Evaluate yourself
a. Tick the category that best describes you as a speaker.
CATEGORIES CHARACTERISTICS
__________Avoider An avoider does everything possible to escape from
having to stand in front of an audience. In some cases
avoiders may flunk an academic presentation at the
cost of losing grade or may seek careers that do not
involve making presentations.
__________Resister A resister is scared of speaking in public. Resisters
may not be able to avoid speaking as part of their job,
but they never encourage it. When they do speak
they do so painfully and with great reluctance.
_________ Accepter The accepter will give presentations as part of the job
but does not seek opportunities to do so. Accepters
occasionally give a presentation and feels as though
they did a good job. They even find that once in a while
they are quite persuasive, and enjoy speaking in front
of a group.
__________ Seeker A seeker looks for opportunities to speak. The seeker
understands that anxiety can be a stimulant which fuels
enthusiasm during a presentation. Seekers work at
building their academic or professional communication
skills and self-confidence by speaking often.
