more confidence and anxiety is minimised.

There are several cognitive restructuring strategies that may includes:

1. Communication-orientation modification therapy (COM therapy) : It is a type of cognitive restructuring that encourages people to think of public speaking as a conversation rather than a performance. Many people have a performance-based view of public speaking. Viewing public speaking as a conversation rather than a performance boosts confidence because conversations are things we do every day. Most often  We don’t prepare or even think about our daily conversations and yet we are successful when we try. Thinking of public speaking as a type of conversation helps you realize that you already have accumulated experiences and skills that you can draw from, so you aren’t starting from scratch.
2. positive visualisation This involves engaging first in some relaxation exercises such as deep breathing or stretching, and then playing through vivid images in your mind about giving a successful speech a few times before giving the actual speech. Imagination is a powerful tool that is used to train people on skills in extreme sports and in high-stakes situations and so it is in speech training.

Skills Training

It is a strategy for managing public speaking anxiety that focuses on learning skills that will improve specific speaking behaviors which may relate to any part of the speech-making process including topic selection, research and organisation, delivery, and self-evaluation.

Skills training makes the speaker become more familiar with the public speaking process which lessens uncertainty.Targeting specific areas and then improving on them builds more confidence which can in turn lead to more improvement.

 Feedback maintains positive cycle of improvement together with constructive criticism from an instructor and peers that targets specific areas of improvement. Self-evaluation is also an important part of skills training without getting sidetracked by a small delivery error.

Combine your self-evaluation with the feedback from your audience and then assess whether you are able meet their expectations in subsequent speeches.

Physical Relaxation Exercises

We engage in relaxation exercise to overcome general physical signs of anxiety caused by cortisol and adrenaline release, which include increased heart rate, trembling, flushing, high blood pressure, and speech disfluency.

Some breathing and stretching exercises release endorphins, which are your body’s natural antidote to stress hormones. Deep breathing is a proven of releasing endorphin that also provides a general sense of relaxation which can be done discretely, even while waiting to speak.To get the benefits of deep breathing, you must breathe into your diaphragm.

Stretching is another way to quickly and effectively release endorphins. Very old exercise traditions like yoga, tai chi, and Pilates teach the idea that stretching is a key component of having a healthy mind and spirit.

To manage the physical manifestations of anxiety while waiting to speak. Start with both feet flat on the floor. Raise your back heels off the floor and flex and release your calf muscles. You can flex and release your calves once before putting your heels back down and repeating, or you can flex a few times on each repetition. Doing this three to five times should sufficiently get your blood and energy moving around.Stretching your wrists can also help move energy around in your upper bod.Point one hand up at the wrist joint, like you’re waving at someone. Then use your other hand to pull, gently, the hand that’s pointing up back toward your elbow. Stop pulling once you feel some tension. Hold the hand there for a few seconds and release. Then point the hand down at the wrist joint like you’re pointing at something on the floor, and use the other hand to push the hand back toward your elbow. Again, stop pushing when you feel the tension, hold the stretch for a few seconds, and release. You can often do this stretch discretely as well while waiting to speak (lardbucket.org)

Vocal Warm-Up Exercises

This are a good way to warm up your face and mouth muscles, which can help prevent some of the fluency issues that occur when speaking. Things like making funny voices that make you laugh are also useful exercises.

References: lardbucket.org

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https://precisestudy.online/2024/04/09/delivering-a-speech/