Reflective Essay On A Better Public Speaker

At the start of the year, I have set a goal for myself to be a better public speaker. Specifically, I aimed to improve my eye contact, my speech fluency and have a louder voice while presenting. This was a challenge for me because although I have given speeches before, I have never given a formal speech that I would prepare for in English. From the start of the semester, I realized that even the best public speakers need hours of practice to give a several minute speech. I knew that if I wanted to give a good speech I must practice at least an hour for every minute of my speech. Being an international student and having the language barrier meant that I should allocate more time to practice because pronunciation and articulation can be difficult.

I set myself a goal to always practice and prepare thoroughly before ever giving a presentation. I set myself a goal to always be engaged in the audience by means like speaking extemporaneously, appropriate vocalization and having eye contact. I set myself a goal to ask for help when I need especially if it was in a challenging task such as public speaking in English. In this class, I learned how to effectively communicate and deliver content to an audience. I learned about some flaws I had when public speaking like not being loud enough, and was able to drastically improve. I learned it is best not to memorize a script word for word or present without well preparing but to speak extemporaneously. Public Speaking is one of classes that I really believe that has a practical use in real life. As a college student, I’m required to give speeches and presentations in several classes. Beyond college, public speaking class will help me in giving interviews, toasts and presentations required by my job. I drastically improved my communication skills and I couldn’t have done it without the help of Proffesor