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Team Meeting 4 (Emily took the picture) 

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Team Meeting 3

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Course Reflection

This class went a lot different than I expected. I was absolutely terrified of public speaking beforehand but now I can say that it does not bother me. I wouldn’t say I am completely comfortable with it, but now I can tolerate it. I thought that I wouldn’t be able to do a speech with out it completely written out, but I think it is easier when you do not have a ton of notes in front of you. My goals at the beginning of the quarter were somewhat obtained after I completed this class. My anxiety before speeches significantly went down as the speech rounds went on. I practiced breathing beforehand and not drinking caffeine on speech days. This helped me relax and not make giving a speech a super big deal. My voice did not shake as much as I thought it would when I gave my speeches. I think this was because I didn’t feel super nervous during the speech itself. The one goal that I felt like I didn’t achieve was my vocal tone. I struggled with changing it up, but tried to work on it as the speech rounds went on. I obtained a lot of helpful tips for public speaking in the future. I learned how to use gestures correctly, write an efficient outline, and to make your speech as conversational as possible. I learned how to correctly use visual aids to enhance your speech and not distract from it. I think that I thought that I knew how to interact with a group of people for school projects, but I was proven wrong. There were many struggles that we as a group had to deal with that were unique to other group projects. We spent a lot of time together so we knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses. I really reflected on we as a group grew throughout the quarter. We got to make a group of cool friends that will support out throughout our time here at Cal Poly. Overall, I would say that this course improved my self confidence when public speaking and created an environment of very cool people. 

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Round Three Reflection

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eukhYw1CLko

For this round, I did a persuasive speech along with all of my other classmates. It was hard for me to come up with something to speak about because a lot of controversial topics were not able to be used. I wanted to do something about nutrition because that’s what I’m passionate about, so I first started off with campus dining. It was hard for me to formulate the central idea statement so I got rid of that idea. I then thought the idea of processed foods on college campuses would be easier to speak about. Everyone knows the food behavior regarding processed foods on college campuses so it would be easy to have credibility as well. My central idea statement was that college students should buy whole food alternatives to highly processed foods. I was more prepared with all of my annotations and summaries this time in comparison to my informative speech. I planned to do the work much more ahead of time so that I could practice my speech more. The informative speech seemed very similar to the persuasive speech in length. I felt more prepared because I had done the informative speech in round two before this persuasive speech. When I was presenting my visual aid, I forgot to show one of the slides. I wish I would’ve remembered to show it because it was a statistic, therefore it would’ve been good for credibility. I did not practice a lot with my visual aid which seemed to harm me in the end. When watching the video, I noticed that I didn’t have much emotion when talking. I had less notes which made me concentrate more on what I was actually saying. I liked this method better because it gave me room to actually speak what was coming from my heart regarding this topic. I wish we would have had time to have more critique because I did not get to here what I needed to work on. But, I seemed to have had better eye contact and a much more conversational tone than my past speeches. My vocal tone improved a little bit, but there is still a lot of room for that to exceed. My teammates liked how I integrated personal stories into my evidence as a way of pathos. 

Team Meeting 4: 

This team meeting we met up at the library to work on our group panel. We made a powerpoint with all of the pictures I took at the beach. It was a really good time because we got to reflect on the whole year in COMS together. We discussed how we are all super different people, yet we get along very well. We had a lot of laughs at all the jokes we created throughout the quarter. We all agreed on how we were happy about being a part of a group because it helped going to class. All in all the group meetings and project were all worth it. 

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Round Two Reflection

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2f3hS0xbGw&list=UUmOnPIZHZr-DWvsle1khUzA&index=18

For round two, I did a long informative speech on the effects of plastic, specifically plastic straws, on the marine ecosystems. This round had a lot more work put into it, for my speech had to be from 7-8 minutes long. I felt like I started too late on the speech because I did not realize how much work behind the scenes I had to do. I seemed to have focus more on the prepping rather than the speech itself. For round three I want to reverse that perspective. I felt myself reading down at my notecards when I was speaking. I was more nervous about this speech because it had a lot of sources I needed to state in it, and I had a visual aid unlike all of the other times. I actually liked having the visual aid because I think it made it easier to have a conversational tone with the audience. I noticed in the video how I kept looking down and how my voice did not have a lot of dimension to it. I want to improve on my voice dimension, conversational tone, and ability to keep eye contact with the audience. Professor Truch touched on all three of those things when I got my direct feedback. Everyone seemed to like my credibility, structure, and appeal to the audience. My group members said that they got intrigued when I mentioned the audience and how it affected them personally. For round two in general, I really liked that we got to pick whether or not we wanted to do one or two speeches because I think that appealed to everyone in classes preferences. Overall it was not my favorite speech I have done because I did not prepare for it as well as I should have. 

Team Meeting 3: 

My group and I headed to Avila beach where we had our hang out that we will be speaking about in the upcoming group project. It took a lot of planning and coordination because of all of our busy schedules. It was a lot of fun though because we did many things while were there: getting froyo, exploring down the beach, walking the pier, and attempting to climb a huge rock. None of us have really spent a full day down there so we thought that it would be a fun experience. Our second meeting took place at Olive Garden where we had dinner one night. Our conversations were pretty casual and we just got to know each other a bit more. 

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Round One Reflection

First Speech: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDMGwIJ4WvA&list=UUmOnPIZHZr-DWvsle1khUzA&index=20

My first speech was a current event analysis on the Australian Wildfires. I used notecards when I was up in front of the class. I was really nervous before going up, but my anxiety seemed to cease as I started to talk. I liked how I had many different points about the topic. Professor Truch really enjoyed my transitions and thought they were clear and precise. I seemed to make the topic pretty universal to the audience which everybody appreciated. The audience said that my comments on climate change made it applicable to everyone. My group members commented on the fact that I seemed credible with my reference to being a California resident and addressing how similar fires happened in California years previously. Professor Truch said that my stance was kind of all over the place and that I need to keep a still posture when giving my next speeches. I talked pretty quick because I wanted to make sure I was in the time limit. Professor Truch said I needed to work on eye contact and making the speech less essay-like. Also, when watching the video, I could tell my voice is a bit shaky at times due to my anxiety. I want to make sure I do not rely on my flashcards next speech because I felt myself doing that this speech. I want to cut down my sentences and have more bullet points. Overall, it was not as bad as I expected being up there by myself. It went fairly well for my first speech. 

Second Speech: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLoBXdW-3sM

My second speech was a cultural artifact speech. I discussed my bracelet that was given to me by my grandma in France. I was a little less anxious this time because I knew what it was going to be like. I used notecards as help when I was up there instead of an outline like last speech. I found it easier to think off the top of my head instead of relying on the sentences I prepared beforehand. This speech felt much more conversational to me because it was mainly about my own life experience. I noticed how I kept better eye contact this time instead of consistently looking down at my flashcards. Professor Truch said that I improved on my eye contact and was able to scan the whole room instead of focusing on a single spot. I need to work on making my sentences shorter to make it more like a conversation. She said that I was able to convey how much my grandma means to me through my speech. I made it universal to the audience by saying how I hope everyone has a reminder like my bracelet of good life lessons. My group members said that my speech flowed nicely. They could tell my emotion behind my speech when I told some stories about my grandma because my face lit up. I want to work on keeping my audience intrigued because I got a little bored looking back on the youtube video. I do not use my hands a lot, and want to incorporate them into keeping the interest of my audience. The tone of my voice stays the same throughout most of my speech, so I want to work on adding inflection when needed. Overall, I think I improved on some critiques that I got from my first speech. 

Team Meeting 2: 

We met on Friday, January 31 with Professor Truch in her office. We discussed what our activity would be for our last group speech. Many ideas were thrown out, like doing a spin class or going zip lining, but we came to the conclusion to do a beach day at Avila. We decided to do it on Friday, February 7, but unfortunately it did not work out. Derek had work that he could not take off that day so we are going to do it on a different Friday now. We switched from a beach day to a drive in movie. It has been hard to figure out a day because everyone’s schedules are so busy. We will make sure to discuss this process when we present our group speech. 

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Team Meeting 1: 

This was our first group meet up! Two of our other members could not meet with us. One of them was out of town. We got Einstein Bros and discussed what we will be talking about for our first speech. Derek is doing a speech on a family tradition and I am doing a speech on the Australian bushfires. We also found out what each other is majoring in and what communities we live in. We are both a little nervous for the first speech but know that we will be less nervous the more speeches we do. 

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My Plan for Attaining my Goals

1) In order to reduce my public speaking anxiety, I will have to relax and meditate before any speech I present. I also am going to have to [...]choose a topic that [I] [am] excited about” (Cuncic). According to the article, Tips for Managing Public Speaking Anxiety, speaking on a topic you are actually interested in informing people about decreases the premeditated speech anxiety. Facts will come easier to you if you stumble on your words. In 12 Ways To Get Rid Of Public Speaking Anxiety, it says to “make the audience more human and less intimidating” (Bruner). I have gotten to know my peers during class, so I am already working towards this goal. Instead of being quiet during the breaks, I will make a conscious effort to talk to the people around me in order to get to know them even more. In Reduce Your Fear Of Public Speaking Down To Almost Nothing, it mentions how you need to talk out your fear to really get rid of it (The Lefkoe Institute). I am a verbal processor, so I think this method will work for me. I am going to talk out my nerves with my roommate before going to present my speech. We are both in Coms right now, so I am sure she will be doing the same thing. This will reduce my anxiety because I know other people are going through the same anxiety. 

2) In order to increase the volume in my voice, I will need to practice different methods of relaxing my body. In How To Increase Voice Volume, it says to  “Locate and release any tension in your upper body, paying particular attention to your head, neck, shoulders, chest and abdomen” (Green). On everyday that I have Coms, I will practice this method before going to class. It will be easy and achievable because it will only take 2-5 minutes out of my day. In How to Improve the Sound of Your Voice, it refers to the term diaphragm voice. This is where you need to breathe in your diaphragm in order to get the highest volume possible. The night before I have a speech I will practice breathing from my diaphragm instead of my mouth and chest. In 5 Steps to Projecting Your Voice. How do you Talk Louder?, it says to “Maintain a good posture. Keep your shoulders neutral and your head centered. Do not hunch up your shoulders” (Raja). I already have a bad posture as it is, so this practice will be helpful to me in all aspects. When I practice my speech, I will be conscious of my posture. Standing up tall allows your voice to not only project louder, but farther into the room. 

3) In order to slow down the pace of my speech, I will need to deep breathe before starting. In 5 Ways to Slow Down Your Speech, it says to “Plan pauses into your sentences” (Graveline). Planning pauses allows time for your brain to actually process what you are about to say. This will help both the length of my speech and the fluidity of my speech. I will make sure to incorporate intentional pauses as transitions to slow the speed of my speech. In How to Slow Down Nervous, Speedy Speech, it advises you to “avoid memorization” (Schwertly). Memorizing my speech will only increase the speed of my voice. I am going to write down bullet points of the main ideas so that I do not have the opportunity to talk fast. As long as I practice my speech with the bullet point method, I will not forget the points I want to get across. In Slow Down, You’re Talking Too Fast! it says to make eye contact with your audience to notice if you are talking too fast for them to understand your points. It explains that the “sense of connection with your target will help you pace your words so they hit the mark” (The Total Communicator). I have to make my speech intriguing my talking at different speeds. To emphasize my main points, I will talk slow and concise. I will practice this when I practice presenting my speech. 

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Research for Attaining my Goals

Reducing my public speaking anxiety: 

https://www.verywellmind.com/tips-for-managing-public-speaking-anxiety-3024336

https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/anxiety/12-ways-to-get-rid-of-public-speaking-anxiety/?utm_source=AdWords&utm_medium=Search_PPC_c&utm_term=_b&utm_content=75597921965&network=g&placement=&target=&matchtype=b&utm_campaign=6459244691&ad_type=text&adposition=1t2&gclid=Cj0KCQiAmZDxBRDIARIsABnkbYTZF-105bR8nAC871O85_z6QunpsQJOthnrjjGcHU5wuGM4VAEy6qYaAqUiEALw_wcB

http://speakingwithoutfear.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAmZDxBRDIARIsABnkbYSe9w3fZKJKxra8Jy7jSOkFLbEH8bLsQlxRei_mNyaYZY2iuCE6LMcaAp_qEALw_wcB

Ways to improve the volume of my voice: 

https://penandthepad.com/how-8183439-increase-voice-volume.html

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/communication-success/201401/how-improve-the-sound-your-voice

https://www.speakforlife.com.au/howtoprojectyourvoice/

Ways to slow down when I give my speech: 

https://www.ragan.com/5-ways-to-slow-down-your-speech-2/

https://www.ethos3.com/2014/03/how-to-slow-down-nervous-speedy-speech/

http://totalcommunicator.com/talk_article.html

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Public Speaking Goals

1) I want to improve the volume of my voice.

2) I want to decrease my anxiety before speaking. 

3) I want to be able to control the pace of my speech because I get nervous and talk fast.