An introduction to speaking!

Public Speaking, an Essential Tool

I was never much of a public speaker before this but have always felt confident in my ability to speak before an audience. The most experience I had was sharing my opinion on climate change on my trip overseas, and that was just to a small college class of 15. I'm having so much fun participating in our public speaking class! I am learning how to become a better speaker every day. I have learned the most from other people's tactics and mistakes. We have learned so much about the basics of public speaking, and it has only made me more eager for what the rest of this course has to offer. To see just how much nuance and technique there actually is in public speaking is very fascinating. I think public speaking is a very important skill for people in all lines of work. Especially for my major, business, which not only requires speaking to the public about your business but also investors.The sharing of knowledge is essential, and we all prefer a conversation that flows to one that does not! 

Speaking of sharing knowledge, the project that we have been working on recently in class is the public speaking presentations. Each member of our class has joined up in groups to present information about the basics of public speaking, using it as a way to practice said information live as they teach it to others. I thought the whole event was very informative, from learning how my classmates spoke to what information was in the unit. Angelina from group 1 spoke to us about audiences. She taught us that public speaking should feel like a friendly conversation, not a boring lecture. Emily and Brando from Group 1 helped us explore confidence, how to maintain it, and how to use skill to push aside negative thoughts. Things like keeping our materials organized, breathing and muscle techniques, and reinforcing those positive thoughts. Luciana and Daniela finished off group 1 by mentioning something I thought was particularly important: being relatable and easy for your audience to listen to.

Another group I thought presented some essential information was group 2. Valentina introduced us to the concept of outlines, structures we use to keep our speech organized. She spoke to us about building and creating outlines, what key information you look for when making outlines, and keeping your research focused. The idea is to inform and persuade your audience through facts. Gaitina made sure to remind us of plagiarism and to be wary of getting too caught up in our endeavors in persuasion. Jenice and Gabriela added to this point by giving us examples of things we can use for research, like narratives, testimonials, and statistics. Denotative and connotative meanings make abstract concepts easier for an audience to fully comprehend. We can also use things like metaphors (my favorite) and similes to keep our audience engaged and understanding. A huge part of group 2's presentation was Juan and his speech about structure. He made so many cool real-life references, and I thought it was a perfect example of presenting the information but also staying true and demonstrating that he understood that info by using it in real time to help him with his speech. Specifically, he made a point about “building a metaphysical bridge” with the purpose, outline, and topic of your speech. Then he went on to segue that by talking about inviting your audience to join you, to cross that metaphorical bridge. I loved that analogy, and I could tell Juan put a lot of effort into his points. I especially like how he touched on the specifics of speech structures, using terms like "body," "transition," "conclusion," and "introduction." I feel like the details of public speaking are a foreign concept to most of us, so when he relates it to the writing process, which is something we all learned at one point, it makes it easier to digest the information.

My experience with the presentations was a little different because of my relationship with the class as project manager. While not my first time in leadership by a long shot, it is my first time in leadership in a classroom setting. It is interesting to see the dynamics of how that plays out in practice. For example, and as you can already tell from what I chose to focus on writing about in my blog, I worked more closely with groups 1 and 2 than I did with groups 3 and 4. This led to me being more engaged and picking up more information from the first two groups than I did with the last two groups. Not intentionally, of course, but working with the two groups made me feel more a part of what those groups put out and more receptive to the information. I especially enjoyed working with group 1; there was a sense of camaraderie in the confusion of being an experimental lab rat in the sense that we were the first group to present. Group 1 also met for almost an hour and a half and rehearsed their presentation and got to know each other in a more interpersonal way. One thing that struck me in particular—and I'm sure it's a feeling college professors know all too well—was that everyone kept constantly asking me questions I had already answered! Even when I posted the information directly, there were still necessary moments of clarification.

All in all, I really enjoyed working on these presentations. As of writing this, Chastity and I still haven't presented our presentation on the summary of the groups, but I am looking forward to that. I think the information here is pretty essential, and to me, it's fun to learn about these things. Some of the most pivotal moments in society have come from powerful speeches and addresses. Contrary to what Professor Sherri said when we started class, I actually voluntarily chose public speaking as a class, not because it was a state requirement but because communication is so important and I wanted to get better at doing it in large groups! I can't wait to see what other topics are in store, and I am eager to get passionate!