The anxiety, even dread, that accompanies many people’s experience with public speaking--be it acting, reading, teaching, or lecturing--is common, but there are ways to cope with your anxieties so that you appear confident and relaxed in front of an audience. We will explore ways to calm yourself down, make your speaking/reading appear flawless, and how to use your breathing and visual cues to keep focused.

About the teacher:

Rebecca Cook is a writer, performer, speaker, and preacher. She has read her work in many venues, large and small, and is always eager to share her writing or give a lecture. She taught creative writing at UTC (2004-2014) and mentors in Creative Nonfiction’s Mentoring Program. Her writing can be found in journals large and small--from the tiny Waugh Street Journal to the prestigious Georgia Review. She has published a poetry collection, a poetry chapbook, and an e-novel with small, independent presses. Her poems have appeared in the Romanian journals Convorbiri Literare and Poesis, and she has co-translated two collections of Romanian poems with Olimpia Iacob. Her most recent publications are The Best Man in the World, a chapbook with poet Jenny Sadre-Orafai, and The Shape of Water, a Romanian/English book of poems alongside poet Talvescu Dumitru.