The Art of Public Speaking (Group 2)

Dylan Revollo (Group 2)

Blog #1

Every group presentation was amazing and honestly better than I expected. I could tell that everyone put in lots of effort into each slide since they all had unique styles in the ways they organized the information. Watching each presentation made me realize how much everyone prepared beforehand by clearly explaining the topics and giving real-world examples or their experiences, which made it feel more interactive. I loved that everyone during their presentation made each chapter interesting and engaging, which made learning the topics enjoyable and easy to understand. Before taking this class, I always dreaded doing any presentations because I would get nervous being in front of people, leading me to speak faster, and felt that everyone was judging me in some way. However, I have come to realize after these few weeks of class that everyone is learning and figuring this stuff out, which made this speech class feel less scary and more fun. Coming into this class, I had a fixed mindset, believing that I was terrible and couldn’t improve the way I did presentations. But now I have a growth mindset, believing that as I go into the next presentation, I will do better by being more confident in myself, speaking clearly, and practicing more. These chapters that were presented by the groups helped me understand how to improve my presentation for the future.

First, group 1 presented Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 5, showcasing the foundation of doing a great presentation. Chapter 1 showed that public speaking is evolving over time by there being 5 skills used for public speaking, such as invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery. Also, it helped me see how important logos, pathos, and ethos are in appealing to your audience. Logos appeals to the individuals that want information to be logical, pathos appeals to the ones that can be connected through emotions and feelings, while ethos appeals to the people that believe what the speaker is saying because of his reputation of being trustworthy. Speakers will tackle presentations differently depending on the setting. In Chapter 2, it was about building your confidence through practicing with family or friends by speaking in front of them, so your voice shakes less when the presentation happens. Having a genuine interest in your topic can improve your confidence because the curiosity to learn more about the topic will lead to a deeper understanding, which will make presenting much easier since you’re more knowledgeable. In Chapter 3, it made me realize the importance of listening by paying full attention to the speaker without any distractions so you could understand better and give a proper answer. In Chapter 5, the speaker must always observe how the audience is reacting to you and adapt if needed. To keep the audience engaged, one must switch their pacing, tone, or the examples being used. Everyone in group 1 did an amazing job with their organized slides and speaking clearly, which made everything simple to understand.

After that, I was in group 2 that presented Chapters 4, 6, 7, and 8, which were about how to build and develop the speech. Chapter 4 was about choosing the purpose of your speech, which was to inform, persuade, or a special occasion. Informative speeches are used to help the audience understand a subject or topic, and it made me realize that all the group presentations were informative. We all impart the knowledge we learned from the chapters to the class. Persuasive speeches are used to influence what the audience is thinking, beliefs, or actions regarding the topic. This surprised me because sales workers are essentially always doing this because they are trying to sell the products to the customer by persuading them. Special occasion speeches are used to connect emotionally with the audience, such as at weddings, award ceremonies, or eulogies. In Chapter 6, we must figure out what the audience wants to learn, feel, or understand. Once you find out what that is, then researching the topic becomes simple because we’re looking for information to support the message we want to deliver to the audience, which was what I did when trying to find further information on my chapter. Chapter 7 was about supporting your ideas by not only using statistics but also incorporating narratives and testimonies so our ideas can be understood better. When I was presenting, I used real-life examples to make the topic easier for the class to grasp. Chapter 8 was about making an outline for your speech that goes from an introduction, body, transition, and conclusion, which helps the speech become structured and flow better. My group did incredible with their speeches, and all the slides were easy to follow.

Next, group 3 presented Chapters 9, 10, 11, and 12, which is where we start learning how to vocalize the speech correctly and efficiently. Chapter 9 made me realize how important the beginning and ending of one’s speech are because of the primacy effect and recency effect. The primacy Effect is when the audience pays the most attention and retains information towards the beginning of a speech. The recency Effect is when the audience remembers the information presented at the end, so it’s important to reinforce what you said earlier since it will be the last thing the audience will hear. Chapter 10 was about the importance of using language effectively because it helps persuade and get your point and tone across, which makes the speech engaging. Chapter 11 revealed that presentation media is only there to support your message, improve understanding, and enhance attention. Chapter 12 was about delivering the speech properly by speaking clearly, making eye contact, controlling your pitch and volume, and having a good pace. Everyone in group 3 did wonderfully, and I loved the examples they used.

Finally, group 4 presented Chapters 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17. These chapters show all the different types of speeches, from informative, persuasive, special occasion, and group presentations. All of them have different goals, so the structure, outline, and message of the speech will change. This shows that speeches are a set of skills one must adapt depending on the situation. Also, it made me realize why every presentation is different because not every single one is the same type of speech. Everyone in group 4 did remarkable and explained everything thoroughly, which made it easy to understand.

Overall, I enjoyed watching every group presenting because it gave me new ideas to try in the future. I learned that presenting isn’t a gift but something you polish and improve on over time. Some things that I would love to improve on are making my speech flow better and being more confident. Also, I would like to make my slides more organized and have more images in them so my classmates can understand the topic I’m presenting better. I would usually dislike presenting, but this class has made it into a fun activity. Hopefully by the end of this class, I will be an expert at presenting.