[Applause]
one afternoon last year I was out
walking our family dog Bella a neighbor
drove up beside me she pointed out two
stray dogs be careful she said we talked
a little bit more and then she drove
away those two stray dogs they circled
around
they attacked Bella in trying to get
Bella away from them I was bit on the
hand by one of the dogs and when I think
back about that experience I don’t
remember being afraid I think it’s
because that physical response to fear
we have that fight-or-flight it just
happens
and so I was that mama bear protecting
her cub and I did what any mama bear
would do I went to my garage I pulled
out the largest lawn tool I could find
and with my adrenaline-fueled body I
came back ready to fight and it worked
my family has a joke now look out for
mama she’s got a shovel and she knows
how to use it what are you afraid of I
teach public speaking and you are
probably all too familiar with the
physical response that you have when you
know you have to speak in front of a
group the sweaty palms the heart racing
out of your chest and the butterflies in
your stomach
but remember show-and-tell days back in
kindergarten do you remember being so
excited to share that book that toy that
treasure that you’d brought in with your
teacher and with your classmates
show-and-tell days are the best days but
now rather than being excited this is
when we’re afraid we tell ourselves
things like I’m so nervous the audience
must be able to hear my voice shaking or
we tell ourselves I’m such a terrible
speaker no one wants to listen to me and
the way perception works is that when we
tell ourselves these things that we
select out information from the audience
that confirms what we’re thinking so we
notice an audience member yawning and
this confirms that yes we are boring the
whole entire audience with what we have
to say or we notice an audience member
fiddling with their phone and this
confirms that yes there is not a single
person here who wants to hear what I
have to say now the truth is the
audience member who yond that person was
up all night perhaps with a sick child
the audience member who is fiddling with
their phone well not here but the
audience member who is fiddling with her
phone that person that person was
waiting for a very important phone call
or text to come through in other words
we make it all about us in our
performance so how can we change the way
that we think about and how we respond
to the fear of public speaking the key
is in designing a response to fear
designing a response to fear can be done
using what are called inoculation
messages so the same way you would go to
the doctor and get a vaccine so that you
don’t get the measles inoculation
messages can reframe our response to
fear of public speaking in a study done
in Australia and reported in 2017 it
worked like this students were assigned
a presentation to give they were divided
into two groups in the control group the
students were given an instruction sheet
for how the presentation should be done
the other group was given the same
instruction sheet but this instruction
sheet had inoculation messages added to
it and the inoculation messages were
addressed common fears that people have
about public speaking
and the result of the experiment was
that the students that received the
instruction sheet with inoculation
messages reported lower anxiety and
greater effectiveness so let’s say you
have to give a presentation in front of
a group your inoculation messages might
sound something like this
my nervousness is normal the audience
wants to hear what I have to say they
are not judging me so this doesn’t mean
that we sidestep the actual hard work of
putting the presentation together we
still would need to decide what it is we
want to say making sure that the message
comes through clearly then once we know
what that message is we practice and we
practice and we practice some more and
then when we notice those negative
messages trying to sabotage us we fight
back with inoculation messages and the
result is that communication can occur
and when a communication occurs meaning
is shared resulting in the creation of a
community community means we don’t all
have to agree but we listen and we hear
each other out we respect and we value
each other’s opinions the connection
that leads to community happens for me
when I allow myself to be vulnerable for
me that means letting others know that I
am a breast cancer survivor
even now four years later cancer is
difficult for him to talk about because
it changed the way that I think about
myself I thought of myself as healthy
and strong I thought of myself as
independent and self-sufficient yet
there were many times during treatment
when I had to depend on others but at
home and at work and there were many
times when I felt physically and
emotionally weak allowing others to see
but when I allow others to see my
weaknesses in my classes my students
feel open to do the same and I remember
one student in particular her fear of
public speaking was extreme
she had social anxiety it made it
difficult to interact even with a small
group of students so to get up in front
of a whole class was terrifying for her
when it was her turn to give her speech
I knew she was well prepared she walked
slowly to the front of the room she
started her speech she stumbled a little
and then she stopped and what happened
next I will never forget the other
students in the class they started
speaking words of encouragement back to
her you can do this you got it
they told her they wanted to hear more
they spoke those inoculation messages to
her and she was able to finish the
speech did her speech change the world
no but it changed our classroom and it
changed the way this student thought of
herself and others will we allow the
fear of public speaking to keep us
silent we can design a response to fear
that gives voice to our ideas the result
is connection and the creation of
community and I can think of no greater
legacy than that what would you say if
[Applause]
you [Applause]
one afternoon last year I was out
walking our family dog Bella a neighbor
drove up beside me she pointed out two
stray dogs be careful she said we talked
a little bit more and then she drove
away those two stray dogs they circled
around
they attacked Bella in trying to get
Bella away from them I was bit on the
hand by one of the dogs and when I think
back about that experience I don’t
remember being afraid I think it’s
because that physical response to fear
we have that fight-or-flight it just
happens
and so I was that mama bear protecting
her cub and I did what any mama bear
would do I went to my garage I pulled
out the largest lawn tool I could find
and with my adrenaline-fueled body I
came back ready to fight and it worked
my family has a joke now look out for
mama she’s got a shovel and she knows
how to use it what are you afraid of I
teach public speaking and you are
probably all too familiar with the
physical response that you have when you
know you have to speak in front of a
group the sweaty palms the heart racing
out of your chest and the butterflies in
your stomach
but remember show-and-tell days back in
kindergarten do you remember being so
excited to share that book that toy that
treasure that you’d brought in with your
teacher and with your classmates
show-and-tell days are the best days but
now rather than being excited this is
when we’re afraid we tell ourselves
things like I’m so nervous the audience
must be able to hear my voice shaking or
we tell ourselves I’m such a terrible
speaker no one wants to listen to me and
the way perception works is that when we
tell ourselves these things that we
select out information from the audience
that confirms what we’re thinking so we
notice an audience member yawning and
this confirms that yes we are boring the
whole entire audience with what we have
to say or we notice an audience member
fiddling with their phone and this
confirms that yes there is not a single
person here who wants to hear what I
have to say now the truth is the
audience member who yond that person was
up all night perhaps with a sick child
the audience member who is fiddling with
their phone well not here but the
audience member who is fiddling with her
phone that person that person was
waiting for a very important phone call
or text to come through in other words
we make it all about us in our
performance so how can we change the way
that we think about and how we respond
to the fear of public speaking the key
is in designing a response to fear
designing a response to fear can be done
using what are called inoculation
messages so the same way you would go to
the doctor and get a vaccine so that you
don’t get the measles inoculation
messages can reframe our response to
fear of public speaking in a study done
in Australia and reported in 2017 it
worked like this students were assigned
a presentation to give they were divided
into two groups in the control group the
students were given an instruction sheet
for how the presentation should be done
the other group was given the same
instruction sheet but this instruction
sheet had inoculation messages added to
it and the inoculation messages were
addressed common fears that people have
about public speaking
and the result of the experiment was
that the students that received the
instruction sheet with inoculation
messages reported lower anxiety and
greater effectiveness so let’s say you
have to give a presentation in front of
a group your inoculation messages might
sound something like this
my nervousness is normal the audience
wants to hear what I have to say they
are not judging me so this doesn’t mean
that we sidestep the actual hard work of
putting the presentation together we
still would need to decide what it is we
want to say making sure that the message
comes through clearly then once we know
what that message is we practice and we
practice and we practice some more and
then when we notice those negative
messages trying to sabotage us we fight
back with inoculation messages and the
result is that communication can occur
and when a communication occurs meaning
is shared resulting in the creation of a
community community means we don’t all
have to agree but we listen and we hear
each other out we respect and we value
each other’s opinions the connection
that leads to community happens for me
when I allow myself to be vulnerable for
me that means letting others know that I
am a breast cancer survivor
even now four years later cancer is
difficult for him to talk about because
it changed the way that I think about
myself I thought of myself as healthy
and strong I thought of myself as
independent and self-sufficient yet
there were many times during treatment
when I had to depend on others but at
home and at work and there were many
times when I felt physically and
emotionally weak allowing others to see
but when I allow others to see my
weaknesses in my classes my students
feel open to do the same and I remember
one student in particular her fear of
public speaking was extreme
she had social anxiety it made it
difficult to interact even with a small
group of students so to get up in front
of a whole class was terrifying for her
when it was her turn to give her speech
I knew she was well prepared she walked
slowly to the front of the room she
started her speech she stumbled a little
and then she stopped and what happened
next I will never forget the other
students in the class they started
speaking words of encouragement back to
her you can do this you got it
they told her they wanted to hear more
they spoke those inoculation messages to
her and she was able to finish the
speech did her speech change the world
no but it changed our classroom and it
changed the way this student thought of
herself and others will we allow the
fear of public speaking to keep us
silent we can design a response to fear
that gives voice to our ideas the result
is connection and the creation of
community and I can think of no greater
legacy than that what would you say if
[Applause]
you [Applause]
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