Journals

Journal #1

The biggest take away from reading A Pocket Guide to Public Speaking is that public speaking is needed everywhere you go. It stems from school projects, to talking with friends to even being interviewed for a job. It’s also very important because it means that you can construct multiple themes or ideas to an audience. Public speaking becomes less nerve-racking overtime with experience. It could even be as simple as speaking up to bullies. Public speaking also builds character and helps people stand up for what they believe in regardless if anybody stands with them. What was really outstanding in chapter 1 was the amount of people who didn’t use their voting ability during the 2016 presidential election. It was like no one cared about the aftermath of the 2016 election. If the children who had to live though the Parkland tragedy protested with their voices, why can’t people today do the same thing and get the change they have been asking for? There is a thing called checks and balances in the government system. It’s not like America is being ran by a dictator like Russia or North Korea. The book also teaches us to do research on the topic we are about to discuss and to know the audience that we are presenting the information to. Knowing your audience is very important because no one wants to show up at a bar to discuss gender equality matters. Sure, maybe a few people will listen because everyone’s stories are different, but the majority will surely dismiss the matter. Connecting with the audience is also a good thing too, because if no one can relate then the chances of you getting your thoughts across are going to be rather difficult.

Journal #2

            In high school, I did chorus and drama. For both chorus and drama, I sang as an alto. There weren’t as many altos as sopranos, so I was always afraid of using my big girl voice because I didn’t want to sound like a dying cat. We would practice every Tuesdays and Thursdays after school for an hour. When the time was getting closer, we’d put longer hours in to tie up any loose ends or questions that other classmates might have about the rehearsal. Sing the national anthem at school placed me in a very calm state because I was practicing amongst my classmates. Singing in front of strangers just wasn’t the same because these strangers never presented familiarity or something, I was used to like the students at my high school. On open house when I had to sing the national anthem, I stumbled over my notes but was able to pull myself together in the end. Drama wasn’t any better. I played Roxanne Rogers, a background character I created for the play Grease.I put in long hours as in everyday I was at school until almost 6pm. We even rehearsed on the weekends for an additional five hours when we were getting closer to the play’s date. On the night of the play, I completely forgot all the dance moves I had learned overtime. All I was thinking about was the people in the crowd, and how many of them there were. What if I mess up? When am I getting off stage? My mind just wasn’t there. I was more concerned about getting things done and over with. Regardless of my cold feet, I enjoyed being on stage for that short amount of time. Going to these afterschool activities never really changed anything, because I still whisper when I talk even when I try to speak more confidently. It just doesn’t work.       

Journal #3: Impromptu Speech Reflection

            I felt like I could have added more but I was quite concerned with time because I didn’t want to drag my speech out. I was able to successfully evade that misery and I was able to say what I wanted. I didn’t expect the crowd to laugh at my jokes though. I am the type of speaker that likes to connect with my audience and that’s what my initial plan was so mission accomplished. I’m more so proud of myself for getting up in front of the class and presenting what I had on my paper. My general theme of personal form of public speaking was connived nicely according to my perception of how things went. I thought I was going to pass out or become lightheaded like my senior year when I had to present my ten-page research paper in front of the class. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I could feel myself getting nervous. Before I went in front of my classmates, I told myself to speak loudly because if I whispered nobody in the class would be able to hear me. 

            I noticed that everyone was giving an example of a time where they had a struggle with public speaking, and I somehow felt like I missed a part of the directions. I could feel myself slipping into self-doubt, because I guess I wasn’t as organized as I thought I was. I slipped up on a couple of my notes and I used a lot of repetitive works like “um” or “like”, but more so I found myself saying “so” a lot. That one I caught myself on. I really didn’t think I was using them as often when I was speaking. I could have added more to my speech for sure, but a time limit on something makes me limit the number of things I want to say, because there is so much things you can say in one to two minutes. Two minutes was not enough time. I have a hard time relaxing, but it’s not impossible to achieve. I didn’t know my hands were distracting, but I it was one of the few things I did to be comfortable while presenting in front of the class.

            The goal of the speech was to be lighthearted which I’m sure everyone could feel, but really and truly I’m glad I got up there and did my best. 

Journal # 4

            One thing I took away from chapter eleven is that organizing and conveying your message to your audience is very important. Chapter eleven also teaches the reader how to write a speech in order to present an effective message. When it comes to the introduction of your speech, it’s like formulating a thesis and the thesis is what your trying to teach your audience. The body of the speech must contain main points that will have subpoints. What this means is that the main point could be about the positive effects of exercising. The subpoint would then state the research that proves the positive effects of working out over a long period of time, how it affects brain development, and along with any other information that supports the main point. 

A good way to engage the audience is not to overwhelm them with too many main points because they won’t remember all the main points. It helps sometimes to state all three main points in the beginning, but everyone presents a speech differently. I personally have a hard time with transiting during my speeches because I don’t know how to really transition between two topics. Often times, I’ll just carry on to another main point and then my audience will be completely at lost with what I’m trying to say. I also need to work on organizing the message that I want to convey. I’ve also learned to make a reference to the main point and then close your speech by restating the thesis and possibly give a quick summary to clarify the thesis.

            Chapter twelve talks about the types of public speakers there are. Organization is key so that the individual presenting the message does not confuse the audience. There are six types of organizational patterns. There is chronological which is done in the order of events, spatial which is given during tour settings, causal which presents a cause and effect type speech, problem-solution which finds out what the problem is and what can be done to fix it, topical which doesn’t really have a format to it, and narrative which tells what happens and then what lead up to the events. Narrative and topical speech to me are loose kinds of speech, because they aren’t quite following a type of format. My favorite type of speech pattern is the narrative type because it’s most definitely my comfort zone. These kinds of speeches involve interacting with people rather than teaching people the information in a conference room. This is why I like social events that don’t have much expectation to it. Also, the narrative pattern reminds me of oral storytelling. Kind of like urban legends pass down from one generation to next.

Journal # 5

The next step for my project is to plan time effectively to build it. I have already started with the first idea that I had in my head. However, over the next couple of days I plan to get a rough sketch done of the things I need to get completed for this project rather than sitting around slowly piecing the information together. This I know for a fact will be more time consuming, because it isn’t something I can just buy at a store. Also, I have to remember to keep my information to a minimum because there is a time limit. I have to be very mindful of this because I don’t want to be under time, but I don’t want to go over it as well. I know that whenever I have to get up in front of my classmates for my speech, whatever I had worked on goes out the window. I will also try not to be nervous because there is nothing to be nervous about (that’s what I tell myself). I also have to remember to make a power point to explain the skill and take pictures to put in the slides. I want to be able to show everyone my work of art. I also know that I will have to put more time in for practice. I was hoping to get together with someone of this class to practice with so that we can both criticize each other on areas that need improvement. I also have to work on how to possibly close my speech, because I may say it one way and then do it another way.

Journal #6

Chapter thirteen talks about benefits of formulating a speech using outlines. There are two formats that can help guide you in creating an effective speech delivery. There is working outline where you do research about a topic, and speaking outline condenses the information taken from the researched materials. Speaking outlines helps guide your speeches by giving you cues on where to pause and transition during your speech. This is also a good timekeeper because it can help you pace speech so that you can be within the time constraint. Keyword outline has words to help prompt your speech. If you see the keyword you used during practice, you are more likely to be more relaxed and be more efficient in presenting your speech. As a result, you are more likely to maintain eye contact with your audience, have more freedom to move around, and the speech will come more naturally. It also reminds us to work on the body of the speech before working on the conclusion, and the attention-grabbing introduction. If research was conducted, a work cited page is created to show where you gather your evidence from. I found that on my first speech because I had fewer words on my paper, that gave me a little more wiggle room to interact with my audience in a way that I wasn’t expecting. I like the fact that I spoke from my memory and didn’t have to look at the paper as often. It felt very relax until I started panicking. I know I have no problem coming up with a creative introduction or topic to engage my audience. It’s more so constructing the body of my speech. 

Journal # 7

Journal #8

I know that I needed to practice my speech. I just haven’t gotten around to it yet. I think that from both videos I’ve established that I want to give an introduction as to how I gained this skill, and how I’m going to go about explaining this skill. I liked the childhood memory that I used when introducing my skill. I really didn’t like how the second speech went because I felt as if it wasn’t as good as the first one. I liked how I explained my skill, however I’m a little worried about the hand gestures used to explain how I built my prop. After all, it is a manual skill. I also didn’t like how noisy the background was because I could barely hear myself in the video. I know that we all had to practice at once, but during the actual presentation it’s not going to be that loud. It’s kind of misleading in a way, because I feel like it will be a self-note to speak louder. Then again, I might have been whispering. I did get feedback from both runs. Some good feedback from the first run was that I had a very creative skill, good use of presentation and a good explanation for the skill. I got feedback on my voice that it was clear and slow which is good. However, I knew I was using filler words and I was reminded of that as well. I was told that I needed practice which I’m aware of, and that I should take a breath to help formulate my thoughts. 

Journal #9

Being the first one to present made me more nervous than I anticipated. I thought that if I walked around kind of like how teachers do that, I’d be able to get through the speech a lot easier. I had worked on my timing during rehearsal. I knew if I went too fast, I’d be at the three-minute mark, but it wouldn’t be as effective. If I slowed it down a little, I’d be able to get everything into the speech while constructively delivering it. I liked my creative skill that I taught to the class. I knew that if I picked something that I was passionate about, I’d be able to teach the skill more effectively. Some things I have accomplished are avoiding filter words. Yes, my thoughts were a little spaced out, but I got through the speech without saying um or like. I felt as if I was a little quieter than the last time, but my audience said that they could hear me clearly. I was quite unaware that I wasn’t making as much eye contact with my audience, which I felt like took away from connecting with them. I also was unsure of what to do with my hands because too much hand gestures can be distracting. So, I thought it would be less distracting if I used them during the presentation. I know that I also have a tendency to not close my speech properly. I’ve created little steps in my paper that kind of queued me that I should slow the pace down when I’m on the last slide. This way I’d be able to remember to wrap my speech together instead of leaving my audience utterly confused with what I’m trying to teach. My favorite thing about this presentation was the back story to gaining the skill and actually teaching the skill. This is the best speech I’ve made so far. 

Journal #10

The person who I’ve secretly taken notes on was one of my instructors that I have a one on session with. I know I’m the only student in her “class”, but I’ve actually seen her deliver a speech in front of a large crowd. It was one of the time management sessions as part of the big ideas workshops that has been going on. When I came in, she had everything set up and she was just checking to see if anyone else was coming to the session before she started presenting. She has this easy going and not overbearing voice that you could hear clearly. She also welcomes her audience to interact with her and gave us opinioned questions like, “Who in here knows that they are a procrastinator?” or “Is there anyone in here who doesn’t like to procrastinate because of the overwhelming feelings that they know will return?”. She doesn’t make us feel like it’s a crime to procrastinate, hence why the room was so relaxed. She also maintains eye contact with her audience, and she knew her presentation really well. She knew what she wanted to say because she didn’t have to look at a piece of paper constantly. Maybe a few peeks here and there to reminder herself of what to say, but I don’t remember her holding a piece of paper in her hand because this topic was something she knew really well. She’s a learning specialist, and she brought up the word metacognition where she was able to go into debt about it and how time management can affect our grades if we don’t manage our time wisely. She wasn’t nervous nor talked at a fast pace. She made it within the one-hour mark, and she expressed an open body language. It was also an informal speech, but I haven’t heard her abusing them that every sentence had a “um” to collect her thoughts. Friday when I talked to her, she mentioned how right after our meeting she had to give a presentation that she had agreed to do and she has no idea how she is going to present it. Luckily, the person who asked her to help out left notes in the slides and so she is able to give the presentation with a little bit of improvising. She did mention one key thing that we normally discussed which is prepping for a speech. 

Journal #11

Chapter twenty-five talks about special occasions that require special speeches and the type of speeches that accompany them. For instance, how to write a speech for a eulogy verses a wedding ceremony. These types of speeches can be either persuasive, informative or a combination of both. The purpose of some of these speeches could be to entertain, inspire or set a social agenda that the audience can grasp. When you think about it, it’s like these types of speeches are somewhat more audience focused. They all require some level of emotional intelligence behind it. You don’t want to be too overbearing with some speeches and others you have to factor in both without getting carried away. For instance, the eulogy given at a funeral that speaks positively about the deceased person meanwhile paying respect to the family compared to an inspirational speech given by a coach. I always like to hear the inspirational speeches that coaches give to their players. It just exalts so much positivity that it just reminds the players to do their best. The best speech that someone can give is a speech of acceptance. When Jesse Williams won the Humanitarian Award, I felt like I was sharing his success even though I had nothing to do with it. I once got to witness a speech introduction, but it was in a comedic form. These two guys would come out before Trevor Noah (the main comedian) to “warm up the audience” by making us laugh. They didn’t go into much detail about him, but they did just about the same thing. An after-dinner speech could be what my family and I do at our Thanksgiving get togethers. We have a few jokes here and there but then we always close off with the agenda which would be, to be thankful for what we have in life. I feel as if I’ve been in a lot of these scenarios, I just never classified them as the book has. The biggest take away I got from reading this chapter was if you can identify the occasion for the event, then you will know how address your audience. 

Journal #12

For speech three, I plan to give a toast to my mom for coming so far in life despite the setbacks she’s faced. I wanted to do a background type of introduction before proceeding to the bodied paragraphs. I will talk about some of the struggles she faced as a single mother, and possibly shed some positive light on ways she showed love. Something I wanted to stress in this speech is the love our parents have for us even if they don’t say to us. The general concept will be talking about her progression throughout life. It will show how she gained the personality traits she has today, and possibly close off with the dream she had. I think this will tie back into the idea of me going to college and why I respect her so much. It will also have this underlining concept of parents are willing to provide for their children regardless of their own struggles and how they always want the best for us. I feel like I am going to struggle most with detail and conveying my message to the audience. I know what I want to say, but I’m afraid it won’t come out the way I want it to. I feel that once I make a complete draft of what I want to say then it will become a lot easier. This way I can avoid giving too much information. Maybe I’ll make two charts and see if they match the information I want to present and the underlining concept. Maybe I’ll end up talking about one.

Journal #13

I should try and not overthink it. Also, making eye contact with people is going to be so weird. It’s not as if I don’t know my audience but it’s a general rule not to stare at people. I kind of wish that I had those googly eyes that I could stick over my eyelids. I’m also worried about setting the right mood and tone. Sometimes I get carried away when giving a speech like a eulogy, where I need to be serious and I end up telling jokes all the time. I have to be careful with that. I’ll work on looking down during my speech because I feel like it gets in the way of maintaining eye contact. I’m also nervous about being ready to give a speech in front of my audience, and then the words in my frontal lobe go for a dangerous walk where they never come back. Hopefully, that doesn’t happen because I know what I want to say since it’s something I know. I’m hoping to put a couple of jokes in the speech, but I don’t know for sure yet. If I could improvise this, I’m sure I would get an A. I think that as long as I rearrange my speech so that it makes sense there shouldn’t be any problems (other than a mild heart attack). This is speech is still a work in progress.

Journal #14

I think that these videos are the best rehearsal I’ve gotten out of the dry runs. I really felt like this time I could really articulate what I wanted to say to my audience. I think that with these videos I need to pick or combine ideas as to what I want to say about my mom, because it is kind of unclear. I know for a fact that I wanted to talk about how her life experiences affect mine, and how far along in life she’s come. I need to work on my introduction and conclusion to make this speech flow better. The body paragraphs may need a little adjustment, but it doesn’t require as much work as the beginning and end of the speech. I think that the first video had too much details that wasn’t needed, and it took away from the speech. I really like the story I added towards the end and I think I may incorporate that into my final speech. I need to remember to make eye contact with my audience. I mean the floor is lovely to look at especially with all the decorative items laying there like dust, but it won’t do me much justice now will it? However, I felt like the second video was a lot more organized and showed me what I really wanted to say. I think I’m going to base my speech off of the second video and then make adjustments from that.

Journal #15

I think I could have done better. I kind of like this new method that I’ve developed to practice for my speeches. I was a little scared of the idea of not being able to maintain eye contact with my audience because I often times break character. I knew for a fact that the story of my mom’s journey would help me captivate my audience. I also felt like my three minutes and thirty second speech went faster than I anticipated. The nerves are still there, but I held myself together. During my rehearsal, I noticed this problem that the way I wanted say something did not come out the way I had it on paper. However, it sounds just right when I presented. I was trying to put fewer words on my keynote, but I felt like I would have forgotten everything. I think the four things I have to work on is voice control, fewer words for my speech, my nervousness, and speaking slower which really isn’t bad. I think being organized has played a big factor in speech three and sounding out my speech to see if things were going in chronological order. I didn’t quite know what to do with my hands. I hope that I don’t do too much. I feel like every time I gain something; I lose something in return.  

Journal #16

For speech four, we have been brainstorming ideas for the news reporting project that we have in mind. We have split the work amongst ourselves to get certain things completed. Right now, the plan is to create a google doc to share amongst my teammates. On it I plan to have everyone state the times that they are available so that we can get together. The document will cover what was discussed in terms of possible song titles, and possible logos, and so on. We said that we’d also come to an agreement for the name of our news channel once we have a list of possible names. We discussed scenarios that could be tied to our majors and thought about how a pharmacist would contribute to such scenario. We also kind of started an outline to this project, but we don’t have everything settled yet. I’ve personally made a note to make an appointment with Digispace to get editing and filming done. We also discussed the possible roles that all of us are going to play. I think that once we get going on the project, and actually formulate the message that we are trying to get across it will be a lot easier. 

Journal #17

I think that there is a lot of room for growth before our final video. I like the starting point of our project so far. I also think that we should try and not stray away from the main purpose of this project. It’s easier to get caught up in the minor details and forget what our main purpose is. I think that once everyone has the fake microphones that I’ve created, the tone and mood that we are trying to portray will be a lot easier for us. We would be practicing as if we had a real microphone and it would also help with muscle memory. This way we could know our speeches without a paper in front of us. I also think that if we practice with an audio source, it could improve our speeches by providing cues to when we should say our part during the dry runs. The intro and outro music could show us flaws or loopholes in our project before it’s too late. I also think we need to get together and talk about each scenario. This way we have a setting stone as to what’s really going on in terms of what we want to say, background information, and other things. Right now,  I feel as if our project is lacking that.

Journal #18

I liked the introduction portion to the video. I think we should work on the introduction a little bit more to make it seem more realistic. I think that for each part we need to add some pictures to each scenario in order to bring the story to life. I feel as though a lot of the pharmacy things we want to say is in our presentation, but we just don’t say it. For instance, pharmacists can work in many hospital settings, but for this situation it is geared towards trauma pharmacy. I also think we are too focused on the general concept of the story path. I also think that since we aren’t doing a talk show, we need to work on setting the mood and tone in order to carry the project in the way it needs to be carried. The mood and tone can make or break the story line. I was thinking of adding a type of reporting that reaches the community in a way. Kind of like a heart-warming moment that pharmacists are actually compassionate and want the best for their patients. I want to deplete the idea that all we do is fill prescription bottles, and don’t do much socialization with our patients. One of our main job is to educate our patients on the medications that we give to them. I also think that with the way that the script is flowing, to actually add in the editing ideas and to work on transition in between scenes because that would make a major difference. Overall, it’s not a bad start.

Journal #20

My Best Advice

I think the best peer review I gave to a classmate was the fact that for their teaching a skill idea, they seemed kind of uninteresting in what they the topic was. I could tell that they didn’t put much work into presenting the creative aspect of it, but the topic was not engaging. Reason being, these are things we have been told over and over again. So, I wrote that I didn’t know what feedback to give because there wasn’t much that I could give. Their body language was positive and their speech was delivered well.

Why It’s My Best Advice?

I told them this, because I wanted for them to take this course seriously. I also told them that because I felt as if it was something that they thought about at the last minute, and as contradicting as it sounds…it just sounds as if they just picked the first thing that came to mind. I also wanted for them to dive into their minds, because I feel like they are a very outspoken individual. I want to hear whatever topic that they have to share. As tedious as they might think this course is, they really do have more create things to share other than what they had presented.

Best Advice From My Peers

The best advice I got from my peers was to not over think, and to just relax. They could see how nervous I was, and a lot of them corrected me on things that were “easily” fixable. Even though they pointed out the things I needed to work on, they also complimented me on the things I worked hard on. For example, the teaching a skill project or speaking about someone I’m passionate tends to reach my audience.

Why It’s Their Best Advice?

The best advice I got from my peers helped showed me that I made a lot of progression in public speaking. I thought that I wouldn’t be able to progress from these challenges that I face. Even though I still get nervous speaking publicly to people, I think I’ve come a long way compare to when I first started. I think it’s just a matter of not being nervous, slowing down, and being able to get my idea out my audience that I have to work on. They always pointed out the things that I needed to work on the most. So, if I took one step backwards, they called me out on it.

Big Reflective Moments (BRM)

I didn’t expect the crowd to laugh at my jokes though. This was from my first speech where I noticed that I didn’t really rehearsed and I kind of let go of whatever fear I had. I just went for it. It felt very natural with the limited prep I had put towards my first speech.

For speech three, I plan to give a toast to my mom for coming so far in life despite the setbacks she’s faced. This was my best speech I believe. I say that because I spent the most time prepping for this speech that I memorized everything.

Why These Reflective Moments Matter?

I think these speeches highlighted parts of my personality. On one side I could do impromptu speeches with can be kind of informal like birthday parties or the kinds held at weddings. I could nail that. These speeches also highlight things that I struggle with like conveying my ideas to a large crowd. I could present what I wanted to say to a small crowd if it was something somewhat insignificant, but if I were to try and reach a large audience it would be rather different. The one thing I would share is that I’m not afraid of telling my stories. It’s more so conveying them and not being nervous.

Journal #19

I think that speech four was somewhat relaxing in a way. It wasn’t as overwhelming as trying to prepare a whole speech by myself, but it definitely took a lot more communication in order to pull this off since one of our classmates lives off campus. I think we forgot to add noise to the hospital scene, but it probably would have become a distraction. Also, I could have held the microphone a little higher in order to seem a bit more into it, but it’s the nerves. I was a little worried about the editing portion because I can’t edit anything even if my life depended on it. I applaud my classmate for being able to magically put everything together. I can’t really say much about the audience’s reaction because it’s not as if we we’re actually telling jokes, but I felt as if we caught their attention. I know that I need to work on slowing down when I speak. The news anchor role fit me because I like the minor detailed stuff. It appeals to my informal method of giving a speech. From the feedback I got in class, I was able to suggest ideas to help tie our project together as to why we chose to become a pharmacist. I definitely think that if I didn’t rehearse for two hours before we filmed, then we probably wouldn’t have completed the video. Abby Bloom wrote out the script of what we were going to say originally, and we all made modifications to it. Getting props together too took time, but we did it.

Final Journal for Public Speaking

The weeks went by and I’m glad I had the opportunity to spend time with you guys. I wanted to thank all my classmates for helping me on this public speaking journey. I thank you all for your honest feedback and for helping me to become a better public speaker. I still find speaking to a large group of people very nerve rocking, but I’ve gained a lot of courage in terms of dealing with my stage fright. Everyone’s words of encouragement have helped me to take these speeches by the horn. What more could a girl ask for? I want to give a shout out to my news crew Cassidy and Abby Bloom. I also wanted to thank Andrew for doing the podcasts with me. I thought I was going to have the roughest time in this course, but everyone was more than happy to help out and I really appreciate that.