Two undergraduate Public Speaking Center (PSC) consultants won an award for their paper at the annual National Association of Communication Centers conference on March 27-28. Jordan Rickaway, a public health senior, and Kylie Northam, a Plan II and psychology junior, were given the Bob and Ann Weiss Undergraduate Student Paper Award for “Building Strong Voices in Another Dimension,” which explored the use of virtual reality in communication centers. This year’s conference host, Clemson University, held the event via Zoom.

Their research was inspired by their work as speech consultants at the PSC. “As public speaking consultants, we noticed that many people come to the center in hopes of addressing their public speaking anxiety, Rickaway said. “Unfortunately, we do not have a magic cure, but we wanted to find a tangible technique that might help. Through research, we discovered that virtual reality headsets could be used to reduce public speaking anxiety.”

Rachel Jenkins, the coordinator of the Public Speaking Center, echoed her staff’s concerns: “Hundreds of University of Texas at Austin students, from freshmen to graduate students, schedule consultations each year at the Public Speaking Center and confide their anxieties. I’m proud of our team for exploring innovative strategies and technologies to support students with public speaking apprehension.”

Could students see VR in the Public Speaking Center at the university? Rickaway and Northam are optimistic. “We hope that the PSC could look into implementing VR for anxiety at some point. Having a headset that would show avatars in a setting similar to a classroom presentation would give that student the feel of what the actual presentation would be like.”

In the meantime, Public Speaking Center consultants have discovered strategies to assist students with their anxiety without the assistance of avatars. “In our paper,” Northam notes, “we also describe the research on anxiety re-appraisal methods and interpret how speech consultants can use these tools in consultations. For example, we can help students recognize how the stress they feel helps them to narrow their focus, work harder, and reach out for help.”

The Sanger Learning Center and the School of Undergraduate Studies have partnered with the UT Libraries to provide free public speaking support for all UT students. To work with consultants like Rickaway and Northam, UT students can book free consultations, as individuals or in groups, by visiting bit.ly/signupSLC or calling 512-471-3614. For the remainder of spring 2020, all consultations will take place on Zoom.