E-Portfolio Entry #4

For the third speech round, I gave a Monroe’s Motivational Sequence Speech on Walmart. My argument was that we should not go to Walmart because of its detrimental impact on society and instead we should support Mom and Pop stores. I worked on this paper all throughout Thanksgiving break doing research through the library database as well as other Internet sources. I felt very prepared during the speech in terms of the information presented, however, I did not spend enough time practicing it out loud and it came off as I was reading it. There was so much information that had to be presented with the ten verbally cited sources. I did, however, feel confident in the content I was presenting because I actually feel very passionate about this topic. The positive feedback I received from my teammates were that I was well prepared, I seemed calm and composed, I had a good speaking voice, and my introduction had a hook that made people want to listen. The negative feedback I received from my teammates and professor were that I did not have enough eye contact and I made some fidget movements. I basically received the same feedback from everyone in my group. I was definitely intimidated by the length of the speech, but I think I did my best. I wish I memorized the main points better so that I could have made better eye contact.

I think the best speech I gave in the entirety of this class is my life philosophy speech. I felt very prepared and I did not get the nervous feeling that I got before every other speech. I was able to make a lot of eye contact because I memorized a lot of the points that I was going to make. Also, since I was about to tell stories about myself, it was more conversational which is the goal of this class. My goals going into this class were to not get as nervous and to have well organized speeches. I think I accomplished these goals by the end of the class. I really focused on the structure and had an extensive outline for every speech. Also, I think just giving so many speeches made me less nervous. Also, the fact that everyone else was giving a speech too and probably felt just as nervous. The people in my COMS class were also very supportive and I didn’t feel judged, so that made my nerves calm down as well. Overall, this class was very neat because I never thought I would be able to know everyone’s name in a public college course. The assignments were challenging, but I improved a lot and I will use my newly gained skills in other courses at Cal Poly and in my life.

E-Portfolio Entry #3 – Speech Round #2 Reflection

The first speech I gave for Round #2 was an informative speech and I chose to talk about tennis. I felt like I had a break through during this speech because it was the first time that I got to share personal stories. This made my speech more conversational, thus extemporaneous. Tennis is a topic that I am passionate about and I really enjoyed preparing and delivering my speech. My visual aid was a picture of a tennis court as well as my tennis racquet, where I demonstrated the strokes in front of the class. I felt more prepared than I did for the first round of speeches because I practiced my full speech in front of my group a couple times when we met outside of class. The feedback I received from my group was that my personal anecdote helped establish credibility. This made me happy to hear because in my previous speech, I was told that I needed to better establish my credibility in the introduction. Other positive feedback I received was that my speech was well organized, had good transitions, and I was calm and composed throughout my speech. The parts that I need to work on are shifting my weight back and forth. I think I did this because I was so excited about talking about tennis. Another part that I was told to work on was focusing more on a couple points and going into more detail. I improved on this in my second speech, which I will talk about in the latter part of this entry. A critique I would give myself for this speech is that I had too much information on my outline causing me to lose my place multiple times. This was a downfall of my speech. On my outline, I should have only had the quotes/sources that I was using for the speech because I knew the other points I wanted to talk about. The lengthy outline only confused me. I fixed this for my second speech.

The second speech I gave for Round #2 was a how-to speech and my topic was how to become a minimalist. In my previous speech, I received feedback that I needed to focus on a couple of points, so I did just that in this speech. Instead of mentioning the eleven steps to become a minimalist, I chose the five most important ones and talked in more detail about those. For my visual aid, I used a PowerPoint showing a picture relating to the five steps I talked about. The feedback I received from Professor Truch made me very happy because she said that there was noticeable improvement in my delivery. I talked louder and slower than I did in the past. The delivery aspect was what I wanted to improve on most in this class and I am making great progress! Also, I didn’t fidget around in this speech because I kept it in mind after it was pointed out in my previous speech. Some critiques I received from my group were that I should shorten the introduction and talk more about the body of my speech. I got carried away with the introduction because I think that the back-story of the Minimalists themselves is very interesting. I will definitely work on shortening my intro in my next speech, so that I can utilize my speech time and talk about the more important parts of my topic. I was happy with the outcome of my speeches in Round #2 and I am excited to give my next speech!

E-portfolio Entry #2 – Round 1 Reflection

For my first speech in COMS 101, I chose to do an oral interpretation. I read an excerpt from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. I started with an introduction asking the audience if anyone has read this play and then briefly explaining the plot of the play before starting. Then, I delivered the excerpt deliberately leaving pauses as practiced. For my first speech, I did better than I expected. The feedback I received from my team members was that they liked that I explained the background because it helped those who haven’t read it. My team also said that my delivery was good and the pauses were in the proper places. I also received feedback that my eye contact was good, my speed and volume were effective, and I was able to make Shakespeare seem more interesting, which I think is a pretty difficult task. I remember reading Shakespeare in high school and not being able to follow too well. However, preparing for my speech, I watched YouTube videos of people performing parts of his plays and I drew my inspiration (including pacing and tone) from these videos. It was really nice to hear this positive feedback from my peers and my professor.

For the next speech, I chose to talk about a current event. Since I religiously follow current events, I was really excited to start preparing for this speech. I talked about how Project Loon just got permission to send 30 balloons up over Puerto Rico to give them emergency LTE service. Even though other students talked about the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, I thought my topic was different because I focused on talking about relief efforts. Before this speech, I was less nervous than I was before delivering my first speech. However, I felt as if my body was fidgeting more than the first time when I was actually delivering my speech. I need to work on hand gestures because I think if I used hand gestures then the rest of my body wouldn’t move as much. I also think I should put my hair in a ponytail or tie half of it back because I felt like it was blocking part of my face. This could make me lose credibility if not everyone can see my facial expressions and eyes because oftentimes someone’s eyes say a lot about them. The feedback I received was that the delivery was really good and it was easy to follow because the structure had good organization. I think my speech connected with people because I started with a topic that we are all familiar with: Google. A critique I received was that I needed to make more eye contact and slow down a little. My speech was one minutes and fifty four seconds in front of the class; however, when I practiced it in my dorm room, it was a little over 2 minutes. I need to pay attention to my speed and be able to deliver it at the same speed I practice it at. I also need to work on including all of the elements of introductions that were in the textbook: get the audience’s attention, introduce the subject, give the audience a reason to listen, establish your credibility, preview your main ideas. For this speech, I needed to better establish my credibility, which I will work on for my next speech. Overall, I was satisfied with my second speech because I believe I can only improve from here and I know what I need to work on.

With these two speeches I have definitely come closer to reaching my goals set in my first entry for the E-Portfolio of getting less nervous and having a more organized structure.

COMS 101 E-Portfolio

When I was younger, I had a loud clear voice and I spoke with confidence. I even took an acting class in Hollywood at the age of nine, where I would practice monologues, tongue twisters, and reading short scripts. I am the kind of person that has no trouble reading well from a script, but when it comes to improvisation, I have a difficult time. When I am in front of a large group with people looking at me, it is hard for me to think of meaningful things to say because I get so nervous.

As I have gotten older, I feel like my confidence in public speaking has decreased because of my constant worry of being judged. My first goal in this class is to practice not getting nervous speaking to people. I have to remember that I am speaking to people my age and they are all tasked with the same assignment I have. They are probably just as nervous too. In order to practice not getting nervous daily, I should try to talk to more people on campus. I don’t really have to worry about stranger danger here because the campus is filled with students around my age. They are all here to learn and meet new people, so I should get comfortable with talking to people I don’t know because that could help me be less nervous.

My next goal is to have my thoughts well organized in order for my speech to flow well. In this class, the structure of the speech is heavily stressed. This is because having structure allows for the purpose of the speech to be clear. In order to have my thoughts well organized, I need to put a lot of effort into the preparation of my speech and practice it out loud many times. Making a mind map is a good place to start, but from there I can make a full sentence outline. In order for me to keep my speech organized, I will have to do a full sentence outline for every speech. When I did research on how to stay organized, all of the websites I found suggested a structure just like the full sentence outline. The websites also said to start with a specific purpose and central idea statement, which is also consistent with what we learned in class. This quarter, I will really focus on having the structure of an introduction, main points with evidence, and a conclusion, while connecting everything back to my central idea.

In order to accomplish my goals I will practice talking to people I don’t know when I’m around campus like I previously mentioned. I will also focus on the structure of my speeches by using the template provided for us on Poly Learn. I think both of these strategies will help me with my speech and make me more comfortable speaking in front of people because I will be prepared.

Public speaking was different for me in elementary, middle, and high school because I knew almost everyone in my class. In this class, the only people that I am actually familiar with are the people in my study group. This new environment will help me with my public speaking skills because it will force me to get out of my comfort zone.

The feedback I have received from my study group when I performed a practice speech in front of them was that I had a strong introduction, but as my speech went on, my thoughts would become less organized and lose their focus. This is why I will work on my structure and have my main points memorized so that I can keep my speech focused. Another critique I got from my group is that I need to use more hand gestures, so I should definitely practice and watch more speeches online to see how other people use effective hand gestures. After receiving that critique, I began to notice the hand gestures of the other members in my group. Lauren, a member of my group, had really good hand gestures while doing her practice speech and I think I can learn from her. The study group really helped me notice personal characteristics that I would not have noticed on my own.

My first speech is this Thursday, October 5, and I am really excited to ease my way into this class by presenting an oral interpretation of a short story or poem. Since this is my first speech, it will be nice to have something written for me and just be able to practice speaking in front of the class without worrying about jumbling my thoughts.

 

Sources for First Goal:

Kim, Larry. “15 Ways to Calm Your Nerves Before a Big Presentation.” Inc.com, Inc.,

20 Oct. 2014, www.inc.com/larry-kim/15-power-up-tips-to-make-you-a-better-presenter.html.

Smith, Jacquelyn. “11 Tips For Calming Your Nerves Before A Big Presentation.”

Business Insider, Business Insider, 23 June 2014, www.businessinsider.com/tips-for-calming-nerves-before-a-speech-2014-6.

 

Sources for Second Goal:

Morgan, Nick. “5 Quick Ways to Organize a Speech.” Public Words, Public Words, Inc,

6 Sept. 2011, www.publicwords.com/2011/09/06/5-quick-ways-to-organize-a-speech.

Provost, Gary, and John Zimmer. “Powerful Sentence Structure for Your Speech.”

Manner of Speaking, Word Press, 26 May 2016, mannerofspeaking.org/2016/05/26/powerful-sentence-structure-for-your-speech/.

 

 

 

First blog post

This is your very first post. Click the Edit link to modify or delete it, or start a new post. If you like, use this post to tell readers why you started this blog and what you plan to do with it.