Public Speaking Essay 3

This is the third and final paper that I turned in to my professor of communication, Lou Bruno at Finger Lakes Community College in Newark NY. I believe he was once again very pleased at my awesomeness. Read on, and enjoy it immensely!

Lou Bruno

Public Speaking

Progress Report

by Josiah Teal

When in the course of personal events it became necessary to take a public speaking class, my first thoughts were that of a nervous excitement. I had never really spoken in front of many people before and that fact made me rather nervous. On the other hand, I thought that the opportunity to have all attention on me while I rhapsodize about this and that, all the while impressing my own opinions and getting my point heard would be quite an opportunity.

My first speech was to be an introduction of myself. Rather than taking the traditional route of revealing my hometown, favorite color, favorite food, etc., I chose rather, to explain my personality using an interesting story from my past. Whatever excitement I may have felt prior to getting up in front of the class disappeared as soon as I realized that I now had to remember everything I was going to talk about and get it all out in the right order and in a manner that people would understand all while being critiqued by not only my professor, but by the entire class. I shook with nervous fear. I had to set my paper with the notes down on the desk in front of me because I was shaking too much. I stumbled over words and probably looked really goofy. I became more relaxed as my story progressed. I finished and made my way back to my seat.

The second speech was informative in nature and for it I chose the topic of amateur filmmaking. Having done extensive research on this topic I thought it would turn out pretty well. My experience in this area is largely limited to getting phone calls from friends who wanted to shoot a movie and then, upon arriving at the location of the shoot, realizing that they had done no planning. Nothing would ever get done that way. While delivering the speech I focused on being more relaxed in front of the audience and, while there still was a slight nervous fear remaining, I didn’t let it overpower me. I kept to my topic, all the while trying to limit my urges to expound unnecessarily. I decided to spice the speech up with some lame humor (the kind I’m best at) just to keep everyone interested. My efforts seemed to pay off quite nicely.

For my third speech, the persuasive speech, I chose the topic of gun control. Having recently had a letter published in the newspaper and knowing the argument pretty well, I decided this topic would suit me best. I felt the need to use some visual aids for this presentation but, as you could probably guess, visual aids for a speech on the harmful effects of gun control would be… tricky. I decided that it was time to learn how to use Microsoft Power Point. I put together a simple presentation that I assumed would be easy for the audience to follow. I sat at the computer during the presentation and shouted across the room to the class about this and that. My confidence in the subject decreased as I knew that there was some controversy surrounding what I was saying. I should have stayed my ground seeing as I has the statistics right in front of me and knew the subject well. I used words like “evidently” and “apparently” when I should have used words like “proved” and “without a doubt.” I paused to gather my thoughts at times. Overall however, I think it came out decently. I had expected to do much better but in the end I believe it was acceptable.

In the future I expect to be doing much better. As my confidence increases and as I get to know the members of the audience better my speaking skills should improve. I expect to let the words flow off my tongue like… butter off a hot pancake… or something like that. I am actually looking forward to my final speech the most, as I get to tell everybody how I’m going to become famous and sign autographs for everyone.