Queen Madrid- Reflection #1

 

QUEEN MADRID

Communication is the backbone of our society. It allows us to form connections, influence, decisions and motivate change. Without communication skills, the ability to progress in the world and in life would be nearly impossible.

Public speaking is one of the most important and most dreaded forms of communication. Speech anxiety, is the most common fear people have across the globe.

I remember throughout my primary school days, I was one of the student who sits in the back of the classroom and avoids raising my hand or eye contact to my teacher to dodge such situations.

Public speaking is a vital skill to have and hone. It affects simple, everyday interactions between students, coworkers, employees, marketing professionals and clients, etc., and it can have an enormous impact on your career path and your level of success in the industry.

Growing up, I promised myself that I will do my best to overcome my fear of public speaking as this is a vital skill anyone can have.

For our 1^st assignment in Introduction to Public speaking class, we are tasked to group into four, with six to seven members. Each one of us is assigned a chapter to present in front of everyone with our public speaking skills.

GROUP 1

The first group presented Chapter 1,2,3 and 5.

Their chapters were all about the foundation of public speaking, building confidence, having conversation with audiences and they discussed what the word “audience” means in public speaking world.

I remember during the presentation, they started off with Greek Philosophers and how it was used as a foundation of sharing knowledge and also as a method to debate over different topics.

Building your confidence, chances is, you want to come across as a more confident and memorable speaker. I’m talking about speaking with simplicity, clarity, a conversational tone, and being seen as likeable.

This is the key to successful public speaking, why?

Because both you and the listeners are at best when you are conversing with each other. That’s when you are most natural and least self-conscious. Isn’t the thought of having a conversation with someone less intimidating than an upcoming speech?

When the speaker sounds like himself and express with genuine passion, it is more enjoyable to listen to than if you’re trying hard to be a good speaker.

COMMENTS:

I like their choice of background in the slides, can be easily read from the audience’s view. Can be improved by not putting too many words on the slides as it is hard for the audience to keep up with all the reading and listening to the speaker at the same time.

GROUP 2

The 2^nd group presented Chapters 4,6,7 and 8.

Their chapters were all about developing the purpose and topic, researching the topic such as where to get the sources, introduction to supporting ideas and the parts of a speech.

When you have information to share, you don’t want it to be portrayed in a boring way, you want people to listen. This is why it is important to have the speaker be creative in doing their research on the topic they want the audience to know, to appreciate or feel.

A great public speaker attains the power to motivate his or her audience to do or stop something, change a behavior or reach objectives. But to carry an idea forward, you must be able to excite and enliven your target audience.

COMMENTS:

I love that they did not do it in Power point and made it look organized and presentable.

They provided a lot of good examples for us to understand more of the topic. The only minor issue was most of them just read their own slides through their own laptop/ipads.

GROUP 3 (My group)

Our group presented Chapters 9-12.

It was all about how to begin and end the speech, using the language effectively, how to integrate presentation media and the types of speech delivery.

The introduction is the speaker’s only chance to make a good impression, so if done correctly, your speech will encourage the audience to listen to the rest. The goal of the conclusion is to signal that the end is near, you want to make sure that the audience is left knowledgeable and satisfied with your speech.

It is very important that you do not introduce new ideas or main points in the conclusion because it will just confuse the audience, leaving them to ponder.

Presentation media helps captivate and draw attention to your audience, and it gives additional sensory input about your topic or idea.

It is also important for the speaker to end the speech with a memorable note and not leave them hanging.

COMMENTS:

The only thing I can say to my own group is, I was happy and satisfied how everyone worked on and presented their own chapters.

Constantly communicating through our Whatsapp and getting each other’s opinions on their slides.

GROUP 4

The group presented chapters 13-17.

It was all about the difference of persuasive speaking, types of audiences, major elements of a complete argument, fundamental concepts and principles of distance speaking, and how to apply the principles for presenting speeches of introduction, nomination speeches, etc.,

An important skill to have in the public relations arena is the skill of persuasion or the ability to win over the crowd. With public speaking skills and experience, speakers are able to captivate the interest of their listeners to keep them interested in order to deliver the message.

Of course, it is imperative to be knowledgeable about the subject you are presenting, but beyond that, when making a persuasive speech of any kind, including sales pitch to a client, you need to be prepared to answer the opposition and to speak with poise.

When addressing any audience with an idea or argument for or against something, public speaking allows you to make your case compelling and convincingly.

 

COMMENTS:

The slides have too many words on it, and most of them are all reading their speech from the Power point. I wish they could try to make an eye contact next time we do another one.