Winona State is promoting the “iConquer Speech Anxiety” seminar—in hopes of empowering faculty, staff, administration and hall directors to then empower students.

The main goal is “to help students be more comfortable and confident,” said Carrie Niesen, a Communications professor.

Sponsored by the Faculty Development Committee and an HLC Next Chapter Grant, Dr. Karen Kangas Dwyer, professor of speech communication, will host the seminar Sept. 28.

“I have never heard [Dwyer] speak, but from what others have told me, she’s absolutely amazing. When she talks, people listen,” said first-year Winona State Communications professor Stacy Schilling.

While the goal of the seminar is to benefit students, this seminar is only open to faculty and staff attendees.

“The overall goal is what can we do to equip students to be successful in their courses: how can we help them overcome their anxiety to give presentations, to speak up in class, and participate in discussions,” Niesen said.

Niesen said many students have lack of experience, which causes fear of the unknown and a hard time getting over the first hurdle of public speaking.

“This workshop is to teach faculty how to help students overcome that hurdle and to incorporate that into their classes,” Niesen said.

Niesen and Schilling both pointed out that new technology also influences students.

“[Dwyer] has a lot of current research. I am looking forward to having new activities and new things to be able to accommodate to students. We have to keep up with changing times,” Schilling said.

For Schilling, this seminar isn’t only about problem versus solution, it is about understanding.

“It’s very important to realize how big of a problem apprehension is and how scary it is for these students,” Schilling said.

Niesen agreed. “Many people overlook that students may not feel as comfortable speaking up, so creating a comfortable environment and relating and understanding and empathizing goes a long way. Taking the workshop will help with strategies and techniques and to help that understanding.”

Winona State University has smaller speech class sizes for better teacher-student communication, explained Niesen, and she wants to utilize that to its fullest.

The interactive workshop for faculty members of all disciplines will take place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 28. Dwyer will hold a session to overview communication apprehension for staff, administrators and hall directors at 9 a.m.

If students wish to seek their own guidance for overcoming anxiety of public speaking, classroom discussions and other communication, Winona State offers several options. Talking to the professor—of any discipline—is encouraged. Tutoring Services offers public speaking tutors Monday- Thursday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. in room 108. For deeper issues, students are encouraged to check out Counseling Services.

For those taking Introduction to Public Speaking next semester, a “Speaking Confidently” course will be added as an option to take along with the required course.

Contact Julia at [email protected]