Public speaking is a lot like being cut open and operated on by a room full of people. All of their hands poke, prod, and shift around inside you as you try to guide their hands towards your heart. The whole ordeal is extremely invasive and morbid, and I absolutely love it. Some people tend to stress over what the audience thinks of them, but not me. It took me a long time to realize it, but every audience wants nothing more than to have a good time and enjoy the show. No one out in the crowd is analyzing your delivery or nitpicking your word choice. Everyone wants to believe that you are a great speaker. First, though, you must believe that yourself. My middle school years were a sort of social hibernation for me. I literally cannot remember talking to anyone other than my friend Matt for all of seventh grade. Eighth and ninth grade were better, but high school was a completely new animal that was just a few months away. The last semester before high school, my mother forced me to take a public speaking class to make me more comfortable with talking, and here is where I learned to speak with something more than a just feeble drawl. I spoke with passion. Speaking to a group helped me to make the “conversation” less personal. For some reason, it was easier to relate to fifteen people than it was to relate to one or two. If I told a joke, people were more likely to laugh when I was standing in front of the class than if we were just exchanging small talk. Something about the situation loosed everyone up and allowed for a more accepting feel. I took my new understanding of crowd mentality and practiced with it. By the time I left that class, I was speaking like a social human being in front of the class and at the lunch table, get... ... middle of paper ... ...your latest joke than your previous stumbles. The event was a tremendous personal success. I threw myself into other events in accordance. I played Lynn Roper, an expert witness in drug safety and educational administration, in a mock trial competition. I entered a speech contest where I discussed the downside of texting on my generation’s social abilities. In addition, I find myself standing in front of a group and talking whenever the opportunity arises. No matter how bad I do, there is no shortage of people to tell me just how stunning I was or, at least, to tell me how brave I am for public speaking in the first place. Bravery is fine, but, to one day have a fangroup of your own, you need to be smart. Sometimes it is easier to calm the dragon than it is to slay it with a sword, just as it is to win an audience with ease of speech than with a “perfect” strategy.
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
It was a bone-chilling winter morning in Bavaria. My alarm clock rang, and I slapped it to snooze. Oh no, I was not getting up that day. I had just finished the worst school week of my life. If we zoom back to that time two years ago, I was a 14 year old foreign exchange student in southern Germany. Bullying from the kids in school had made my homesickness unbearable. But that’s not all. I eventually became so anxious throughout my exchange that I chewed all the skin around my nails, gained 15 pounds, and finally, had to book my flight back home January 1st.
I could have taken this change in my life as something terrible, tragic, and sad. Instead, I chose to make the most of it and accept it as a new challenge. I began to communicate with as many people as I could and I trained myself to become a more social person. I joined about every sport possible in middle school and made it a goal to become friends with everyone. By moving to Iowa, I evolved from a shy kid into a much more outgoing and adventurous adolescent.
Because I am a person who enjoys adventure, I try to incorporate new activities into my day-to-day life.This semester, I started learning how to play guitar. I had played a musical instrument in the past but did not put enough time or effort into mastering it. I decided to try a new instrument to make myself more well-rounded and add an activity to my schedule that brings me joy. An acting class at Nicolet was another new activity I chose to sign up for in my sophomore year. I selected this course to gain experience and knowledge pertaining to theater and to practice public speaking before unfamiliar audiences. The people I will meet in this class might be people that I wouldn't normally talk to so this would give me the opportunity to make new friendships. Gaining the observations and perspectives from different people will be very beneficial to my life. In order to do that, though, I have to utilize my communication skills. Ever since elementary school, I have worked on being able to talk to and empathize with people. My mom, having a career based on communication, has taught me to always look at both sides of the story. In order to truly understand someone, I have to realize the reasoning behind their feelings and thoughts. With that insight, I am able to sympathize with whoever I am speaking to. In addition to my empathy, I practice leadership skills in my board
I was extremely shy as a child and socializing and talking to people was a daunting challenge. The State Bowl Action Plan Skit forced me to face my anxieties and come out of my shell. In 6th grade, I was almost too afraid to speak during our Three Little Pigs parody, but by 8th grade, I was completely comfortable belting out Taylor Swift’s love story. By 10th grade when I did skit by myself, I could shake off the anxiety of public performance. With my group in 11th grade, I couldn’t wait to perform. The white sheet of nervousness and anxiety disintegrated, the claws clenching my throat released their vice grip, and I was fully conscience and comfortable in my own body, gazing at the expecting audience. Learning how to lose my stage fright and self-consciousness helped me with public speaking in school and socializing outside of class. At the beginning of middle school, I could hardly watch a video of myself talking without sprinting out of the room, cheeks flushed in embarrassment. Now, I can proudly stand in my English class and act out an improvised skit from Hamlet. My voice is clear and strong when I deliver my speech about the wage gap to my class. It is expressive when I recite my poetry to the auditorium, filled with people from all over New Jersey. Even when performing in piano concerts, when I used to never meet the eyes of the audience, are more relaxed. Carnegie Hall’s judging eyes are no longer an oppressive dictator, but a way to connect with more people. In fencing competitions, before I was too nervous, too anxious, too shy to speak to my fellow club mates and competitors; however, now despite the minute trepidation, I can make new friends from around the world. Just going up to people I recognize and saying “Hi” is no longer a daunting task. As the girl’s varsity fencing captain, I am fully transformed, giving advice to newcomers, strip coaching fencers at competitions, and
Before high school I was very soft spoken and shy. I was not a good public speaker and did not enjoy it. This was the main reason why my dad encouraged me to take debate my Freshman year.
The last semester of our high school careers Rising Sun High School allowed some of the seniors to attend dual enrollment classes at Ivy Tech Community College. This allowed me to take this Fundamentals to Public Speaking course. This class taught me the basics of speaking in a public situation. Through this class I gained confidence in my ability to speak in front of others, and therefore confidence for job interviews and other scenarios in which confident speaking will be necessary. This class reminded me that classes can be fun, because with all of the stress that happens between school and work, this class as often a nice refresher.
I have a great comfort in engaging others and find it easy to communicate with people. When in a group or engaging with someone one-on-one, I do not find it uncomfortable to engage in a conversation or start one. The strengths I possess in my engagement skills are that I am an extrovert, compassionate, and communicate effectively. However, I do need to work on not always starting a conversation and allowing others to talk first. I also need to improve on my listening skills instead of always feeling that I need to make a contribution to the conversation. Even though I am able to communicate effectively, I sometimes need to remember that others deserve a chance to start an
I like communicating with other people, and much of my life consists of me with my friends. Communicating with people is a good way to become social and comfortable around people. Public speaking is my least favorite part of communicating but I feel if I go into business, it will be one of the most important things to learn. If I have to give a big speech, it could be the first time several upper management bosses really hear what I have to say, and if I give a poor speech and look frightened, it could make them think I am incompetent and cannot communicate.
My public speaking class has already enhanced my knowledge and my ability to give speeches greatly. I know that with time and experience in public speaking, I will become a more skilled and professional public speaker. I will be sharing my first thoughts about my public speaking class, my strengths and weaknesses as a speaker, the speech I am most proud of so far, the speech that was the most difficult so far, and areas I know I need to improve on in order to be a skilled public speaker. Although I have had previous engagements with public speaking in high and middle school, none can be compared to the nervousness I felt about speaking in college level classes.
Theories I learned in public speaking are in regular conversations, you get all lots of feedback and interest from the other person and in large group, and you get some or none at all. This really heightens all kinds of risks of being plain, confusing, or boring. You can easily avoid in normal conversation between just two people or a very small group who have the same interests. Also, it helps to remember that when people sit considerately without speaking, they are usually watching some sort of screen optimized to entertain them. So to ask a large, captive group to sit and listen to a speech is to make a very big demand, and you must use your time sparingly and wisely. It’s generally not the time for an argument. It is to provide an understanding and desire for the audience.
People that really know me would say that I’m not a quiet person. Even a professor would think that I’m quiet because I did not interact much in the class especially in a discussion class which is because of my culture. In my culture, we would have a lecture class rather than a discussion, so I used to that way of teaching and I would be quiet in the class and it would seem like I did not participate in the discussion when actually I agree and listen to what other people say. From other people 's view, they might think I’m not friendly because I do not interact with them but in the reality is that I don 't what to say or I don’t have anything to say. But for the people who I 'm interested in making friends, I will be the one who starts the conversion and shows interested to
...to her when we were both younger. My words actually came out clear even with my body shaking; and after the speech, my instructor had loved the way I read. My reading was strong and clear and had wanted the class to take notes on how I presented. From that day on public speaking has become a little easier for me, but I know that if I am forced to speak infront of a large group whom I may not know, that I will have a hard time with it.
As a young child I was a non social person, and did not like to participate in anything. I liked to be an individual person, and do things on my own. I was shy and not outgoing like all my other friends were. When I enter a situation for the first time, I have a hard time speaking up until I feel comfortable. As being as shy as I was, my school work was affected a lot because I would not raise my hand to ask questions if I did not understand something, or go to the teacher for help. It was hard to transition from that stage to being more outgoing and talk more with my peers. It was difficult to communicate with others becuase of this as well, i was not able to be the perosn that i really am.
In six grade, I had to interact with other kids. I slowly learned that I could talk to them, by the middle of the year. The learning in that class in the middle of the school year wasn’t the greatest. I learned a lot and grew a lot during that year, from being scared in the beginning of having friends in the end of the year. I had a great teacher named Mrs. Sandoval who really gave me the help I needed.