Choose ONE of the following prompts to respond to in a 5-8 sentence post. Then, check back and comment on TWO other people's posts. If you see someone's post with no responses, try to comment on that person's first (before a post with many responses).
1. In the article, Mary Fensholt theorizes that stage fright actually stems from our primitive "fight or flight" response to danger. What comparisons can you make between public speaking and the types of dangers our early ancestors probably experienced? Do you think that this theory is based on solid research, or does it seem unlikely to you that this is the root of stage fright? Be specific and give examples to support your ideas.
2. At some point in their lives, most people have experienced stage fright in one of its manifestations-- be it sweaty palms, shaking, stuttering, or even loss of short term memory. The article gives some suggestions for how to overcome these specific biological responses to anxiety, but what are some others? Do some research and present a few suggestions for overcoming stage fright. Try to customize the ideas that you post to the types of stage fright that are most common to public speaking.
1. Possible comparisons that might be similar to stage fright are different types of living conditions and weather. Most of our ancestors didn't live in the age of technology so they had to deal with weather and living conditions either by putting up with it or moving away from it. I find it unlikely that our ancestors traits are the same when it comes to stage fright. Hair color, face type, and teeth can look the same but I do not believe that a personality trait could ever be considered a family trait.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was interesting how they tied together hundreds of years of history to things that happen everyday. I never would have guessed stage fright was related to a fight or flight response in a million years. Although it is an interesting theory, I agree with you that the correlation is hard to believe. I probably haven't done enough research to say "yes I believe" or "no I don't", but as of right now it's hard for me to understand that.
DeleteI read an interesting by Sandra Zimmer titled "Presence, the Antidote for Stage Fright & Fear of Public Speaking" and it gave some interesting insight into stage fright. She said the cure to stage fright is presence. "In a state of presence you pull yourself together rather than allowing your consciousness to be scattered and fragmented." You need to relax your body and in turn it will relax your mind. When your physically, mentally and emotionally in balance you can focus on the task at hand and get it done with poise.
ReplyDeleteThis was very true breathing is a good way to relief stage fright. I use it on myself when I stat to get nervous while giving a speech. This was very good.
DeleteI agree. Breathing will help you out before giving a speech. It would relief the stress.
DeleteThere are different types of stage frights that people can have which is acceptance and competence. In the article "Pulling Back the Curtain on Stage Fright" it gave advice to overcome these fears by controlling your breathing, visualization, relaxing muscles, and drinking grapefruit juice. There are also different ways than what the article gave that may work for stage fright. Try to think in a positive way because if you don't think in a positive way it may not end well. You could also imagine people laughing and smiling to make yourself more comfortable. Avoid putting self-doubt on yourself because you aren't in the right mind set to be successful. Each of these options could work but you won't know unless you try.
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DeleteI like that you mentioned grapefruit juice as a relief for stage fright. I have never heard that before. The end of your statement was a really good rap of things. People shouldn't doubt things before they try them I agree wholeheartedly.
DeleteI liked the idea of thinking positively. In order for something to happen, you must believe it will happen so why not have a positive attitude about the outcome?
DeleteI like the grape juice idea as well. That seems to calm you and make you concentrate on what you want to say in the speech.
DeleteStage fright has been around for many years, and people experience it once in their life time. Luckily, there's many ways to over come stage fright when you give a speech. According to an article I read on the ADAA ( anxiety and depression association of America ) there's some steps you can take to over come stage fright. First, you must shift the focus from yourself and your fear to your true purpose-contributing something of value to your audience. Second refuse to think negative thoughts about yourself and what the audience might think of your speech. Focus on yourself and think of what you researched and wrote down for your speech. Another one is be positive, people like it when someone goes on stage and give a positive attitude towards the people. It makes other people feel great about themselves. One important one is practice ways to calm yourself body and mind. You can do so by doing some relaxation exercises, deep breathing when your about to give your speech, and if your into mediation go for it. Many other techniques are given in this article but personally I think the ones I mentioned would help the most.
ReplyDeleteI like how you said have a positive attitude, because I also think that important when your listening to someone speak because then they are more likely to keep my interest.
DeleteI like how you mentioned on how to focus on what you researched so you can be confident in what you are saying. It would make more people believe in you.
DeleteOvercoming stage fright isn't as difficult as one may think there are many different tips or solutions to overcoming it.
ReplyDeleteIf you think you are going to bad or terrible it is more likely that you will mess up so instead of thinking negative and putting doubts in your head think positive, calming and be confident in what you are speaking about.
Also practicing your speech in advance, reading it out loud will get all of those tongue twisters out of the way, also maybe read it too a friend or family member see what they think you can improve on in your public speaking.
Don't try to "hold it down". If you try to suppress it, it will work against you. Express it! Say what you want to say, don't let the audience influence what you wanted to talk about, it goes back to being confident.
Think of the audience more as your friends not your enemies, so smile, make eye contact.
If everything fails, I was always told to picture the audience in their underwear, even though it never worked personally for me.
I like how you said if you think about not doing good you won't do good. I find that very true.
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