Change making into my public speaking.

 The first time I presented I was very nervous and felt my hand shaking about the upcoming presentation. I felt so much anxiety because I was scared how much I’ll forget what I’ll need to say. 

People tend to feel anxious about public speaking, yet I discovered through my entire course study that public speaking functions as a highly effective form of communication which can create essential social transformations. The beginning of my course studies showed me that public speaking made me feel anxious, and I discovered that delivering my brief speech created a fearsome challenge. The public speaking practice during the course has helped me develop greater comfort with delivering speeches, while I have found the course to provide useful skills for public speaking and social impact through various means of communication.

The most significant lesson I have learned during my whole course study shows that practice creates major improvements. The first time I presented I was very nervous and felt my hand shaking about the upcoming presentation. I felt so much anxiety because I was scared how much I’ll forget what I’ll need to say. I received an advance presentation case which required two people to present an upcoming presentation. The situation presented a difficult challenge, yet I needed to treat it as an opportunity for learning because I needed to present information throughout the presentation. Being put into that position as a team member led to me being a more developed speaker and more confident. Sometimes I still have anxiety when it comes to public speaking, my skills have gotten better since joining the public speaking class. 

Through the past 2 months being able to learn and communicate with my team boosted my confidence. The team needed to develop a structured presentation which required organizing all their ideas and selecting team members to match each idea before creating a seamless presentation flow between speakers. I learned about the importance of teamwork in communication through my experience of presenting our project while my team member composed a blog reflection about our project. Our category studied people who changed American culture and American politics and American social practices during the twentieth century. I was able to learn about the importance of effective communication by reading about the various people listed above. These people were remembered not because of the social change they brought about, but rather because of the way they inspired others to do the same. Working in a group taught me the value of preparation, which is another crucial lesson. Each member of the group was accountable for their portion of the presentation. A seamless presentation was very important. 

Thus, through the way the presentation was arranged as mentioned above, it was possible for us to illustrate the different ways in which the change could be brought about in different areas of society. Musicians could bring change in culture, activists could bring change in society, and political leaders could bring change in politics. Through my perusal of the different individuals mentioned above, it was possible for me to learn about the power of effective communication. These individuals were remembered not because of the change they brought about in society, but because of the way they communicated and inspired the people around them to bring about a change in society. Another important thing that I learned while working in a group was the importance of preparation. It was the responsibility of all the members of the group to contribute their part to the presentation. It was important that the presentation was smooth. Thus, we practiced how we would transition from one person to another so that the presentation was not like a number of speeches being delivered by different people. It was important that we were comfortable speaking in front of one another instead of the entire class.

Although there are disadvantages of working in a group, there are also some advantages. All the members of the group had something different to offer in terms of skills in making a presentation. Some members of the group were good at gathering detailed information, others were good at explaining ideas, and others were good at making power point slides. This helped us in making a presentation that was greater than the sum of its parts. Perhaps this was the most important skill I learned from working on this project. I learned how to use power point in a way that would be effective in a presentation. I learned how to use it in a way that would help the speaker instead of distracting the speaker.

Another good thing about this class was listening to the presentations from other groups. For instance, Group 2 presented chapters 4, 6, 7, and 8. I learned how to present a successful speech from the presentation by Group 2. For instance, I learned how to come up with ideas for a speech, how to analyze the information, how to research the information, and how to present the information in a good way. I think this group did a good job in explaining the purpose of a speech and how to use examples and stories in a speech. Many members of the group were good at presenting their ideas with confidence. I enjoyed listening to the presentation by this group because I learned more about the ideas presented through the examples used in the speech. I think this group did a good job in giving examples in a way that would help the rest of us in class to understand more about the ideas presented.

However, from listening to these presentations, I have learned a few things about a successful speech. For instance, I have learned that if one is not sure of what to present in a speech, the presentation is boring and repetitive. I have learned that one should always practice before presenting a speech to ensure that one is able to present well and that one is able to connect well with the audience. I have learned that practicing is important since it helps one to ensure that one is able to present the information well without struggling to remember what to present next.

This class has helped me become a better public communicator. I have learned from this class that public communication is an important skill since I learned how to communicate well with my team and how to present my ideas well to my audience. I have learned that public communication is not scary since I became confident after listening to presentations from my fellow students. I have learned how to present my ideas well from listening to these students’ presentations. I have learned how to communicate well with my team from this class.

Most importantly, I have learned from this class that communication can change the world since I learned about public communication from changemakers such as Martin Luther King Jr., Theodore Roosevelt, and powerful artists. These are people who used communication to empower other people and change the world. Learning about these public communicators and at the same time becoming a better public communicator has been the most important thing I have learned from this class. By the end of this class, I have learned that public communication is not only about presenting your ideas to your audience; it is about communicating your thoughts to your audience while at the same time being confident about expressing your thoughts.