Concept that was Helpful

The concept I thought was most helpful in preparing for my speech was how to manage my voice during my speech. When I’m nervous I speak very fast, which I did in my first speech presentation. After reading the helpful concept, I did a lot better with the second and third speech. There were four points for managing your voice which were speaking loudly enough, varying your rate, pitch, and volume, avoiding vocalized pauses, and articulating your words clearly and pronounce them correctly. A speaker has to remember to have their audience able to hear them so they don’t have to strain themselves. Having different levels in your voice makes you stand out and keeps the audience interested too. Monotone is no good for a speech, along with vocalized pauses.

Future Endeavors

There are numerous things I can take from this class that will be helpful for me in future endeavors. Since I am a business major, I really need to make my speech skills better. I learned many things as projection of voice, voice variety, eye contact, technology use, and much more. The most important thing I learned was relaxation techniques, which I need to, use more often since I get so nervous when presenting a speech. I can also use the different speech outlines if I ever have a speech to present during a business presentation. That really comes into help and very organizational.

Favorite Speech and Why

The speech that was my favorite was the last one which was about vegetarianism. I first started off telling my audience about what’s behind the meat industry so they know what’s happening to the meat their eating. I told them the health effects and environmental effects that come with eating meat as well. After, I went off into the advantages of being vegetarian or even vegan along with getting politically involved. Since I am a vegetarian and made this commitment to help stop animal cruelty, I would like to have everyone know the truth of the meat industry. I won’t push people to change their eating habits, but as long as they gained information they can make their decision from there. Also, I found this speech to be the most interesting out of all the speeches which adds to why it’s my favorite.

Self-Evaluation #3

The last and final speech for the semester! I found this speech to be actually the most difficult since the time span was longer and a different organizational pattern. I believe I did pretty well achieving the purpose of my speech, which was by letting my audience know the horrid truth behind the meat industry. I notice people’s faces were shocked, probably from the images provided from the PowerPoint. I felt somewhat comfortable and confident when I was giving my speech because I already knew about my topic from being a vegetarian for three years. Problem was I did let my nerves get to me, worst out of all the speeches, because I noticed there was more people this time to watch what I had to say. So I did look to my note cards a lot, but did my best to give eye contact. If I only wasn’t so intimidated I would have done so much better!

If I had to do it over again, there are many changes I would make in preparation, support, organization, and delivery. For preparation, I would have worked on memorizing more of my speech, especially the main points. For support, I probably could have used more resources to better convince my audience what’s going on behind the meat industry. For organization, I don’t thing there were much changes needed. For delivery, definitely better eye contact with the audience and more energy in my speech. What was specifically different from my last speech that was good was in the last speech, I didn’t feel as nervous and for bad I got the nerves really get to me. I messed up plenty of times by jumbling my words or mispronouncing something.

I think the most distracting thing I could have done was apologize or do hand gestures when I made a mistake when presenting my speech. If I had to rate my eye contact on scale from 1-10, I would give myself a 6. I believe I looked to my note cards this time out of all the speeches, which is a big no-no! On a scale from A to F, the grade I would give myself based on my performance would be a B- because of the verbal mistakes and lack of eye contact. No, I don’t believe this speech was better than my last speech. Due to the same reasons, verbal mistakes and lack of eye contact, as well as letting my nerves get the best of me. The amount of source citations I mentioned during the course of my speech was four, two being books, one being internet, and one being a magazine.

Based on my review of ALL three speeches, the one I think I performed the best was the second speech. I think I performed the best with this one because since it was a make-up, there weren’t that many people there. I didn’t feel like all these eyes were just staring at me and felt calmer. I only wish I had a better memory of my speech in my head and I would of definitely have chosen my last speech to be the best one.

Chapter 15 Concept

One concept from the assigned reading that I found useful/interesting was using reasoning effectively. There are four types of reasoning such as deductive, inductive, causal, and analogical. Deductive reasoning is from general principle to specific case. The strength is that it relies on established formal logic, but the weakness is invalid premises leading to false conclusions. Inductive reasoning is from specific examples to general principle. The strength is that you visualize and personalize the argument, but the weakness is the lack of representation, sufficiency, and relevance. Causal reasoning is one event causes another. The strength is it’s useful for explanation and prediction, but the weakness is the incorrect cause-effect link. Lastly, there’s analogical reasoning which draws similarities between two distinct cases. The strength is that it links the unfamiliar with the familiar, but the weakness is the key differences are ignored.

Persaude Others to Accept My Point

A recent discussion I had in which I tried to persuade others to accept my point of view was vegetarianism. Since I am a vegetarian, it’s ALWAYS brought up that I should eat meat, or I convince others not to eat the animals. The most recent discussion was for lent where my roommate had to decide what to give up. I convinced her to give up meat by telling her the ugly truth behind the cruel meat industry and the healthy aspects of living without meat. She decided to give it a try, and ever since lint has been over, she has still not eaten meat! So I believed my reasoning worked really well =]! GO VEGETARIAN PEOPLE!!

Speech Buddies Videos

In the video “Schooling: Pro” shows Dixie giving a speech about the pros of home schooling. The types of appeals used were the attention getter and clearly stating the main points. She also uses the three elements of claims, evidence, and reasoning. She speaks at a steady pace and clearly for the audience to hear in order to connect with them. In the video “Schooling: Con” shows Robert doing the con side of home schooling. Robert uses evidence to justify his position on the topic and every speaker needs to strong supporting material in order to be helpful in their presentation.

Sea of Persuasion

How we are immersed in the sea of persuasion is through media and the people around us. Many of the speeches we listen to are persuasive and a majority of us have received this in high school from guest speakers. They persuade us to get more involved with the topic they’re presenting. Since guest speakers are doing public speeches, most I’ve encountered were the persuasion of enrolling in programs such as Heald or FIDM. Another persuasive speech many young teens have heard is saying no to drugs. Mass media context is the one persuasion no one can avoid. You’re surrounded by it on a daily basis through viewing television, magazines, internet, and more. It can persuade you to buy things to losing weight to a social status. What you can do to become a more critical consumer of persuasive messages is figuring out what’s most important to you and what you need in life.

Next Speech

The main points for the next speech are: behind the meat industry, the healthy living of a vegetarian, and what if we continued to consume and mistreat animals in the future. How I plan on beginning my speech is by either asking a question that makes the audience think or making some comments that relates to the audience. How I’m going to persuade my audience towards my point of view is giving them the real and cruel truth behind the meat they eat. Another way to persuade is by also telling the audience the many advantages of being a vegetarian or even a vegan.

Chapter 14 Concept

One concept from the assigned reading that I found useful/interesting was persuading different types of audiences. The different types of audiences include negative, positive, divided, uninformed, and apathetic. A negative audience, also known as hostile audience, is the type of audience that holds an unfavorable view of the speaker’s position. The way to persuade this type of audience is to establish credibility, take a common-ground approach, visualize topic in positive ways and anticipate and address objections. A positive audience holds a favorable view and strategies include incorporating narratives, relying on engaged evidence to reinforce commitment, using vivid language and images, and suggesting action. A divided audience is half being favorable and the other half being unfavorable. To persuade these audience use the strategies that’d be used towards negative and positive audiences. An uninformed audience has no opinion, but you can persuade this audience by motivating them to learn more about the topic and using repetition and redundancy. An apathetic audience is having no interest in the topic but the speaker has to gain the attention and interest and take a one-sided approach.

Speech Buddies Videos

In the videos, there were many helpful things to use towards my speech. Anthony talked about engaging your audience with language. You have to use audience centered language so they feel you're speaking to them and connecting. He gives examples of pronouns you can use so the audience feels as if they're part of your speech. Humor can help bond and catch your audience's attention, but remember to use it in a way that won't offend or bore them. Erin discusses how to effectly use language in your speech. She gives a list of guidelines that can also be founded in the book. The next video, Janine and Anthony show effective and ineffective vocal delivery. I like that Janine tells you that your voice is a key component. You have to pay attention to your volume, pitch, rate, variety, articulation, and pronounciation. David gives his speech very well with the usage of variation of voice volume and catching the audience's attention. Lisa projects your voice with the perfect volume to be heard. With the last video, it helps to see each speech buddy demonstrate how they practice their own speech as well as give tips.

Flickr

In the text, it is just brought up how a certain gender can look at a phrase differently from the opposite sex. Men tend to think that women self-doubt themselves when they use specific words in a sentence. For instance in the sentence, "Our team effort likely led to our success." Men would think the word "likely" indicates the self-doubt. Many misundestandings can be made when it comes to language. In the discussion on the popular website Flickr, people are discussing the 'sexist language' that may be used when labeling pictures, and labeling people in general as well. I think it really just all depends on the person, and how hey comprehend it.

Chapter 12 Concept

One concept I found useful was how to manage your voice during your speech. There were four points under this section: speaking loudly enough, vary your rate, pitch, and volume, avoid vocalized pauses, and articulate your words clearly and pronounce them correctly. It's a given that once you start your speech you must speak so that your audience can hear you. You don't want to have your audience straining to hear you or be overwhelmed with such loudness. One way you can practice having volume is having a friend sit in the farthest corner and project your voice until they can hear you. Its good to have differences within your level of voice because it stands out. Having a fast rate and higher pitch comes across as excited and lots of energy while softer and slower is a solemn tone. Never speak in monotone because it'll bore the audience plus shows you have no interest in the speech you're delivering. Don't use or avoid vocalized pauses (umm, ah, you know?) because it shows you are trying to think about what you'll say next. Last but not least, when pronouncing words use them correctly then having it in slang terms such as "gonna" when it's going. Keep the speech in proper English and always practice!

Self-evaluation

Second speech done; one more to go! I believe I did pretty well achieving the purpose of my speech was the impacts of media on society. Comparing to my first speech, I honestly didn’t feel as confident or comfortable during my speech. When I moved onto my next point, I kind of forgot to move onto the next PowerPoint slide so it would show up a little later after I have mentioned the point. If I had to do it over again, the changes I would make is to remind myself in my note cards when to move onto the next slide. For delivery I thought I wasn’t as strong as I was compared to the first speech. One thing I was proud of was that I didn’t speech as fast as I normally do when giving a speech. I went at a steady pace and was able to accomplish the time frame.
One goal I have for improving the content in my next speech is get more in depth information. I felt as if I didn’t give enough to the audience to really be drawn in and gain more knowledge on my topic. One goal I have for improving the delivery for my next speech is to maintain a strong, projected voice as well as keeping eye contact! I need to not rely on my note cards so it proves to the audience I know my information very well. For the last speech, I plan to go all out, meaning to not look to my note cards and show passion about my topic to keep the audience’s attention.
What was specifically different from my last speech was how fast I talked. For the first speech, when I get very nervous I speak very fast and luckily, met the time frame just by a few seconds. This time, I was able to keep myself relaxed and speak at a steady pace so that would be a good thing. What was bad was I relied on my note cards more than I did with the first speech. I don’t think I did anything distracting from what I remember, so it would have to be an improvement from my last speech. How I would rate my eye contact on a scale from 1-10 would be a 7. I think I looked at my note cards more than I did with making eye contact with the audience.
On a scale from A to F, the grade I would give myself based on my performance would probably be a C+ or B-. I didn’t do that great compared to the first speech. With less eye contact and strength in voice that’s why I think that’s the grade I would receive. The amount of sources I mentioned in the speech was four. I clearly stated the sources so hopefully the audience caught that. This speech was not better than the last speech; at least I didn’t think it was. I state this because of me relying on my note cards more and not having such a strong presence. I really need to work on that and will definitely have a better speech delivered!

Speech in Front of New Audience

I chose to present my speech to my mother, father, Kourtney, Brittany, and Sophia at my house. I basically invited my friends over for dinner and before we ate that’s when I presented my speech. The strengths they said I had were I projected my voice well enough to be heard and got their attention in the beginning. The weaknesses they told me I needed to work on were keeping their attention than fading throughout the speech. When I presented my speech first, to the class, nerves tend to hit me during the middle of the speech and begin to focus more onto my note cards plus making a couple mistakes. But, when I presented the speech in front of my parents and friends, I felt more comfortable and didn’t use my note cards as much. I wasn’t as nervous probably since they’re my best friends and my parents. I felt I improved more just not relying on my note cards as much and keeping a strong voice to keep their attention. If I had to do the speech again, what I would do differently is just keep on practicing. Practice makes perfect and that’s the number one thing I need to work on to deliver a strong speech. Feedback is the best to receive, because you’re obviously told what you need to work on. So hearing my parents and friends feedback it helped me find other ways to prepare for my next speech. The exercise is very useful and I also was told if I feel passionate about the topic, I will give a wonderful speech!

Chapter 11 Concept

One concept from Chapter 11 that I found useful or interesting was the tips for using presentation media. The key points stated were considering your room and the audience, practice with your media, and speak to your audience, not your media. For considering your room and the audience, you want to be sure the media is displayed at a height and distance that makes it easy visibility for the audience. Remember to avoid turning toward the screen where the images are displayed and face the audience. A speech can go more smoothly if you practice with your media. You are able to learn to integrate them smoothly and it’s helpful to have note cards to remind you when to use your media during the presentation. It helps to arrive early to make sure you have no technological difficulties and keeps you organized and prepared. Takes planning and practice. When you speak to your audience remember not to speak to your media. Focus is to remain on the audience and helps keep the audience’s attention.

Chapter 9 Concept

I feel that I have a weakness is starting off my introduction and ending my conclusion when it comes to a speech or even an essay. So I looked to Chapter 9 since it discusses useful concepts to help me in those areas. I have always known to start an introduction with an attention getter, but luckily the book gave examples of the kinds of attention getter you can use such as humor or asking a question. I read that an effective attention getter: focuses attention on the importance and relevance of the topic by showing how the topic relevance of the topic by showing how the topic relates to the audience”. There are many other ideas for it to be effective we should all read on. I also have to remember to use my creativity and presentation media. For my conclusion I just need to review my main points, reinforce my purpose and provide closure to the audience.

Components of Introduction and Conclusion

The components that go into an introduction are getting the audience’s attention, indicate purpose and thesis, establish credibility, and preview main points. For conclusion the components are reviewing the main points, reinforce purpose, and provide closure. How I will use these ideas in my Informative Speech is by to make sure I continuously gain my audience’s attention. The introduction I will have to use an attention getter to help create interest in the speech, such as “Have you ever thought about what ways the media impacts today’s society?”. I have to make sure I clearly state everything in my introduction so that the audience knows what to expect and listen for. In the conclusion I will recall everything I have spoken about in the speech.

Speech Buddies Videos

In the videos, they discussed many ideas that are helpful towards your speech. Having a good introduction goes a long way and to do this you have to grab the audience’s attention, establish the purpose and thesis, and preview the main points that will be covered. You can give a great attention getter by using humor or stating a fact. Speakers need to have a solid conclusion which is just as important as an introduction. You want to remind your audience the key ideas and re-enforce. What I noticed when Evan gave his speech was he stared at his speech cards for awhile more than he should but he does give good eye contact and speech projection. In Janine’s speech she was very confident with her speech and gives eye contact constantly. I think in Katherine’s speech she looked to her cards to much and needs to use it less.

Chapter 8 Concept

One concept from the reading I found useful/interesting was the complete-sentence outline in Chapter 8. Since we all had to do a complete-sentence outline for the first speech and future ones, I wondered why. It helps “provides a highly detailed description of your ideas and how they’re related to one another”. It really does help to see everything for your speech along with the supporting materials so you can state it, rather than just having bullet points. The book tells you how to format the complete-sentence outline by using symbols and indentations. If you look at Figure 8.3, you’ll see an example of how it’s formatted. You have to remember to include and label your introduction, transitions, and conclusion. Using this type of outline is very helpful and keeps your speech organized!

Finding Facts and Stats Effective and Not as Effective

You find facts and statistics most effective in a speech when you want to “promote agreement or provide foundation for the topic’s importance”. It can have your audience pay more attention and best used during persuasive situations. Facts and statistics are not as effective when it’s “overwhelming or difficult to comprehend or subject to manipulation”. In Chapter 7, it states “sometimes speakers overwhelm audience members with facts and statistics to such a degree that listeners simply tune out”. You don’t want to include so many and what you state can be misinterpreted or interpreted in many ways. You have to keep the audience in mind when selecting your facts or statistics. Also make sure that the facts and statistics are reliable.

Speech Buddies Videos

After watching the videos, I learned numerous things that could be helpful in preparing a speech. In 7.1, Erin talks about different types of supporting materials and even gives examples. The types she listed were narratives, definitions, testimony, facts and statistics. In 7.2, Evan gives examples of popular media to help support a speech such as newspapers, magazines, and internet. You have to find out how reliable these resources are and their credibility along with their relevance to the audience. In 8.1, Anthony tells you how about patterns of organization. These patterns of organizations are chronological (developing or occurring over time), spatial (physical relationship between objects), topical (breaks down a topic into elements), narrative (relative events), cause and effect (how a particular action produces a particular outcome), and problem-solution (identify problem and how to solve it). Each pattern is for different types of speeches and knowing what the patterns mean can help better prepare you for your speech. In 8.2, Erin tells you about different transitions you can use. The different transitions are: ordering, reinforcing, contrasting, chronology, causality, and summarizing. You can use words to transition one point to another and the examples given in the video are very helpful so you know how to use them.

Self Evaluation: Cultural Artifact

Sitting in my chair, waiting for my turn to go up, my anxiety rose every minute. Finally, my turn has come… Yes! I have finished my speech! No more anxiety, but it’s time to self-evaluate to better prepare myself for the next speech.
I believe I did pretty well to achieve the purpose of my speech. I clearly stated all my main points to the audience and presented all the information I expected to. I thought I was going to be comfortable once I stood in front of my class, but right when words began to flow out of my mouth I felt as if I was trembling in my voice. I felt as if everyone noticed. If I had to do the speech over again I would definitely make some changes. For preparation, I would practice WAY more so I don’t have to rely on my note cards. I thought I was well organized in my speech, but for delivery, I would practice in front of at least 3 people so I can boost my confidence when presenting in front of a larger audience.
I need to set higher goals for my next speech, so one goal I have for improving the content in the next speech is to be more in depth and to use information that I believe, to keep the audience’s attention. One goal I have for improving the delivery in my next speech is to have more eye contact. I did look around a lot (wandering eyes?), but not so much personal eye contact. I also need to make sure I don’t feel that I am trembling in my voice and speak slightly slower. The funny thing is that when I practiced my speech the timing was just a little over 4:30, but when I did my speech my time was 4:03!
After watching the video, I saw multiple things that were in need of improvement. The first thing I noticed about my delivery was I needed to let things come a little more natural, which a couple wrote on the cards. I don’t think I did anything distracting the video, since I didn’t do much hand gesture or awkward postures. I did present myself with energy in the beginning, but it seemed that energy left from the middle to end of the speech. From a scale of 1-10, I would have to rate my eye contact a 7.5. I think I started well in the beginning with eye contact, but after I began to look to my note cards. Mostly every comment of improvement I received was to work on eye contact and make it last longer. While watching the video, I listened for the number of source citations I mentioned. The number added up to seven.
On a scale from A to F, the grade I would give myself based on what I noticed from the video tape would be a B+. People commented about good things such as good attention getter, energy, projection of voice, and that I clearly identified the main points. I also presented a visual aid, but a few said I need more while others mentioned what I had been fine. Overall, I think I did pretty good for the first speech :).

Chapter 5 Concept

One concept I found most useful or interesting in Chapter 5 is Developing Credibility with Your Audience. In the book, it shows a diagram, Figure 5.2, that shows what surrounds the speakers credibility such as competence, trustworthiness, dynamism, and sociability.

For competence, when the speaker is talking about a particular topic, they obviously need qualifications for that topic. The audience never wants to be mislead or lied to, that's why trustworthiness is very important during a speech. The audience perceives the speaker to be honest with them along with being sensitive, ethical, and reliable. Dynamism percepts to the audience the speaker's activity level, which meaning appearing confident and fluent by how they speak and give their ideas. Sociability is another importance of credibility. The audience has to be able to connect with the speaker, so the speaker needs to be friendly and responsive. These four qualities to credibility well help any ones speech to start off strong and end strong.

Importance of Audience Analysis and Audience Adaptation

In Chapter 5, it discusses the importance of audience analysis and audience adaptation in the speech development process. The importance for audience analysis is that you obtain and evaluate the information of an audience in order to meet their interests. In order to do this you have to create a strategic plan in order to keep the audience’s undivided attention such as using summary statistics and direct quotes. The importance of audience adaptation is adapting to the setting which includes the location, occasion, and time. In the location you want to figure out the advantages and disadvantages of the place so you can better prepare yourself and have confidence. How I would plan on using audience analysis in my speech is to prepare myself for my audience’s response/feedback and use a strategy to respond to them.

Speech Buddy Videos

In the video, “Light Pollution” by Courtney, she states the main points very clearly that are needed for the speech. What Courtney did well was in the introduction of her speech she told her audience what she was going to talk about. In the video, “Drinking” by Matthew, he discusses about students drinking just to get drunk. His effort is to have his audience become responsible drinkers. He gave statistics of driving accidents because of alcohol. He provides the statistics through his speech and on an over head. What Matthew did well during his speech was, when he caught himself messing up he paused for just a moment then went back on track. He didn’t use any “umm” in his speech as well, which is always a plus. He projects his voice, speaks clearly, and goes at a steady pace for everyone to understand.

What I can learn from watching “Light Pollution” is to state the main points clearly to my audience so they’re aware of what my speech will be about. What I can learn from watching “Drinking” is to project my voice, be clear, and speak at a steady pace, just as Matthew did. Also, noticing he recovers from his mistakes by not using “umm” and rather by pausing for a slight moment, I could do just the same.

Chapter 6 Concept

There are PLENTY of helpful concepts that were presented in Chapter 6 that I found useful or interesting. Being a business major, in the near future I’ll probably have classes that require me to interview people in that industry. Noticing that Chapter 6 provides a concept on conducting research interviews, I thought I could soak up more ways of conducting a great interview. I have discussed in Week 4 Discussion 1 that I have little experience conducting research interviews, but I would love to improve my skills. The chapter listed six major steps:
1. Determine the interview’s purpose
2. Select interviewees
3. Develop questions
4. Organize the interview
5. Conduct the interview
6. Integrate the information
I agree that these are important steps take when having an interview. The chapter goes in more depth for each step which gives you a more precise idea on what to do!

Speech Buddy Videos

After watching the Speech Buddy Videos I found helpful information to use in the preparation process for my speeches in this course. What I found helpful was the tip to go to the library because you can find numerous types of sources that will benefit for your speech. Also the people who work at the library are there to help if you have difficulties finding something. The library provides different types of sources such as magazines, books, encyclopedias, newspapers, interviews, and much more. People should take advantage of these resources because it will strongly support their speech and give them confidence because they know so much about their topic. This semester I have been going to the library a lot lately because of the work load from school and found it very helpful when looking for information or just doing homework!

Experience with Conducting Research Interviews

I don’t really have that much experience with conducting research interviews. I only experienced this during my sophomore year in high school. We had to write a lengthy paper on a career we were interested and interview three people in the field. I chose Marketing for my paper and since my dad was in that business, I had connections to interview his friends. Some of the interviews I had to do were over e-mail due to their busy work schedule, but was glad they took the time to answer my questions. I felt comfortable during the interview because I have met them throughout the years I was growing up. What went well was that they were very resourceful and responsive. If I haven’t had met them before, what I would need to improve would be to be calm and outgoing to an interviewee who’s a complete stranger to me. Hope that's helpful!

Chapter 2 Concept

A concept I found interesting was visualization, relabeling, and relaxation from chapter 2. For visualization, it discussed the sequence of events thought out in a positive, step-by-step way. If I were to visualize my speech it would help reduce my speech anxiety and build confidence the same time. Discussion of relabeling was about replacing negative words with positives in order to become confident and fight off anxiety. I like the example it gave:

“When your voice quavers a bit and your hands shake, attribute those sensations to your body and mind gathering the energy they need to prepare for and present the speech. Say to yourself, ‘I’m really excited about giving this speech!’ rather than, ‘I’ so nervous about this speech.’” Pg. 39-40

That could probably work in most speech cases. Relaxation techniques are very helpful when it comes to giving a speech. I have learned about diaphragmatic breathing and meditation breathing from Stress Management, so I can definitely put it into use!

Speech Buddy Videos

After watching the 3 Interactive Videos, I took in the information to use all senses and to focus on what would go right than thinking about what could go wrong. I also learned strategies to cope with speech anxiety as well such as breathing techniques (diaphragmatic, meditation) and Janine directed on how to do them. In the other video, Janine and Anthony discussed their fears when it comes to public speaking and how to cope with them. Anthony’s biggest fear was the place he was speaking in and what I found helpful was the thought of visiting the place and visualizing the speech. What I found useful was his tip of knowing the introduction and conclusion of your speech very well. I found useful tip, from Janine, in preparation for my speech, was to know what the audience will evaluate and how the teacher will grade. Using these tips and applying it to my speech will help bring confidence and cope with speech anxiety.

Being Apprehensive with Public Speaking

When public speaking comes to mind, I feel pretty apprehensive towards the idea. I worry about making mistakes and not having the confidence to present in front of my audience. In past experiences, I have spoke very quickly in speeches and my speaking ability definitely needs to be worked on. Most presentations involve the use of PowerPoint. Last semester, in my Stress Management class we had to present a PowerPoint and it didn't work due to the version it was; the teacher's computer couldn't configure the data. Just as Chapter 2 reading brings up "uncertainty about technology" and that's exactly what had happen. With technology mishaps, I makes me very nervous because I feel all eyes are on me and people are waiting on me to give my presentation/speech which was basically technophobia.

When I know there is a speech to be presented in front of a class, I become uneasy while waiting for my turn and when approaching the front of the class. I feel as if my heart rate increases and my hands become very sweaty. Luckily, if I'm working on a topic I feel very strong about, I can be more at ease when giving a speech. My senior year, I had to write a term paper about a problem in the world that needs to be fixed. I chose the topic of the meat industry and had a very strong thesis. Being a vegetarian for many years and knowledgable about the cruel world of the meat industry, I felt confident with the subject. My teacher insisted we dressed formally, which I did by wearing a summer dress and curling my hair. It helped bring some confidence when I gave my speech. I got evaluation from my teacher, and she told me I needed to be stronger when I spoke, such as using different tones to keep my audience interested. I hope to conquer every public speaking fear I encounter!

Hey Girl, Hey!

Hey, I'm Kai. This is my first year attending SJSU and I'm really enjoying it. I do live on campus and sometimes head home for the weekends. I enjoy listening to any genre of music except country. I love to snowboard and did motocross for 5 years. I'm a vegetarian and have been for more than 2 years. I am majoring in Business Administration/Marketing and plan on minoring in Advertisement. I would like to become a model, but my parents insist my education comes first. I'm addicted to texting and made the record last month of 15,700 texts! I am a lifeguard/swim instructor and love my job. I love watching America's Next Top Model and Project Runway. I read Teen Vogue and have every single issue since the day it came out.

During high school, there were many presentations I had to do in front of the class. Though my class were my friends, I did get nervous. One class that helped me get use to speaking in front of an audience was French. I took French for 3 years and the silly thing is I felt more comfortable speaking French in front of people than speaking in my native tongue, English. My main goal is to be comfortable, not speed talk or lose focus. My speaking fear that I want to conquer are jumbling my words and to present myself to be confident and strong.

Oh one more thing, I'm the 7th letter of the alphabet! [=