My public speaking anxiety comes up when I am speaking a topic about that I am not

confident in. I have spoken in school assemblies, MUNs, and informative presentations for
my peers in high school and I was the most confident when I knew my topic well, when I had
a script, but I wasn’t dependent on it. When I do not know my topic, my anxiety builds up. I
get worried about if I am giving people the right information. Because of this anxiety, I get in
my head, and I start talking faster and my hands start to tremble. I feel better talking to
large groups when there is a light shining on my face as it prevents me from being able to
see the crowd. I get to focus on my information and my script, and I tend to forget about the
people in front of me. I feel more confident and can focus on my speed and the way I talk
and emphasis on the important topic. I think to combat my shyness and anxiety, I need to
work on knowing my information through and through and that should be enough for me to
maintain my confidence. Overconfidence was a reason for why I froze in an MUN and
couldn’t talk for the entire conference as I had let my previous MUN’s success get to my
head and did not prepare enough. In the next MUN, I was able to work harder, do all my
research and ended up as the best delegate.