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!