The only difference between the pros and the novices is that the pros have trained the butterflies to fly in formation.

- Edwin Newman

This week your work will focus on accepting and using speech apprehension in a positive way.

Key topics for this week include:

· The importance of speech anxiety;
· The risks involved in communication; and
· Ways to minimize the negative effects of speaker apprehension.

What to do:
Watch Videotape #2, Dealing with Speech Anxiety;
Read Part One of your textbook

Attend the optional orientation session on May 27. Come prepared to get involved in get-acquainted exercises, class discussions, and impromptu speaking.

Consider This:

· Take inventory of your values, strongly-held beliefs, and pet peeves. Talk with your friends and colleagues about your topics;

· Pay particular attention to the presentations made by others this week. For example, what are the strengths of your supervisor's remarks at the staff meeting? How might the minister have held the congregation's attention more effectively? What skills do your other professors demonstrate as they lecture?

Ask Yourself

How are you feeling about giving a talk in this class?
How do other speakers manage their nervousness?
What tricks have you used successfully in similar situations in the past?

Click here for more tips on managing nervousness.

Click here for a slide show.