It has been said that people fear public speaking more than they fear death.

Although it is an integral part of the working world, public speaking is often surrounded by a cloud of apprehension.

But in Ohio State students’ darkest hours, School of Communication instructor Nancy Fisher does everything she can to quell the fears of her charges.

Fisher, who has been teaching for more than 25 years, came to Columbus after 18 years at Wichita State University in Kansas. Now in her fourth year teaching at OSU, she heads four classes that deal with what she considers the art of public speaking.

The first step she takes in her lectures involves building a rapport with the students she instructs, and allowing them to build a similar bond with one another.

“It takes that mystique away that there’s something to fear here,” Fisher said. “The worst things you imagine are not going to happen.”

Included in that rapport is Fisher’s self-proclaimed open door policy, in which she makes herself available to all of her students by allowing them to e-mail, call and even text her with any questions or concerns they might have. The BlackBerry she owns goes crazy every speech week, she said.

Fisher enjoys working individually with students because she believes she can help them find topics they’re actually interested in to speak about.

“If we can get them to pick topics they really have a passion for, it becomes closer to an A+ speech rather than a B+ speech,” Fisher said. “Once they really have something to speak about, they get excited.”

The strategies she employs in her courses have seemed to work. Fisher recalled a former student who recently was given a job in marketing with the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League.

“It’s a positive experience because from the beginning to the end of the course I see incredible changes in the students,” she said. “I see so much improvement and it’s really gratifying.”

Fisher believes that of the many important factors in giving a successful speech, being polished is the most important. She preaches preparation because it brings with it comfort and understanding, which make for a more interesting presentation.

Visual aids to a speech are also a surefire way to make a presentation more memorable, and the students in Fisher’s classes can be very creative with these. Recently, a speaker brought a pot of chili to class and served it to his fellow students to enjoy while he gave his speech on the steps to making it, Fisher said.

Along with Communication 321, her general public speaking class, Fisher also teaches Communication 331 (Business and Professional Speaking) in Winter Quarter. The business aspect of public speaking is less formal in a way, she said.

The class features speeches that are followed with questions from the audience, small-meeting presentation formats, and even a speech designed to be given in an elevator.

“Let’s say you bump into someone in the elevator and you know it was someone that could potentially hire you, what could you say to them in 60 seconds or less that would make them know who you are?” Fisher said.

Interviewing skills, image management and networking are all topics covered in 331, to prepare students for what Fisher calls a jump to the working world, rather than a transition.

The skills Fisher teaches in all of her classes are those that should not be overlooked, as she believes them to be crucial in the future of her students’ careers.

“If you can speak, you’ll be given more opportunities, and you’ll be more successful,” she said. “Public skills equal success skills.”