There are two types of anxiety relative to a person's communication habits: speech anxiety and communication anxiety. Speech anxiety encompasses the fear of public speaking while communication anxiety encompasses the fear of speaking in everyday situations. Although it's unlikely that speech anxiety will ever vanish completely, it can be managed successfully using deep breathing, positive visualization and lots of practice.
Bad Prior Experience
Many people fear a bad public speaking experience will be repeated. From pronouncing words wrong to dropping cue cards, any number of things can happen during a speech that might make someone fear repeating the experience. Even celebrities experience this type of speech anxiety: In 1967, Barbra Streisand forgot the words to a song during a performance in front of 135,000 people and the experience kept her from performing onstage for decades.
Fear of Failure
Many speakers fear what happens when they fail to deliver a speech well. They may imagine dire consequences arising as a result of their failure, and it is usually these consequences they fear---more so than they fear the speech itself. Career terror and perfectionism are two big fears; the speaker may fear he'll lose his job, a promotion, or the respect of his co-workers if he fails to deliver a good speech. Similarly, he may have expectations of perfectionism in mind when setting his goals. Anything less than a perfect speech may feel like a failure.
Fear of Judgment
Whereas fear of failure involves the speaker's assessment of herself, this type of fear involves the audience's assessment of the speaker. Janet Esposito, the author of "In the Spotlight: Overcome Your Fear of Public Speaking," compares the fear to a feeling of emotional vulnerability, of being unsafe and exposed before others in an uncomfortable way. People with this type of fear are likely to believe the audience is noting each mistake, paying more attention to these small faults than the overall content of her speech.
Lack of Public Speaking Experience
People who've never spoken in front of a large group may feel a deep sense of fear when presented with the task. They may feel ill-equipped, no matter how many hours of practice and prep time they've put in. This type of fear is called an illogical fear, since the speaker has no reason to fear the task---he's never performed it before. It's possible that the fear will recede after the public speaking event, or the fear will translate into one of the other types listed once the speaker realizes the root of his fear---fear of failure or fear of being judged, for example.
Lack of Preparation
A simple lack of preparation can also make people fear public speaking. This is the easiest type of fear to correct, as it simply requires devoting time to outlining and making cue cards, if necessary. This type of fear can affect even confident speakers, who, because of their verbal skills, assume what they want to say will "come to them" at the right moment. If it doesn't, they may fail to connect with the audience and begin to experience speech anxiety.
References
- Conquering Speech Anxiety: Candice Thomas of Ohio State University
- CBS News: Streisand: Perfection Is Imperfection
- A Speech Instructor's Guide to Speech Anxiety by Kathy Brady
- Google Books: In the Spotlight: Overcome Your Fear of Public Speaking and Performing by Janet E. Esposito
- University of Tennessee at Knoville: Oral Communication/Speech Anxiety
