publicspeaking-coms101-blog

[publicspeaking-coms101-blog]

Overall Course Evaluation

Before even attending Cal Poly, when I saw public speaking as a class in my schedule, I almost fainted. I was terrified at the thought of performing in front of classes for the entire quarter. This continued when I was about to give my first speech, for I still remember the moment of my heart pounding and my hands shaking. As the course progressed however, I got immensely more confident in being able to perform speeches, which was a point I thought I would never reach. Although I was still scared before presenting every time, the nerves became less and less every time I did it. I realized that everyone had to go through the same nervous tension, which made me feel more comforted. I never thought I would be able to get through presenting even one speech in the class, and now I am still amazed on how much confidence I gained during this quarter from delivering these speeches. Although it was tedious and scary, I am definitely grateful for taking this course and the things I have taken away from it that will benefit me in the future. 

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Round 3 Speech

In the Monroe’s Motivated Sequence speech, I thought I performed exponentially better than the ones prior. Since I was addressing such a sensitive topic, I was much more scared to present my speech in fear that I would not deliver it well enough. However, when I got up there and started talking, I found myself confident in the ability to convey the prevalence of suicide on college campuses in a powerful and appropriate manner. Although I had a technology mishap during it, I was still proud that I was able to continue without getting tripped up. Overall, I thought my self improvement in delivering speeches for round 3 grew a lot, for I felt a lot more confident and comfortable in front of the class. 

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Speech #2 Round 2

I definitely improved on this time around. I felt a lot more confident while presenting this time. However, my visual aid presentation could have been improved since I clicked off the first slide too quickly. Overall however, I think I am improving in my speaking skills and becoming less and less scared every time I present. However, I do believe there is still room for improvement in the way I present myself.

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Speech #1 Round 2

I felt this time around was less nerve wracking. I felt like I improved on having more variety and tone in my voice overall. I also felt like the lessened nerves helped me be able to talk well throughout my outline without having to look at my notes. However, I noticed that I still have a bit of swaying and nervous energy that I definitely need to work on. Overall, I thought I did improve in some aspects but still need to work on calming my nerves before presenting.

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Our coms group hanging out by eating Subway and drinking Starbucks!

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Speech #2 Round 2

The speech I presented for this was an oral interpretation. I was glad I was able to present similar to the way I did when I was practicing this. I emphasized my main points and tried to use different tones and pitches, which I thought was effective. However, I believe due to nervous energy, I did not compose myself in the best way possible. My voice sounded more confident this time around which is improvement, but I most definitely still need to work around my nerves of presenting and find a way in which I can give my speech in a more poised manner. 

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Speech #1 Round 1

The speech I presented for this was a current event. I was glad that I was able to get all of my main ideas and points across in the speech. Having that said, I was jittery and had unnecessary energy that could have potentially taken away from the effectiveness of my speech. This also allowed more room for error since I believe I stuttered more due to this nervous energy. For next time, I will try to calm down and be able to present myself with confidence.

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Goal 1

1. What I Wish to Improve

I want to create better habits pertaining to the non-verbal communication. I often appear tense and fidgety when delivering speeches in front of classes, which definitely could take away from the essence of my speech if everyone is noticing that instead. I also tend to not look directly at my audience, which can be perceived as me just rattling off information I memorized. Instead, I wish to be able to address my audience directly and straight on in order to appear more engaged and active in my speech. I also wish to appear more natural and relaxed: I want to use my hands for gestures rather than for picking at my nails.

2. Research

http://www.businessinsider.com/nonverbal-communication-public-speaking-2015-7/#control-your-facial-expressions-1

https://www.ethos3.com/2016/01/nonverbal-communication-tips-for-public-speakers/

http://www.speaking.pitt.edu/student/public-speaking/suggestions-nonverbal.html

3. Plan

I will practice my speech beforehand and focus only on the problem gestures I normally revert to when presenting. I will make sure to keep my arms uncrossed and to not play with my hair band or pick at my nails. I will avoid the parade rest (hands behind back) and the broken wing (hand on hip) when practicing my speech, so it will come naturally to me to avoid these positions during my actual presentation. I will also practice before hand in front of my peers and will make sure to keep direct eye contact with every single one of them for at least two seconds during the time of my speech. Also practicing in front of people might make me more comfortable talking in front of the class, so I will come off more relaxed rather than tense and nervous.

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Goal 2

1. What I Wish to Improve

I want to vary my sentence length more in order to keep my speech more interesting. I often turn to using complex, compound sentences for my sentence structure in most of my essays and speeches without realizing the power in simple, short sentences. I would like to create a more diverse sentence structure in my speech to help convey the meaning more effectively.

2. Research

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/573/01/

http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/scholarlyvoice/sentencestructure

https://www.thoughtco.com/inversion-definition-1209968

3. Plan

The main way to help diversify my sentence structure is to vary my sentence length each and every sentence (except when using parallelism). For every sentence structure I use (simplex, complex, compound, or compound complex), I will try to use one of the other three for the next sentence. This will keep me from always using just one type of sentence structure and will prevent me from sounding as if I am droning on. I will also try to implement inversion in my sentences to keep my passage as interesting as possible, so I do not lose the attention of my audience. In order to use inversion in a sentence, I will reverse the normal word structure in a sentence. I can achieve this by putting the verb of the sentence before the subject. Additionally, I will use different transitions and try to start each sentence with a different word to avoid unintentional repetition.

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Goal 3

What I Wish to Improve

I want to improve on the pace of my voice when delivering a speech. Normally when delivering speeches, I tend to speak quickly without placing emphasis on important statements or words and often feel awkward and uncomfortable leaving a pause in my speech. I would like to slow down my words and leave pauses before significant words or phrases in order to implement more emphasis and meaning into my speech.

2. Research

https://www.thebalance.com/speak-for-success-speech-lesson-the-problem-of-pace-2948546

https://www.inc.com/sims-wyeth/how-to-slow-down-if-you-talk-too-fast.html

http://realtormag.realtor.org/sales-and-marketing/relationship-management/article/2014/10/5-ways-improve-your-vocal-impact

3. Plan

I will focus on enunciating more words in order to help slow down my overall pace. When enunciating the words in a speech, it is naturally to start slowing down the pace of your speech because your attention is now focused on pronunciation rather than just rambling on to finish all the points of your speech. Another mental note I will try when delivering a speech is to pause when reaching a period or semicolon twice as long as I would for a comma. I will also practice my speech before and take a deep, long breath every time I reach a significant phrase or word I would like to emphasize. This will naturally teach my brain to take a long pause during these certain points in a speech. Another helpful task to do before presenting is to clap your hands between each word or each punctuation mark as you read your speech aloud. This will also subconsciously help me slow down my pace when presenting in front of the class.