# Surviving Speech Class With Social Anxiety



## manny2013 (Jan 10, 2013)

Public Speaking Class, one of the classes that most of us dread going in to college, we try to find ways around this class, or even choose to leave it till the very end. Thinking about taking this class weeks, months or even years in advance may cause your stomach to turn, It sure did to me, but hey, I survived amongst the many with SAD who went through this class. Taking this class was not easy, it required hours of preparation, standing in front of the mirror constantly repeating the speeches over and over again until I fully memorized what I was going to say, yet alone thinking of standing in front of a crowd proved to be intimidating at first. Moreover, the week of the presentations would feel really slow, it seemed as if time froze on purpose just to make you build up on the pre-performance anxiety. Speaking about my Social Anxiety, let me tell you its pretty bad, I cant look people in the eye with out feeling uneasy, not even my own friends, which I feel awkward at times when I hang out with them. Even going from class to class, the thought of people looking at me and making eye contact scares the hell out of me. Many times I pretend that I am texting, just to not look up and see other people staring back. Anyway, talking about speech class, I chose to take it my sophomore year in college, although I’ve tried taking it earlier, this class always seemed to fill up until now. I chose to take the hybrid class which consists of a half-online and half-classroom class. Online we would take quizzes, do public forums, and plan out our speeches, while in the classroom we mainly delivered our speeches to the class. The in class sessions were only once a week and lasted about 1 hour and 15 minutes which wasn’t too bad. I highly recommend this class especially if you haven't taken speech since it reduces class time and gets right to the point. Overall there were 4 main speeches that I had to do, the first was an introductory speech, which involves you introducing yourself to the class and it had to be no more than 3 minutes which wasn’t too bad. The second speech was the informative speech, which had to be between 4-6 minutes and we got to choose the topic, just had to get it approved by the professor. The third speech was the persuasive speech, which had to relate to the topic from our first speech, had to be between 4-6 minutes, and this time we had to answer 2 questions from the audience. The fourth speech was the persuasive policy speech which had to be around 5 minutes, on a policy that we believe should be established or changed. Now I am going to go over my experience with each speech, starting off with the first being my introductory speech. This speech was really easy yet tough, as the anticipation of being called up to present slowly build, my anxiety went off the charts, and my heart felt like it was going to blow up, but thank god that did not happen. The night before, I typed up the speech on a script format which I read word for word when I presented, I probably looked at the audience only once and my voice shook alot almost like a frog, It sure was a nightmare let me tell you. Now the second speech which was the informative speech, was alot better than the first, I actually practiced over 20 times in front of the mirror until I memorized my speech prior to the presentation. It made me feel alot more confident knowing what I was going to say, and if all else failed I had my outline as a back up. I ended up finishing this speech in 4 minutes and 30 seconds which was in the time allotted and received a B grade. My voice was shaky at times, but I learned to control my performance anxiety alot better than I did on my first speech. Now the third speech which was my persuasive speech, it went great and was in fact better than my first two speeches, again I practiced this speech in front of the mirror over and over again until I memorized it and created a power point to go along with it. I finished at around 5 minutes and received an A for the speech. My voice was close to normal but, there were one or two times when my voice shook which was’t too bad and I even answered the two questions without hesitation. Finally, my persuasive policy speech which was on the last day of class, was by far the best presentation that I have ever gave in my life. My voice was really clear, I projected my voice really well, only glanced at my outline about 2 times, and felt the most confident that I have ever been in my life. This speech lasted about 5 minutes and 20 seconds and received another A for the speech which concluded the class. Before every speech I would feel very nervous and as I mentioned earlier, my heart felt like it was going to explode, even before delivering my last speech which was the best speech of my life, I felt really nervous. I learned that no matter how many times you practice, or how much experience you have in any field, you WILL get nervous, maybe not extreme but to a lesser degree. This is the flight-or-fight response that makes us human, which is a feeling that we all have to accept and lessen it by conquering our fears on a daily basis. If you don’t get nervous, you are not human, so learning to accept this feeling will help you alot when taking speech class. Another thing that really helped me to succeed in this class was to visit the professor and asking for advice. From this meeting I learned that you should always think of a speech as a monologue, or a one way conversation with the audience. While presenting think of what you are saying and not on what you think the audience is thinking of you, because in most cases many are not even paying attention or even judging you, its just your subconscious mind that thinks that. From my experience giving speeches, I’ve noticed that many students are just looking at their papers, on their phones, or simply just dazing off and not paying attention, so why worry. Afterall, the audience is there to learn and want to learn something new and interesting from everyone’s speeches. So go up to the podium, deliver your speech, and the rest will soon be history. I survived without taking any medication what so ever, and you can too. Another thing that I did to reduce my anxiety, was to exercise, on average I swam 2 times a week and ran about 4 times a week which did in fact lessen my anxiety. Overall, this class was a challenge, and a battle that was won, by not leaving it until the very last minute like most people did, I can finally enjoy college without this class being in the back of my mind, and I strongly suggest that you take it asap and enjoy college life. If you need any more tips message me or add to the post, I’ll be glad to help anyone


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## pudderkiz (Jun 18, 2012)

If you could reformat your text that would be nice.

Like chaptering it. That's just a huge wall of text, I'm sorry, take some time and format it.

And: Congrats on your victory! Keep working on it!


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## liyah89 (May 23, 2013)

Wow really congrats!! I definitely can relate to your situation. I have still not taken speech because of my anxiety. Its like I get ready to register and the thought of making a speech makes my sick to my stomach. I'm so glad that things went well for you that gives me hope that I can do it too! I will definitely keep your speech tips in mind when making a speech, they seem very helpful! 

Congrats again!!!


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## npridmore (May 14, 2013)

It helps to take the short summer course at the community college


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## fIashforward (May 18, 2013)

All I can say is I'm glad we don't have this in Ireland


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## Road (May 17, 2013)

My advice for speech class: Xanax


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## Road (May 17, 2013)

But in all seriousness, congrats on your victory over SA. Speech class is probably the most dreaded class for some of us SA'ers. Good advice!


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## vitaminu100 (Jul 18, 2011)

Congrats to the OP  That's a big victory over your SA.
Just wondering, is speech class a requirement for college in the US? We don't have anything like that in Australia.


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## Nono441 (May 14, 2012)

Next up is paragraph class. I mean, it doesn't even to be coherent, just insert random line breaks every three-four sentences and it'll already be much more readable somehow.

Congrats though (I didn't actually read your post but inferring on what other members have replied, you got through speech class )


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## manny2013 (Jan 10, 2013)

Thanks, and sorry for the huge wall post still trying to figure this website out. Is there a way to re-edit it, just wondering.


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## VVhisper (May 26, 2013)

Congrats on beating that class!

I did was npridmore suggested and took a summer class. It was short, had a very small class size, and I got lucky and got a very understanding teacher. I did take medication at first just to prevent panic attacks because just practicing the night before in a mirror would trigger an attack. But after awhile I got to know everyone in the class and I was really comfortable.


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## Raeden (Feb 8, 2013)

Depending upon the school you attend, you might be able to take a full-online class. My college offers fully online speech classes where you just record your speech with a camera.


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## regimes (Aug 24, 2011)

reiitaia said:


> Depending upon the school you attend, you might be able to take a full-online class. My college offers fully online speech classes where you just record your speech with a camera.


why didn't i look up this option i'm certain my school had it?? 
speech classes are nightmares but you just gotta endure


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