I make sure to teach relaxation techniques in my class to reduce communication apprehension. The first thing I talk about is we must gain experience and that means we have to practice. Second, we have to think positive; if we think others are better then that will create a negative mindset. Third, we must look at a presentation as an enlarged conversation. I stress similarity in my class and what that means is that "We are all in the same boat." We are all presenting speeches in my class. Finally preparation is key. We must not wait until the last minute to prepare. Another tool I like to use in my class is to stand up in front of family members and practice their speech. Virtual audiences can be beneficial for improving public speaking performance, and which feedback strategy provides the best improvement (Chollet, 2015, pg. 13). This is an awesome way to build our confidence and also improve eye contact throughout their speech. If we can follow these few techniques, I believe that we can see a difference with our stage fright. Will stage fright ever go away completely? NO! However, it is controllable and things can get better.
References
Chollet, M., (2015). Exploring feedback strategies to improve public speaking: An interactive virtual audience framework. In Proceedings of the 2015 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing, UbiCoFisher, D., & Frey, N. (2007). 2 (1), 15-16.