Among other things, I’ve been working hard finishing a VR speech anxiety training for Evrience Air. Lots of bug fixing, tweaking and polishing, but it’s it’s now available for anyone who updates Evrience Air to its current latest version 1.0.081! If you’ve ever felt nervous about public speaking, or if you are a VR Counselor who knows how to help others who struggle with it, this VR training might be just what you need. It’s designed to make practicing presentations easier, more engaging, and even pretty fun!
The speech anxiety training simulation is all about creating a realistic but low-pressure environment to practice in. Instead of just throwing you in front of an audience and hoping for the best, it gives you helpful real-time feedback while you’re performing on stage.
Interaction
As you speak, the system keeps track of a few key things:
- Posture: Are you standing straight? Good posture helps you look and feel more confident.
- Hand Gestures: Are you using natural movement, or are your hands glued to your sides?
- Voice Volume: Are you speaking loudly and clearly enough for people to hear you?
You get real-time indicators of where you’re doing well and what you might want to tweak, so you can adjust as you go.
Optionally, you can have the audience actually react to your performance. Their moods range from bored to being completely mesmerized by it! Thought bubbles above their heads give you a sense of what’s going through their minds—kind of like reading the room, but with subtitles.
To make things a little more engaging, there are some playful elements built in:
- Scoring System: Track your improvement as you refine your skills.
- Fireworks Mode: Hit a high score, and the stage lights up with fireworks.
- Falling Petals Effect: When the audience is really into it, rose petals will float down over the stage.
Not everyone starts in the same place, and that’s okay. The speech anxiety training lets you choose a difficulty level that fits your comfort zone, so you can build up confidence gradually.
A fun way to grow
Not only is your VR Counselor there to guide you, you can even practice together with others! Whether you want to present in front of a virtual audience of friends or get feedback from your VR Counselor, the option that allows up to five people makes it feel more real and immersive. VR is a great tool for getting comfortable with public speaking because it feels real, but without the same pressure. With this speech anxiety training, you get to practice at your own pace, see your progress, and even have a bit of fun along the way.
If this sounds interesting, give it a go! The Speech Anxiety simulation is now available in Evrience Air, and I’d love to hear what you think. Hope it helps make public speaking feel a little less scary and a lot more doable!