Public speaking has never been my strong suit but with some training I managed to improve tremendously. When we first started this class, I dreaded doing speeches – they were a real challenge for me. I used to get a sick feeling when it was my turn to present. After the class, however, I became more confident in my communication, and I relaxed. Even though my nervousness is not even close to being gone, I feel like it has subsided. I attribute my new mindset as to why I improved. My teacher told me to have a discussion with the audience rather than to blurt out information. I took this to heart, and it has been much easier for me to present with that in mind. Now, I see presenting as more of a conversation with an audience – a comfortable setting for me. With my initial fears out of the way, I was able to improve in many other areas – body language, use of the voice, clarity of thought, and approach to professional communication. …show more content…
It was not the main thing I needed to work on, but I feel more comfortable with it now going forward. My posture, breath, eye contact, and hand movements benefited. The exercise where each person had to stand in front of the class and look into everyone 's eyes helped me stand up straighter, and it corrected my posture. I never realized how much I was slouching, especially in my neck area. By being aware of how to stand properly early on, I was able to carry out what I had learned throughout the semester. I saw the importance of being grounded and allowing myself to be seen. My breathing did not improve much. I did not fully understand how to breath with my stomach from the exercises due to lack of time. I acknowledged how it can help with speech, resonation, and endurance from the article that we read; however, I did not manage to apply it to myself
One of my greatest strengths pertaining to education is my ability to complete my work in a timely matter. I only turned in late work at least two times in my high school career. Another strength I possess is being a respectful, erudite student. I can understand the lessons quickly and listen to my teacher in a considerate manner. Although one can discuss their strengths indefinitely, weaknesses must be told to understand a person. One of my main shortcomings is public speaking. I find it hard to present myself in front of a large group of people. Once I begin to know my peers, it is easier for me to speak in front of them during
Public speaking is a topic that most people dread. The anxious feeling of getting in front of people and presenting is avoided by many people at all costs. Although public speaking has a bad reputation, when done right, it can be a very valuable skill to have. Recently, I attended a presentation that was given by Ann Walker, a member of the National Alliance for Mental Health (NAMI). This presentation was focused on making more people aware about mental illnesses and the effects of them, which was using the method of an Informative Speech. As said in it’s name, the purpose of this kind of presentation is to “Increase your audience’s knowledge of a particular topic or teach them something new” (Hosek & Crawford, 2016, p. 74), which is stated in our student guidebook. It was held in a very casual setting, consisting of a college classroom holding about 50 seats. Before Walker started presenting her speech, she asked the audience what most of us were majoring in.
As I said before, I was never an outgoing child. This class helped me, through experience, develop into a person that can confidently deliver a speech. After I was able to get over my extreme fear of public speaking, I was able to focus on my verbal and nonverbal skills. For my verbal skills my volume has always been a problem. Since I am a quiet person, I am constantly challenged to talk louder so everyone will hear and I can convey my thoughts with confidence. In my first couple speeches I received plenty of feedback that said to talk louder. When I felt more comfortable about my speech deliveries, I was able to focus on projecting my voice. For my nonverbal skills it was very difficult for me to have a good posture and keep eye contact. I got a lot of feedback saying that I should straighten up my posture and not sway as much. I forgot about this many times but for my final speech I actually wrote on my outline to not sway. This helped me remember to stand straight in order to present a more formal speech delivery. Finding the balance between memorizing my whole speech and only the main points was difficult for me. In my first couple speeches I wasn’t comfortable enough in my speech to be able to make frequent eye contact and not read off of my outline but in my final speech I wrote only the main points down and tried to deliver it as extemporaneously as possible. This is important because
During my demonstration speech, I was affected by my speech anxiety. Some of the viewable symptoms were the shaking of my hands and also the stuttering of speech. I was able to control myself and relax after I started getting into my information. I did use some of the suggested relaxation techniques to relieve my anxiety. Before I got up to speak I thought confident of myself to help give me courage and confidence.
I believe that, if I feel nervous in the future, I will not be afraid of this emotion like what I did before. This course provided me knowledge on how to make me relax. Little by little, I have gained the confidence of combating the fear of public speaking in this course. All these precious experience will continue benefiting me in the future. Thus, I am proud to say that I have fullfilled the course objectives and enhanced my public speaking
A: I am very comfortable when I am delivering presentations. Throughout my years in high school, I learned a couple of tips on giving a presentation. I learned that every presentation should be approached differently. The most important tip I learned was to be yourself. When I have fears, I usually listen to music to calm me down.
I did have great communication skills but whenever I had to communicate in front of a group of people for some reasons I fail miserably. My public speaking fears had become worst when I got to college. I was required to take a public speaking class which I couldn’t escape in since it was one of the required courses for my degree. My first day on that class is so far the most terrible day of my life. I was asked to introduce myself to the class using only one word to describe me, the moment that my name was called it felt like I was walking into an unfamiliar galaxy. I am standing in front of a classroom full of strangers doing nothing but looking around and
Making a successful public presentation or speech to an audience was a very big task for me before I joined the public speaking class. I was always frightened and very nervous. Since then I now understand the process of making a speech or a presentation including coming up with a topic and from this topic develop the main points of the speech, research, organize my points, revise them, edit and make a magnificent presentation to any audience. People in the audience might sometimes agree or disagree with my opinion or points, it was therefore necessary to communicate my information clearly to the audience without making any judgments since every person was entitled to a different opinion and views about things.
...e, also moving arms and gestures are important, but not too much to distract the audience.
Throughout the semester I became a more confident public speaker. The first assignment that we had to do for our education class was to introduce our self. I practiced what I was going to say and how I was going to say it that weekend. However, when I got up to present my mind went completely blank. Throughout the course of the semester I learned what I need to have up with me when I present do that I do not blank on what I wanted to say. In the beginning when I got up to present my heart was racing and my hands were shaking. Now I make sure I breathe and tell myself that I know what I am going to talk about. So I still don’t talking in public but I feel more comfortable doing it. I need to work on being more confident when I have to present a topic. Talking to Mrs. Nealy after my mini lesson I have more confidence when I am talking about a math concept than any other topic. Throughout the semester my writing skills have greatly improved. The thing I need to work on is managing my time better so that I have more time to edit my papers.
Nealy and my parents helped me tremendously over the years to overcome my fear. I stayed after school to practice in front of Mrs. Nealy and a small group of my closest friends. My parents recorded my speeches so that I could watch my body language and practice over and over again. My sister, although 3 years younger than I was, provided me with many funny but ingenious comments that help me to learn. I practiced in the shower, in front of the mirror, and everywhere else I could before each presentations. It wasn’t easy; however, as the years went by, I felt more confident and comfortable speaking in front of groups. I have learned the valuable techniques from Maya Angelou that said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”. With each of my speeches over the years, I have tried to incorporate some funny or heart warming stories to keep my audience engaging and always remembered Mrs. Nealy’s advice that I didn’t need to memorize every word from my speech, but just to prepare an outline, be interesting, and try to have
For as long as I can remember, public speaking has always been one of my greatest weaknesses. Whether it’s a simple in-class presentation or a speech in front of an auditorium filled with people, I can barely get my words out from the anxiety and stress. I’ve always admired those who seem to be able to just flow through their speeches without as much as a hint of nerves. The reason I decided to write my paper on this specific topic was to learn about different tips that people have for public speaking.
In order to successfully deliver an oral presentation such as a speech, the speaker must follow certain procedures to ensure his message can be conveyed clearly. Vast amounts of research are essential in order to acquire the knowledge necessary to be able to speak about a topic comfortably and answer any questions the audience might have during the course of the presentation. After acquiring such knowledge about the topic of the presentation the speaker will feel more confident, confidence is key in delivering speeches and other oral presentations because it makes the speaker look more credible and trustworthy. Lastly, the speaker must be fluid and eloquent with his words, the speaker must be able to sound clear and crisp while delivering their
Some people express themselves through beautiful art; others are masters of the page and speak silently through writing. I, on the other hand, express myself with the greatest instrument I have, my voice.
Learning how to overcome fear through building self esteem and confidence will always have the most important impact to me as a communicator. Public speaking anxiety results into boring and poor speech which is made in hurry. Through my communication lessons I have known how to prepare and practice, get organized, know the details of my topic and learn how to visualize on my success as a communicator in order to beat the fear of public speaking. This in no doubt will have a great impact to me as a motivational