Question

Daphne owns a night club and frequently entertains large crowds. She feels very comfortable on stage and loves to make people laugh. Justin can?t bear even the thought of speaking to a large group of people. He gets butterflies in his stomach and shakes so badly he can hardly stand, and once even lost his job because he refused to give a presentation to the board of directors. In order to achieve the level of confidence that Daphne seems to have achieved, Justin could start by doing all of the following except:

a.
gain experience by practicing speaking in front of others often, starting with close friends and family, then attempting larger groups
b.
imagine himself confidently delivering flawless performances, and the audience cheering and enjoying themselves
c.
write and rehearse stand-up comedy routines and research night club audiences and performers to prepare for an audition with Daphne
d.
make an effort to think positively about his abilities and look for elements of public speaking that he personally enjoys

Answer 1

C, why would that help anything?!

Answer 2

The answer is C: write and rehearse stand-up comedy routines and research night club audiences and performers to prepare for an audition with Daphne.

Public speaking is an activity that involves confidence and, like any other activity, it can be perfected. Although some may have certain apparent innate skills conducive to public speaking, it, nonetheless, can be an acquired, learned, and perfected skill. As such, all of the options above would be conducive to a betterment of public speaking and gaining confidence in front of a crowd (even option b, where imagination is solicited, since imagining oneself succeeding at something can improve one´s own self-esteem making it easier to deliver). Answer C is not an option since it is only related to preparing and rehearsing a routine for an audition, so it does not meet the criteria above.