What I will take from this class

I was actually really surprised at how much I will be able to take from this class. I thought that it was going to be the class that I was just going to have to suck it up and get through because I knew I really was not comfortable speaking in front of anyone. Now, I know that I will have so much more confidence if I ever have to give another speech, which is probably pretty likely at some point in my life, I know that all I really need to do is make sure that I have prepared myself for at least a few days beforehand. Also, I think the outline could be really helpful even if it is not a very formal speech. In the future, I may have to give a speech at a friend’s wedding or give a presentation at work. Now, I feel like I will know how to prepare myself rather than just being anxious and stressed up until the big day.

Concept from the class

One concept that I will be able to take from this class is how being prepared really decreases your anxiety. Before this class I had been so nervous about speeches every single time that I encountered them in any of my classes. I realized after taking this course that this was because I was not fully prepared and also that I was not using the strategies for building confidence before an oral presentation. I think that visualization, relabeling, and relaxation were key in helping me not be nervous about my upcoming speeches. I didn’t know before this class that there even were methods like these to help you in overcoming your anxiety. By addressing my various uncertainties, such as my uncertainty as a speaker, uncertainty about my ideas, or uncertainty about my speaking abilities, I was able to get up in front of the audience and be a lot more confident because I had prepared for the things I may have been uncertain about in speeches before this class.

My Favorite Speech

I think that the informative speech was my favorite out of all of the speeches from the whole semester. I did pretty well on it because I had prepared early enough and it was also a topic that I was really interested in. Part of the reason I liked this particular speech was that I did not have to be persuading anyone or using any specific method. It was just about informing the audience about a topic that I found interesting. I think it makes a lot easier to feel enthusiastic about an informative topic if it is something that you actually find intriguing. Another reason I liked this speech was that it was a type of speech that could be useful to me in the future. Someday I may need to do something like this in my line of work, so it was definitely good practice. Hopefully I’ll be prepared for it if I ever have to do one in the future. 

Home Schooling Persuasive Speeches

I first watched the home schooling pro video from chapter 15. I was surprised by the reasoning behind this speech. She said that public school is like a “prison” and is a place of violence that many people choose to keep their kids away from. I think these arguments may be a little exaggerated. The speaker used appeals to logic and emotion. She gave statistics that talked about how many more hours home school students actually spend learning in a single year. She used example of safety needs for her emotional appeal. The speaker connected with the audience because the topic is something that we all are familiar with. We all went to school. But she is asking you to consider a different option than the one many of us had. She had a good use of facts and statistics that could be helpful in my speech. In the home schooling con video, I was a more in agreement with what the speaker was saying. Something that I found helpful in this speech was that he would ask a question to the audience and then immediately give a reasonable answer to it. This was effective. He used appeals to emotion and to logic also. He talked about how we do not have the tools necessary at home to provide an adequate education. For an emotional appeal, he talked about how students need the classroom setting for self-actualization. 

concept from chp 15

What I would like to talk about from the chapter 15 of the reading this week is using reasoning effectively. Deductive reasoning is where the speaker is arguing “from a general principle to a specific instance or case”. There are many different ways that deductive reasoning can be applied. It can be applied to groups, processes, or events. Another type of reasoning would be inductive. This where you show very specific examples in order to show a more general principle. This is a strong form of reasoning because it allows the audience to visualize the argument and it also makes it more personal because of the specific examples. Another form of reasoning is causal, which is kind of self-explanatory. It’s where one event causes another. The last is analogical, which is one I was not familiar with. It’s where you show likenesses between two separate cases. It allows you to make a connection between something that is familiar to something that is not.

Discussion from reading this week

The most recent discussion I have had in which I was trying to persuade someone was just a few days ago at my work. I needed to convince my boss of the fact that I was the right person to get a shift that I wanted but that others wanted also. I used logical reasoning in order to persuade my boss to allow me to take the shift that I wanted. I had to provide facts to him to show him that I was the right person for the job. I told him about how I was the one that was always available on that day and also that I was the one who had the most experienced at the task that was in question. My reasoning worked well because I succeeded in getting exactly what I wanted because I was able to provide my boss with good reasons why I should be the one he chose for the job. 

Concept from Chp 14

The concept from chapter 14 of the reading this week is defining persuasion. I chose to define persuasion because it is something that will be important to me in the upcoming weeks as I begin to prepare for my persuasive speech at the end of the month. Our book defines persuasion as “relying on language, images, and other means of communication to influence people’s beliefs, attitudes, values, or actions.” The book also talks about the fact that we are bombarded with persuasive messages every single day. Friends may convince us to help them with something, charities are trying to get you to donate to them, or the television is always trying to sell you new products. All of these messages are trying to influence you to behave in a certain way or believe something and act upon it in a specific manner. Also, we, as functioning members of society, must sometimes persuade people to make sure that our needs are met. Persuasion is an important thing to understand because I do not want my speech to sound too informative and not get the point across that action needs to be taken on the matter. 

Organizational Patterns

Monroe’s Motivated Sequence is one way to present a persuasive speech. Monroe’s Motivated Sequence takes your audience through a five step course that asks your audience to understand how important your topic is, have a good understanding of your topic, feel content that the solution you have provided is sufficient, visualize how this solution could go into effect, and have a sense of motivation to participate in solving whatever their problem is. This organizational pattern is designed to instill a sense of need in the audience, but then also to provide a solution for that need and show the audience how they can participate. The problem-solution organizational pattern simply presents a problem and then offers a resolution to that problem. This pattern is useful because you are able to give the audience a reasonable solution to an issue so that they will consider your request sensible. I really liked Monroe’s Motivated Sequence because I feel like it is very efficient in making sure that your audience is persuaded. The five different aspects of it makes sure that your audience really understands why they should be persuaded into whatever your topic is. 

Persuasion

We are all immersed in a sea of persuasion everywhere we go. In just normal everyday conversations people try to convince of us things every day, or try to tell us we should do things a certain way. The same thing goes for every single time you turn on your television. Just today I turned on my TV to see a commercial representing an anti-bullying campaign. As far as interpersonal persuasion goes, I think that each of us probably participates in this multiple times per day. Many conversations that we participate in with friends or family involve trying to convince another of something or to show them why a certain way of doing something is the correct way. The commercial was designed to persuade you to be aware of bullying and to prevent becoming a bully or a victim of bullying. I have not personally had to do a persuasive speech in a very long time, perhaps even since early high school, so this type of speech is a bit rusty for me. I can be a more critical consumer of persuasive messages by examining why this person is trying to persuade me to make a choice or behave a certain way. 

Topic from Week 11 Reading

The topic that I would like to discuss today from this week’s reading is regarding a couple of aspects spoken versus written language. I chose this topic to talk about because it is an important thing to remember that extemporaneous language should be used when speaking because having your speech memorized can sound boring and difficult to follow along with. According to our book, spoken language is dynamic because it occurs in the moment and cannot be recaptured. This is why repetition and redundancy are critical in a speech because the audience needs to be reminded of what you are trying to get across. Because readers can reread passages this means they do not need to repeat things so often. This makes the written language static. Spoken language is also considered immediate, whereas written language is considered distant. Spoken language is in the moment and can get instant feedback. Public speaking also incorporates all of the senses, unlike reading. The speaker also is able to refer to the actual setting that the event is taking place at. 

Speech Buddy Videos Chp 10 and 12

In video 10.1, the speaker is focusing on how to make your speech audience-centered, such as by referring to the current event that you are talking about, using pronouns like “we, us, and you”, and use inclusive language so as not to exclude anyone. Audience-centered language is important to allow your audience to connect and bond with you, and also so you do not leave anyone out or offend. It’s something that can be difficult for me to remember because I’m so used to just having conversations with friends so this isn’t such an issue. Video 10.2 was about effectively using language in your speech. You should choose words that are clear and meaningful to your audience, using repetition to aid in understanding, and choosing words that do not offend anyone in your audience. This was helpful because I have gotten stuck before on choosing words that do not sound sexist or unfeeling. Video 12.1 discusses good and bad vocal delivery. The five main things you need to be aware of are volume, pitch, rate, variety, and articulation and pronunciation. The video showed us that volume is the most important thing to focus on when giving a speech. Video 12.2 was all about physical delivery. The five main parts of physical delivery are eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, body movement, and appearance. This was helpful to me because gestures are something that I tend to forget when giving speeches. I usually am so worried about getting my speech out that I forget to move at all. Video 12.3 centered on practicing your speech. They gave helpful tips on how they practice their speeches, such as using an outline. One tip I think would be helpful would be to practice my speech in sections rather than running through it as a whole. Overall, there was a lot of helpful review in these videos, but some newer information as well. Some things that will be helpful in my speech will be to remember to connect with the audience by using pronouns, using repetition as part of using language effectively, and remembering to pay attention to my volume so the audience isn't distracted by the fact that they have to strain to hear me. 

Nonsexist Language & Flickr

After reading the comments regarding sexist language on Flickr, I then compared them to what our book says about sexist language. Surprisingly, their opinions seemed to be almost opposite. On Flickr, most of the people that commented did not seem to mind using sexist language and were not bothered by other people using it either. Some women commented that they did not mind being  called “girl” when males were normally referred to as “men”. One woman even went so far as to say she did not mind being called “chick” or “broad” or “honey”. The book says that we should always try to use nonsexist language. You should try to not use terms as stewardess and instead refer to them as flight attendants, for example. Also, it is important to not always list certain terms in the same order every time. For instance, you may normally say “men and women”. Our book says to switch terms like these up because it usually sounds to the audience like the first term listed is most important. I was quite surprised by how people felt about sexist language on Flickr. I thought that more women would want nonsexist language to be more prevalently used.

Self-Evaluation #2

After performing this informative speech, I feel like I am finally becoming more used to the whole idea of public speaking. I think that I achieved the purpose of my speech very well. I was aiming to inform the audience about a specific disease and I think I was able to get my points across well. I am definitely gaining confidence the more speeches that we perform, so this speech was the one I felt the most comfortable and confident with. This was the first one so far that I have not been so nervous for. If I had to do the whole speech over again, I would gather myself more during my speech. At a few different places I started to stumble over my words and I felt like I could not get myself together for a few seconds. I would also put my powerpoint presentation together a little better. It could have been more neat and I could have put more work and detail into it. My goal for improving the content of my next speech will be to find a more diverse set of resources. Many of my resources had a lot of the same information repeated. My goal for improving my delivery for the next speech would be to slow down and just pause when I start to stumble over my words. Something I did differently from my last speech was to practice more times, which made me feel much more comfortable. From what I can remember, I do not think that I did anything distracting. I made sure to pull my hair back before my speech because last time I kept pushing it back out of my face, which was probably very distracting. I think this was definitely a big improvement from my last speech. I would rate my eye contact an 8/10. I made sure to practice my speech enough times that I did not need my note cards as much as I normally do. Based on my performance, I would give myself an A because I felt that I met all of the requirements and I was able to exceed some of them. I spoke fairly extemporaneously and I also orally cited all of my resources throughout my speech. I mentioned six citations during my speech, which was definitely an improvement because in my last speech I forgot some and ended up only mentioning about half. I believe that this speech was better than my last speech because I was able to use my visual aid (my powerpoint) along with my speech very well and I think this really improved the quality. Even though I was prepared for my last speech, I think that I was much even more prepared for this one. This may have been because I was a lot more interested in my topic for this one. It is easier to remember what you were going to say next when you are not bored by your topic. Overall, I was very happy with the turnout of my speech and I was satisfied with the grade I received. 

Digital Slides

The topic I would like to discuss from the reading this week is the “do’s and don’ts of digital slides”. I chose this topic because it directly relates to the speech we will be giving next week. According to our book, when you use digital slides well audiences pay better attention to the speaker, understand all of your main points better, and hold onto the information you give them better. The first thing you need to do is consider how you are going to support the oral information you will be giving with slides. You should not focus too much on your slides and ignore the oral part of your presentation. Next, you need to not over-do your digital slides. You should not have too many because it can be overwhelming to the audience. Last, you must remember to “balance creativity with clarity and predictability with spontaneity”. It’s a fine line between each of these that you have to be careful with. You want your slides to be attractive, but you don’t want that to take away from the information you are trying to present. Too much can be distracting.

Public Speaking Event

A couple of years ago I attended a public speaking event at Sac State given by the head of the nursing department. I recall this particular event so well because I thought she did such a good job on it. The purpose of her speech was to be informative and I thought she did a great job of giving us all of the information that was so important to us while doing it in a way that was not overwhelming. Part of what made her so great at what she was doing was her use of presentation media. The way she presented her visual images was very effective because she knew how to not put too much information on her slides. Just the most important points were in bullets and each bullet was not too wordy. It added to the speech because there was a lot of information and it was easy to forget, so she showed you the most important points. I don’t think that there was any way that her powerpoint detracted from the speech. The only way she could have improved would have been to put the statistics that she used on the slides in a visual way so that we could more easily understand them, such as in a bar graph. 

Ethical responsibilities for audio and visual files

I think that as a speaker you have an ethical responsibility to provide your listeners with accurate, unaltered information. It is unfair to your audience to show them photographs, videos, songs, or taped conversations that have been changed for your own purposes. As a speaker, the audience has no choice at that time but to take you at your word, therefore giving them false information is extremely irresponsible. Your ethical responsibilities include not using visual or audio files that have been physically changed, but you should also make sure that you are not showing extremely biased pictures. It is important to use visual and audio files that come from a credible source because otherwise the pictures may have been inaccurate even if you were not the one that physically changed. There may be certain circumstances that altering files is necessary. For instance, if the original images or songs were yours and there is a specific purpose for changing them, but you should tell your audience of any changes.

Week 8 Topic from reading

A topic that I would like to talk about from the reading this week is in Chapter 13. The three qualities that an informative speech should have are particularly important to me, and all of my fellow students, because of our upcoming speech. The three qualities are that an informative speech be personally meaningful, it should be accurate, and the information should be clear. To make your speech meaningful, you need to relate your topic to your audience. The topic you choose needs to be relevant to the people you are speaking to. You can make it meaningful by including a narrative in your speech. Making sure your information is accurate is another important quality. In an informative speech, accuracy is key. There is such a huge amount of information these days that if your information is not accurate, you will lose all credibility. Last, you need to make sure your speech is clear. It should not be difficult to understand what the speaker is trying to get across to you. I often think that information that I’m explaining is very clear, but sometimes I don’t realize that people aren’t quite getting what I’m saying, so it’s important to try it out before you get up and make your speech on someone at home who can tell you if it makes sense or not. 

Intro & Conclusion

According to our book, there are four main components that go into an introduction. These are an attention getter, a clear statement of your purpose and thesis, information that establishes your credibility, and finally a preview of the main points. I will use an attention getter at the beginning of my speech by giving a surprising statistic about MRSA. You will also want to state the purpose of your speech clearly, as well as your thesis. Your purpose should not be so succinct as “My purpose is to…”, it should be subtle. The thesis should be done in the same. Next, you will want to establish your credibility. For example, you could talk about how your job at a store makes you knowledgeable about customer service practices. Then, you will want to preview your main points so that the audience can easily follow along with your speech. An example of how my introduction could possibly is: Did you know that just a few short weeks ago dozens of babies contracted MRSA in a local hospital in Sacramento? (attention getter) After working in a nursing home, I have seen just how dangerous MRSA can be. (establish credibility) Here, I would put my purpose, but I haven’t decided what it is yet. MRSA is a dangerous disease caused by a bacteria that infects many people of many ages and backgrounds. (thesis) Today, I will talk to your about the dangers of MRSA, where it occurs, and steps being taken to prevent the spread of this disease.

In the conclusion, you will review your main points, reinforce your purpose again, and finally provide closure. In my conclusion it could go something like this: In summary, today you’ve learned the dangers of MRSA, where it occurs, and preventions being made to contain it. (review main points) Here, I will reinforce my purpose by leaving a memorable message about my topic. I may end it with another interesting fact about my topic, or I might use my powerpoint to give closure to my speech.

Chp 9 & 13 Speech Buddy Videos

Up until now, I have been stuck on where to begin my speech, but seeing other people making those speeches gave me some ideas and the push that I needed to start writing out my outline. Sometimes, writing the introduction can be the hardest part, so video 9.1 was good review. What I got from the video, which was more review than new information, was that the most important aspects of the introduction were to make sure you have established the purpose of your speech to the audience, written a strong thesis, go over the main points, and then also to grab the audience’s attention with something interesting, funny, or witty. In video 9.2, the video went over how a conclusion should be executed. The main elements of a conclusion are a review of the main points, reinforcement of the purpose you said in your intro, and then giving the audience closure on your topic.

13.1A video was a speech designed to inform the audience about techno music. I thought the speaker did well overall. He had good eye contact and he had visual aids, which really helped the audience understand his topic better. In 13.1B Janine had an interesting speech on the Kodak camera. She made very good use of her visual aids. I also thought it was interesting how she took a picture of the audience, which served as a nice attention getter I thought. I’m not sure that I heard her thesis in her introduction, which it is important to not skip that. In the 13.1 USE IT video, Katherine gave a speech about “kosher”. The one thing I noticed about Katherine was that she looked at her note cards a little too often, but she made up for that in other ways, like by sounding credible in her speech and having a good introduction.

Overall, these speeches were not really any new material, but they did serve as good reminders for what we need to be working on right now for our upcoming speeches. 

Self-Evaluation

It is important to self-evaluate yourself after doing a speech because you can think about how you did critically and decide what you did wrong, what you could improve on, and what your strengths were. I think that I was successful in achieving the purpose of my speech. I had sufficient background information on my topic and was able to demonstrate my topic clearly. I was fairly confident during my speech. I did stutter once or twice when trying to get out a long sentence, though. In my next speech, I will improve by remembering not to use fillers. In my last two speeches, I used a few umm’s and uh’s between sentences and when I lost my train of thought. If I were to do the whole speech over again, I would have practiced my conclusion more. At the end I was not as confident because I had focused a lot more on the beginning and middle of my speech. In delivery, I would improve a little by slowing down a bit. I thought that my organization worked just fine though because it felt like each point followed the last logically and flowed into one another. My one goal for improving the content of my speech would be to choose a topic that was of more interest to me. I found it hard to say anything interesting about the subject when I did not find it interesting or entertaining at all. As I said before I could improve my delivery by slowing down, but I could also make sure that I remember to speak clearly. When I first thought back on my video, the first thing that I thought about was that my delivery was not bad, but that it could have been more conversational. The most distracting thing that I did during my speech was to touch my hair quite a few times. I will definitely remember to pull my hair back next time because it kept falling in my face, so I would move it away out of habit, without even noticing. I would rate my eye contact as an 8.5/10. I thought that through the beginning and middle I had good eye contact, but I remember that towards the end, where I did not know my speech as well, I was forced to look down to check my note cards. I only cited my sources twice, which was obviously not enough. I think it was because I would remember the statement that I was trying to make, but I would have trouble remembering which citation went with which one, so I did not say them aloud. The other reason was that it felt a little strange saying your citation aloud, so I kind of just passed over them. Based on my memory of how I did, I would give myself an A because I think that I was able to meet each of the requirements well. I did not miss any of the points that we were supposed to make and was able to go above and beyond on some of them. Specifically, I followed the outline well, which made my speech flow well from intro to each main point and then concluded in a logical manner. I also think that I had practiced adequately for my speech and was able to deliver it without reading directly from my  note cards, and I did manage to make it sound fairly conversational. 

Discussion on Testimony

The concept from the reading that I would like to discuss today is the use of testimony as a type of supporting material. I chose this because it was one that I was unfamiliar with on its definition and usage. The definition of testimony is that they “rely on an individual's opinions or experiences related to a particular topic.” Expert testimony is when you rely on the stories and opinions of someone that is considered an “expert” on a particular subject. This would typically make your speech more credible. The second type is celebrity testimony. This is when  you use testimony from someone that is well-known and famous and because of that person’s status they are considered to be knowledgeable and trustworthy on whatever the particular subject  is. Lay testimony is when you use normal people who are next experts or celebrities, but they may have close experience with the topic. An example of this might be to interview teachers when discussing state budget cuts. They’re not experts, but they could be considered to have a relevant opinion about it. 

Facts & Statistics

Including facts and statistics in your speech can cause you to increase your credibility. It can also help your audience to come to an agreement with your on how important your topic is. Using facts and statistics can be the most effective in a speech when you are trying to make a logical appeal. They can help you to prove your point by showing support for your topic with concrete information that is hopefully verifiable and credible. Facts and statistics have been very helpful to me when making persuasive speeches. Facts and statistics might not be as effective if you are making an emotional appeal. Facts and statistics can be interpreted differently by different people who each have their own knowledge base, opinions, and backgrounds. In this case facts and statistics could hurt your topic if you are not extremely clear on how you mean them to be interpreted, but even then there is a chance that the right message will not be received. 

Speech Buddy Videos (7.1)

The information I found that will be most helpful in my speech was in video 7.1. Knowing about supporting material can be helpful in my demonstration speech particularly when I talk about the history behind my demonstration, but it will also be good to know when to include stories when I talk about how my project affected me personally. The first thing that I learned was that narratives can be useful, but that they only show one perspective, and if they are too long they can be distracting and take away from your speech. Examples can be helpful to clarify something that is confusing, but they are not usually “generalizable”, meaning that may not accurately represent your topic. Definitions are pretty self-explanatory, but they can be boring if you just continually define everything in your speech.  I will definitely be sure to choose my supporting materials carefully, and now I have a greater understanding of the pros and cons of each type of material that I can use. 

Topic from Chp 5

The topic from the reading that I would like to discuss today is about adapting to a diverse audience. I think this is one of the most important topics to talk about because in today’s society we are constantly being sold to or convinced of something. More and more often, people have to convince large groups of people to follow them or buy what they are selling or do something a certain way. People like politicians and advertising companies have to find a way to speak to us as their audience in a way that connects with each of us, who are all very different and unique. This just shows how important finding your “target audience” is. It must be very difficult to find a way to connect with so many people who have varying opinions and backgrounds. In our public speaking class, we have quite a few things in common, so find your target audience is not really an issue, but out in the real world it makes all the difference. Your information must be adjusted to interest and appeal to a diverse group of people in order for you to be heard at all when speaking in public.

Audience Analysis & Adaptation

It is very important to always analyze your audience and adapt to it based on what you know about the people you will be speaking to. One thing that I found helpful is to identify commonalities between yourself and the audience. Not only will this help them to relate to you and your topic better, but it can also help you in feeling more comfortable. It is also important when analyzing your audience to show how credible you are when discussing the subject. Regardless of the diversity of your audience, if you sound knowledgeable on your topic, they will probably be more likely to listen to what you are saying. When adapting to your audience, you have to consider their different backgrounds, beliefs, and/or values. You must be more sensitive to things that may cause a reaction in your audience. I plan on using audience analysis in my speech by remembering to consider the cultural identities of the students in our class, and be sure to include everyone when I speak. Also, I will remember to identify the commonalities we all share, which I’m sure there are many. 

Chp 5 Speech Buddy Videos

In the light pollution speech by Courtney, I thought the introduction could use some improvement, but she had a good opening statement about how we probably have heard about water pollutants, but most of us would not know much about light pollution. It caught my interest. She made good use of her hands during the brief clip that we watched of her speech. I noticed that as she stated her thesis, she used her fingers to count off the three main points that she would be talking about. This is something that I could learn from. Using your body during your speech to accentuate what you’re saying is important. She also seemed to be knowledgeable about her topic from what I could tell from the short clip. In the drinking video from chapter 5, I noticed that Matthew seemed a little nervous. He didn’t seem to have memorized his speech very well. He spent a lot of time looking down at his cards and pausing. I thought his opening statement was pretty funny though. At first, I wasn’t sure if he was hacking like that for real or not. I liked his use of the projector to highlight some statistics that were important to his topic. Being able to read the statistics yourself made them a little bit easier to understand than if you were just listening to the speaker read them for you. Something I could learn from in Matthew’s speech is that almost seemed to use too many statistics, which can be boring.

Chp 6 Concept: Library Resources

Exploring library resources is a valuable tool to have when researching a speech topic. Not only can you physically go to the library and check out what they have in person, but now you can also utilize the library’s online resources. Books are often forgotten in this day and age due to the simplicity and instant access to the internet. According to our text, books are credible because they have already undergone a thorough editorial process and even sometimes peer reviews. This can be crucial to sounding knowledgeable about a speech topic, because you can rest easy knowing that other people have deemed this information suitable enough to be put into print. Because magazines and papers are published on such a regular, frequent basis, they can be great tools for getting up-to-date information, such as recent statistics. The reading this week has really reminded me just how helpful libraries can be in researching a topic. I will have to remember to head to the library instead of always just immediately going to the internet for information. 

Chp 6 Videos

Video 6.1 Managing the Research Process, although short, had some valuable information. I will work harder to determine the validity of my resources. This is something that I have done only half-heartedly in the past, but I see that it is extremely important if you want to sound like a knowledgeable speaker. I do think that finding credible speeches can be difficult because, not being an expert on the subject, I may mistakenly think someone has the credentials to speak on whatever it is that I’m researching. Also, watching the video reminded me what a great resource the library really is. I think we have started to forget how valuable books can be for research because internet is so instant and easy. I also see what a valuable tool the librarian could be in assisting me in the right direction.

One of the most helpful tools for preparing for speeches is watching other people do them. Shaura’s speech was especially helpful because of her use of visual aids. Visual aids are something that I underrate. I forget about how essential visual aids can be in getting your point across. Dory’s impromptu speech was interesting because of her use of a family story to make her point and show how important family is. The story interested you enough to keep listening so that she would be able to hold your attention to make her point.

Conducting Research Interviews

When I first thought about it, I didn’t think I had ever conducted any kind of interview. But once I thought about it for a while I remembered that as a freshman in high school I had to interview someone in a career I was interested in. I still remember it pretty well, though, because I was so nervous that it took me hours before I could get the courage to call the radio DJ I had decided to talk to. The whole thing went well, mostly because he could tell I didn’t know what I was doing, and he was great at interviewing, so he helped me out a lot. The part that needed the most improvement was my questions that I had set up for the interview. I realized afterwards that I had asked some of the wrong questions, so I didn’t get all the information that I wanted. In chapter 6 of our book it tells us that the interview guide will serve as a “road map” for getting the right information. At the time I didn’t realize there were so many questions that you could develop, such as primary versus secondary or open versus closed. Any advice I have for my fellow classmates would have to be that you need to really research types of questions you need to ask in order to receive the information you need. You have to direct the way the interview is going to go.

Concept from Chp 2

Almost everyone is probably familiar with that feeling of butterflies in your stomach before you get up in front of your class and attempt to make a speech that interests the entire group of people while also managing to be informative.  Anxiety over a speech is extremely hard to overcome, but if you have a few relaxation techniques you can perform, a speech is much more likely to come across as well-organized and the speaker will feel their confidence come across to the classroom. In our textbook, the author gave quite a few techniques that help with making you feel relaxed before and during a speech. There are three types of breathing listed that can slow down your heart rate, help you breathe better, and loosen your muscles. Diaphragmatic breathing is where you sit down with your feet flat and hands on your rib cage and take a deep yawn. I think this technique probably helps a lot before the big speech because it reminds you to slow down. Meditation breathing is where you clear your mind and focus on each part of the breathing process. I will have to remember to use this one in the last few moments before the speech. The last exercise is tension-release breathing. You must breathe slowly while focusing on where you feel most tense. My nerves tend to make me tense all over, which can make public speaking extremely uncomfortable, so this exercise could be extremely helpful. 

What I Learned From Chp 2 Videos

After watching video 2.1, I learned that there really are a lot of ways that you can cope with your nervousness during a speech before AND during the speech itself. Visualization could be extremely helpful because sometimes nervousness starts when you walk into the classroom and realize that this is nothing like how you practiced at home. I learned that diaphragmatic breathing could be key, especially in circumstances where you need to slow yourself down because you started rambling or are talking too fast. Relabeling sounds like a great idea because you can change negative feelings about speaking into positive things that can improve your attitude towards the task. In 2.2, I learned that you should visualize the speech going well. This was something that I had never thought of. I usually am only concerned with getting through it one notecard at a time, but this bit of advice makes perfect sense. Everyone has heard about the effects of positive thinking! In the “Intro: Jessica” the most important thing that I learned was the value of hand gestures. Throughout the video I was interested in watching her because she moved her hands and demonstrated what she was talking about. That’s extremely important in a speech to get the viewers to pay attention and to add value to what you’re saying. 

Public Speaking Apprehension

What makes me apprehensive about public speaking is being able to sound conversational and comfortable during a speech. When I get nervous I tend to begin to sound like a robot, which probably is boring for my audience. According to our textbook, “habituation” can really help a speaker to feel more comfortable. The repetition helps to ease anxiety. I will have to remember this as we progress in the class. Another issue that could be caused from not being confident during a speech is that I will not be able to pay attention to feedback from the class. It will be important for me to be able to calm my nerves enough to stay alert to my audience so that I can tell if I’m not explaining something correctly or people are confused.  I have always enjoyed and responded the most to speakers that sounded just like they were talking one-on-one or to a small group. I think this is because when a person is relaxed, you are focusing on their content and delivery in a positive way. Hopefully I'll be able to overcome these apprehensions throughout the semester.

Introduction

Hi everyone! My name is Elizabeth. I'm 22 years old. I am a pre-nursing student and I'm just trying to get my last few classes done before I can transfer. I'm very excited to get into a nursing program and take the last step to getting into my career. I have had a little public speaking experience just through school. From about the 4th grade on we began doing basic speeches in class. I usually do pretty average on speeches, but I've never been one to be very excited for them. I'm usually nervous beforehand, but I look at it as a necessary thing sometimes. My goal in this class is to gain confidence and eloquence while making speeches, but also in normal conversation. The public speaking fear I would like to conquer is to be able to get in front of people and be able to talk comfortably and conversationally instead of rushing through it out of nervousness. I hope everyone has a good time in the course and is able to overcome whatever public speaking fears they might have also.