What I Got Out of this Class

I got a lot from this class that I did not expect. Going into it I did not have high expectations. I was dreading speaking in front of a room full of people. I thought the speeches would be more loose, I did not realize that we had to do different styles, timing, delivery methods, and use of supporting materials. I learned a lot from the extra work, and I know I will use it all again eventually. My husband has to prepare power point demonstrations and give speeches to students regularly ( he is an instructor pilot in the Air Force). I know that it is highly likely that at some point in my career I may have to do the same. I am currently applying to nursing school, and being able to explain concepts in a timely manner will be a huge asset. I expect that there will be some presentations required for me nursing classes as well. I have been a stay at home mom for the past 6 years, so this class has also prepared me for job interviews. Being able to speak confidently to people I do not know well will help me eventually find a job. The relaxation techniques we learned to combat anxiety have already stuck with me in other areas of my life. I find myself relabeling a lot, and trying to channel negative energy into positive. I also learned a lot from watching the other speakers and seeing them evolve as public speakers. It taught me that almost everyone is nervous speaking in front of people, but when you learn to control the anxiety and channel the energy you can give a great speech. I am happy to be finished with the class, and I am positive I will use some of what we have learned this semester in the near future.

Favorite Speech

My favorite speech was by far the informative speech. Providing an audience with information that I was interested in felt very comfortable, like teaching. There was no pressure to persuade, to do a demo, or to get anything accomplished other then teaching the audience about a subject. I really liked both of our speeches that used power point. Dimming the lights so the power points were easier to see made me feel way more at ease. Also having the slides as another focus for the audience to look at, other than me, made me much less nervous. The challenge with the informative speech was being able to get my points across in a short amount of time. I imagine teachers deal with this all the time, being able to lecture on a subject within class time constraints. It was also difficult to keep my content strictly informative and not persuasive, which the book gave some pointers on doing. It was interesting how each speech was so different in how I felt about them. I was nervous every time, but definitely the least with informative. As an audience member I enjoyed the informative speeches the best also. I liked seeing what people in the class find important enough to tell an audience about. I would say I learned a lot from everyone's speeches!

Most Useful Information

I would have to say that the most useful things we covered in the book as far as our speeches go are the things that helped me get started and work on presenting my speech. Initially with the culture speech I went into planning it by writing a paper and trying to memorize it. I have never done extemporaneous speaking before, so learning how to create a speech and organize it in a way that it could be delivered conversationally was really hard. One thing that helped me a lot was from Chapter 12 where it was suggested that you practice your speech in sections. Diving in and trying to recite the whole thing at once left me feeling really lost. Learning how to write an outline for a speech also helped me organize my thoughts without just writing the whole thing out. Chapter 2 is still the one that sticks with me the most, especially the various relaxation techniques for preparing yourself to deliver your speech. Relabeling is my favorite, taking the negative energy and making it positive. When I would practice I would always use visualization also, and try to picture a sea of eyes on me while I talked. One last thing I found useful was Chapter 5 Adapting to Your Audience. It was nice that we are in a class of students all from CA, so we have some common links. The speeches allowed us to get to know each other more, and I noticed people used a lot of audience interaction when delivering their speeches. Many people began with questions directed at the audience, or related their data to our classroom. I would say I learned a lot more than I thought I would in this class, and despite the nerves enjoyed it overall!