Self-Evaluation

Looking back at my speeches, I was amazed of the gap between my three speeches. As from what I've seen, the third speech was an improvement for me and I was able to execute the meaning of my topic because I had so many supporting ideas of facts and statistics in my speech. However, looking at the down-side of my speech, I noticed that I added more facts and less of what to say and tell the audience why the main idea is an important thing. So I extended my details while I had little explanation. As for how my speech went overall, I was confident that I would be able to present my topic but then I was still nervous as I was making my speech. Thus, I left out some minor information that I actually wanted to say and after the speech, I would be "damn, I forgot to say this". If this presentation were to be presented again, I would make my speech better by trying to have more explanation in my speech and practice more so that I would feel comfortable in my speech. Memorizing can be a helpful thing, but sometimes after memorizing and then trying to remember what it was after forgetting, we would have that silent moment.

The difference between this recent speech and my last speech was of course the format of the speech since it was a different pattern. One was persuasion while the other was informative. Somehow, it seemed as if I was more comfortable in my previous speech than this recent one. I was less nervous in my previous speech and I was able to say what I wanted to say and say it. I guess it was because the previous speech was similar to my first speech and this last speech was different because we had to use our persuasion to convince the audience. Then again, I was able to time myself in my recent speech because I sped through my second speech hoping to finish it. As a result I left out information that can give out more detail about the topic and that was what I was able to do on my last speech. However, if we think about it, there are always improvements in our next speech and bad things that we do. As for eye contact, I drastically improved on this part as I was making my last speech. This is because my first two speeches
had problems with eye contact since I look at the power point, computer, and note cards a lot. However, it was practice and I was able to pull it off and look at the audience more with the help of the first two speeches. Thus I would rate myself a 7 from a scale of 1-10. I also think that because I was able to look at the audience more in my third speech, I stuttered more and was more nervous.

From the performance of my speech, there were ups and downs as usual. Then again, improvement is a for sure every time we present. With what I've seen in my presentation, I would give myself a B-. There were still some lack of certain concepts that I needed to work on, but there were also improvements that I noticed although it was not a huge improvement but at least it was something.

Through memory from what I've remember since there were technical difficulties in my last speech through the video, I actually mentioned a lot of my sources. Compared to my previous and first speech, I used more sources and actually cited these source when using them on my third speech. From what I've remembered, I cited 4 sources when I was giving the facts to support my explanations in my main points. Based on my three performances of my speech, I thought that my second one was the best. Although it was quick and finished the fastest, I was able to give out the most information because I felt the most confidence in that speech compared to my other two. It would be more logical to say that my best one is my third, but I think it was not because it was an actuative speech where persuasion is a requirement to convince the audience.

Future...

After reading the topic that was given, I actually never thought about using or how to use what I learned in this class and apply it to my future encounter in public speaking or anything related. This is an interesting idea and as I think about it, it would really help my future experience and what I meant by it was the speech and how to prepare. Knowing that this is my first time taking a public speaking class and first time having an actual presentation that requires from start to end, it would be helpful. Before, I would just present what is there and all the ideas and concept of the topic would be scattered. However, now that things can be structured from the beginning of the speech to the ending of it, I will be more organized. So, for future presentations, I will be prepared and know what to do and actually know how to prepare and how to present my speech. Although I will be nervous, but what can you say...everyone gets nervous and the only way is keep presenting and making speeches.

Speech...

After looking at the three speeches, one through memory, I found that I've improved but not drastically. Then again, improvement is improvement. Out of these 3 speeches, I thought that my second one was my best. I felt like I had more confident in my second speech although I did more in my third because of the experience from the previous speeches. This confident is due to the first speech. Since the pattern and format of the first two speeches were similar and related, I was able to use the first speech as a reference when I made my second speech. Since the third speech had a different pattern and different format, I did not feel as comfortable as how I was on my second speech. Also, speeches that give information about a topic is harder than speeches that is trying to persuade the audience because persuasion takes more effort. Also, when persuading we need more knowledge than the audience so that their opinions will be convinced through our words. In the end, I seemed to be less nervous as I made my second speech compared to the first and last one.

Concept

Overall, I thought the videos were very useful although the book was also helpful. This is because the video shows the different types of persuasion, how to organize your outline, the types that are included in the outline, how to format your speech, and more. Although the book has it too, I think I learn better through watching the video. Besides, I think it's better for me to listen rather than reading the book. What's best is that it's short and you can always refer back to it easily. As for helping preparing my speech, these videos helped me a lot because I was actually able to apply some of it to my speech. Aside from the videos, the outline provided from the class was very helpful because I was able to organize my speech and know what to say in the speech. It also helped me have a broad outline of how the speech will work out and how it should start and end. Thus, with having this said, without the outline, I would not be able to know how to outline my speech and I would probably be unorganized.

Disc 3 Chapter 15 concept

What I found interesting from the reading in chapter 15 were the types of appeals. These types are logos, ethos, pathos, and mythos. Each type has their own concept in explaining the evidence effectively. For logos, it proves through logic by facts and statistics. For ethos, it uses speaker's credibility to reference the expertise on the topic. As for pathos, it proves by using emotional effects such as quotes or stories. Last which is mythos, it describes the cultural beliefs and values such as telling a cultural past or a well-known fable. These appeals rely on different ways to influence the audience. in order to use these, it would depend on when and how we use them because we cant just use one that would not fit on what the topic is about.

Disc 2 Persuasion

Just thinking about it, I can only remember the time I tried persuading someone in my group of friends on where to go eat because we had so many choices among the groups. The funny thing was, this always happens because we never knew where to go so then we waste a lot of hours just to decide on where to go. Of course some of those time are sidetracked subjects. Anyways, it was not that hard to persuade them because they were all hungry. However there is this one time where a few of my friends were so picky that it took us awhile just to agree on one place. Each of them wanted a different kind of food because they were hungry for it. Then as they name places to eat, two other friends and me were giving explanations to why the restaurant or fast food place is bad due to expenses and quality of food, sometimes even quantity. So the idea was that we had to give reasoning from past experiences and through online research from ratings from other people. It worked pretty well, although sometimes a few have disagreements on what me or my other friend say and the conversation would go back and forth until one of us gives up.

April 26 - May 2 Disc. 1

As I watch the pros and cons of home schooling, I found that both of these speeches had the same structure. Both followed the outline which I found interesting because it was very organized. Both also had support and details with facts and statistics to support the main points and their opinion on home schooling. Furthermore, both had a good introduction to start off with and a good conclusion to conclude their speech. They also did a lot of eye contacts and their gestures and they way they speak was unique in a way that they were trying to persuade the audience that their idea is correct. In my opinion, I would agree with the cons in public schooling although the pros of home schooling was so amazing that Dixie took the bad ideas of home schooling and turned it around. That reminds me about one of the concept that was discussed in chapter 14. The types of appeals that both were using were logos and a little bit of mythos. It was mostly logos since most of their main points were proven through facts and statistics from their research.

April 19-25

What I found interesting in Chapter 14 were the 5 types of audience and persuasion strategies. These five types are Negative audience, positive audience, divided audience, uninformed audience, and apathetic audience. These five types have their own way of persuading the audience. They are unique in the fact that each of these strategies can be used depending on what kind of audience there is. For example of the negative audience, it would be used for topics that the audience do not favor. Thus we can use the strategy that the book gives and persuade our audience. As for the positive, it is for topics that are favorable for the same position as the writer. The divided audience, which I think was interesting, look at both ways where it is both negative and positive. Thus I think this can convince all audiences. Overall, if we can use all of these types of strategies, then we would accomplish our wa of persuading the audience.

April 19-25 Discussion 2

We are immersed in the sea of persuasion through many things. One of the really popular way of convincing the public is through the media. As we hear things and find new information, we grasp it and believe that it is true. Even in advertisements, people are fooled into believing it the things that the advertisement is trying to get to. I remember my senior year in high school how so many colleges came by to make a presentation about their college. They started talking about their specialties and the advantages that will be given to students if students apply to that college. This is a way of persuasion to convince students that this college is the best and that it has the program provide for them. Persuasion is a powerful tool and if it is abused too much, then the public that are convinced will do things beyond what they don't know. Everyone has been convinced at least once already and that's the way of life and if people don't get convinced, the society would not turn out right. By becoming a critical consumer of persuasive messages, it would be harder for the persuaders to convince us. Thus, we will need to think what's best for us and moreover what would be best for the group if it deals with a group of people. If we just assume that the persuasion is correct, we would easily lose.

April 19-25 Discussion 1

Since the last speech will be different form the first two because it is an actuative speech, the main points will slightly be different. As how it was discussed in the last meeting, the main points will be the Need, Satisfactory, and Visualization. In these three points, I will be describing about the uniforms in schools. For Need, I will describe how people are not expressed because they cannot show their individuality. For satisfactory, I will explain ways such as banning uniforms or less restrictions for uniforms. As for the last main point, I will talk about the the common mistake if people wear the same thing. By beginning and ending my speech, I will still use the introduction and conclusion but it will be modified a little so it will fit with the persuation style. After looking at the different types of persuading audiences, which are negative or hostile, positive or sympathetic, divided, uninformed, and apathetic, I would most likely choose the divided audience or informed. There might be two side to the argument that I will be making. So it would be better to convince the audience to look at one side. Thus the divided audience is a good source for this problem. Like how the book says in steps, demonstrate the arguments for and against the issue, establish credibility and common ground among audiences, address the objection, and then reinforce the position. Although this type is good, I think that if we can use all 5 strategies, it would definitely persuade the audience.

Chapter Concept

What I found interesting was how the book talked about the differences of cultures. I was amazed how each countries have their own way of speaking; that is being loud can be a downfall for speaking in public. There are different ways in grabbing the audience's attention and being conceited or having too much pride in oneself is a bad way of having a speech. However, this is because everyone has their own culture and their different way of making a speech and so we are different ways to have a good speech. In general, most speakers would be very polite because the main key of the speaker is the audience.

April 12-18 Discussion

It's interesting how one word can change everything. As a matter of fact, not only it changes everything, it can cause different auras around people's environment. The word girl, or even boy, can be racist if we think that it's racist. In my opinion, I think that these words are only ways to point out who the person is. If there are no words such as these, how will we be able show what the person is. For example, saying that girl or that woman or that boy. We can always say that person, but then again if we do, then everyone would be the same and there would be no individuality between one another. As I read the textbook and relate it to the discussion, it was interesting because it tells us when to use it or when not to. Thus, we will know when to say these things to the audience depending on the subject

April 12-18 Speech Buddy

In the videos of chapter 10, what I found interesting was the audience-centered language. With this, the speaker can make the audience feel as if they are part of the speaker and to think that they are in a group. I also did not know that if we use the word we, us, you, and I, it helps make a better environment with the audience. However the bad part about this concept is that it might offend certain individuals. In chapter 12, I thought that the effectiveness of vocal delivery was something that everyone should look at. Although everyone has most of the criteria in this, I still believe that we still stumble on it sometimes. For instance, the rate as a speaker is making a speech; as I was comparing my recent speech and my first one, I seemed to speak really fast on my second speech. The five aspects was also helpful because although these are requirements, some, or even most, of us still have trouble in these aspects. I still have trouble with these aspects, especially eye contact.

April 5-11 Chapter 11

Presentations with a visual aid such as the powerpoint is very useful when making the speech. Yet I believe we abuse it too much and thus it creates a bad aura between the audience and the speaker due to the eye contact with the powerpoint more than the audience. However, when I read chapter 11, I found some useful tips about the visual aid. What I found useful in chapter 11 was the concept of Digital Slide Design Tips. In this concept it shows the tips in designing your visual aid so that it can be more effective. One way is to avoid relying on text or numbers. There are more such as limiting the amount of bullet points for each slide, decrease the number of words for each bullet point, having a cleaner and larger font, choosing the right transitions that goes with the topic, and avoiding special effects. These tips are helpful because they help the audience to have a more comfortable view of the powerpoint.This is because the visual aid is something for the audience to look at and I believe what the audience wants to see are pictures that interest them rather than words because words are for the speaker to present and to speak to the audience. This saying that speaker is the words of the presentation and the visual aid is the images of the presentation for the audience to entertain.

April 5-11 Speech with the other 5...

For this activity, I chose my friends for the group of five people to present to. Their names were Anny, Tran, Ryan, Dustin, and Patrick. I picked these five because I hang out with them the most and they are my close friends. Not only that, they also tell the truth rather than covering the bad information and act as if I did an excellent job on my speech. Furthermore, other than giving me what I need to work on, they also give me tips and how I can improve. The difference between this speech and the speech on Friday was that I was able to actually manage my time. In addition to that, I didn't use my notecards as much and the eye contact with my audience improved. I was also able to make jokes This was because I believe that I performed in front of my friends, so then I am confident and wasn't as nervous as how I was making the speech on Friday. Since I know them already, it was a different environment compared to making the speech in front my my classmates. What I would do differently if I were to do the speech again, I would try to memorize what I want to say although that is really hard, but then it would be good because I won't need to use the notecards. However the downfall would be that I might stop at certain just to revise what I should say next. So most importantly, I would try to pace myself as I make the speech. The feedback that I got from the five people that I chose was all similar to each other and one would say the problem while the other would add more to it. One was stutter; there would be a point where I would forget what to say or I know what to say but lost it because I didn't whether I shouold say it or not or if its the right time to say. Then again, this exercise was useful because not only that I was able to present my speech again, I was also confident in what I wanted to say and that it was easier and helpful in a way that more tips and points in what I can do to improve my speech was given.

April 5 -1 Self-Evaluation

There were a few things that I needed to work on before presenting on the last speech...or maybe there was a lot of things. Well, After reading the evaluation from my peers, there were good thins and there were bad things. Then again, the purpose of my speech was presented in a...I would say...decent way. This meaning that I was able to execute the purpose of the speech but the information I gave was not thorough. Aside from the purpose of my speech, I felt comfortable and confident as I was making my speech in a way that it was clear and well-developed. However, the bad news was that I was speeding just to finish my speech. This was because I thought that I would not be able to present all the information I have due to the previous speech, but it ended up me finishing earlier than usual. This also caused my audience to not pick up the information quickly because I was zooming through the information like a speed of light. If I had to do it over again, I would totally time myself and pace it so then I won't need to worry much about the time managing part.

One thing that would really like to change is the interaction between me and the powerpoint or the notecards because this shows the fact that the contact between the audience and the speaker is very bad. Thus, in delivering my next speech, I hope that this won't happen and I would be able to speak out while having eye contact with the audience instead of looking at the visual aid and the notecards at times. The difference between my first speech and my last speech was that I was able to present all the information I wanted to present on my last speech and I didn't on my first one. However the time between the two speeches were different, such that I finished in time on my first one but then I finished early on my recent speech. If we were to say if its an improvement or not, I would say that I improved in different areas but stayed the same in certain areas. As for distraction, I don't think I did anything that distracted teh audience but I believe that I shouldn't do hand movements a lot.

In the sense that I gave the information and statistics to the audience, I did not mention the sources that I used when I was presenting the facts. However I did mention one source and that was all, which I know that was not good enough to show that I researched through other sources rather than just one. As I watch the video again to see my speech, the good thing was the visual aid, loudness, and the information given, but the bad thing was the fast-talking of my mouth which I should've slowed down, and the eye contact of my presentation. For this reason, I would give myself a B- on a scale from A to F.

March 15-21 Concept

According to what I have read in chapter 13, gatewatching is an interesting concept. Gatewatching is defined as monitoring news sources to analyze and assess the information they produce. I think that this is a useful concept that can apply to a speech. This is because since the audience is the gatewatchers, the speecher has to be more careful when presenting. Since the information that will be given needs to be accurate, it shows that the information that the speacher gives will be true and it will in fact show that the speech was researched before presented. This is a good thing because the audience will for sure knows that the person giving the speech really did his/her research.

March 15-21 Introduction and Conclusion

For introduction, it is very important to give a clear presentation when the introduction is being announced. This is because the introduction starts the speech and introduces the topic to the audience. Without the introduction, we won't be able to even start our speech. The introduction consists of the attention getter, purpose, thesis, and the three main points. All of these components are important and if one is missing, the introduction will fall. I think that the attention getter is important as well as the thesis. First the attention getter grabs the people's attention; without this, the speech won't be interesting. This is why most of the time attention getters are really interesting to listen to and it is unique. As for the thesis, it enforces the audience what the topic is about and leads to the main points.
In a conclusion, it is also important for one to reinforce this element after presenting the body of the speech. The conclusion ties everything together and reminds the audience what the topic is. The conclusion contains the revised main points, purpose, and closure. The main points are revised to tell the audience that that was what the speech was about in the body. For purpose, it also reminds the audience that what the topic is about. Last but not least, the closure wraps up and end the speech.
I remember how I presented my last presentation. I forgot to tell the main points in the introduction and when I remembered, it was too late because I was on my first main point already. As for conclusion, all of the components were enforced but not the purpose. This is why I think it is a good idea to have an outline of how the introduction and conclusion goes in my note card when I present so I can remember.

March 15-21 Speech Buddy

As I watch videos 9.1 and 9.2, I found that the introduction and the conclusion are very important to enforce the audience the main points and the purpose of the speech. I remembered having my speech and it was terrible for both the introduction and conclusion. As for introduction, my main points were given after I presented my first main point which was a bad thing. For conclusion, I forgot to give a closure to end my speech and so the audience did not know if the speech ended or not. After watching the three speeches from chapter 13, I was amazed how all of their format was the same. There was an introduction and conclusion. The main points, purpose, and thesis was also given. Other materials such as attention getter, closure, examples were also provided in the speeches. If I can use this format, like how the three speeches did, I think that my speech would go smooth enough and that it would meet the time requirement also.

March 8-14 Transitions

Transitions are important when we make our speeches. Although I had my transitions ready and was about to present it, I forgot and had not transition in my speech. It was very weird since there were no transitions from one main point to another. Transitions are similar to connectors and without connectors, the main pieces will fall and it will not flow. After reading the transitions concept section of chapter 8, I had a clearer understanding. There are different types of transitions in which these different types consists of words and phrases. It was helpful how the book gives a lot of examples for transitions words. Other than that, I was amazed how rather than having transitions for only main points, we also need to have it for introduction and also conclusion. At first I thought that transitions are not needed for conclusions but now that I have read it, transitions for conclusions link the last main point of the topic and then the conclusion wraps up all the main points that was covered. Let's just hope that I won't forget to present my transitions again.

March 8-14 Facts and Statistics

Many speechwriters use facts and statistics to supposedly help the speeches they compose. Facts and statistics are powerful tools, but they are also tools that could destroy the speaker’s main idea.While facts and statistics are least effective when their relevance is unapparent in speeches, they are most effective when they clarify the speaker’s point almost immediately. A speech’s first impression is crucial in order to appeal to the audience. If there are facts and statistics that do not register as useful to the audience immediately, it can easily be forgotten. When this happens, it feels as if the speaker wasted words and there lies the possibility that the audience will lose concentration and interest on the idea. On the other hand, facts and statistics could greatly help a speech. Useful evidence clarifies the point in a speech, and presenting facts and statistics useful to the main idea is, in essence, the repetition of the same idea. As the facts and statistics clarify what the speaker means, the idea is ingrained into their minds multiple times.

March 8-14 Speech Buddy

As I watch 7.1, I learned that different types of supporting materials has their own advantages and disadvantages. For narratives, it is good to give a story but it can take away the main idea. Next was examples and it was interesting for me because examples help the audience to understand the meaning but sometimes it does not belong in the same group like how Erin explained in the video. I didn't know what testimony was until I saw the video and it was the way of showing credibility and provide different voices but it may be biased to another. As for facts and statistics, all of us used this which was for example, the powerpoint, to give an idea. After watching video 8, I also learned that there are patterns of organization. The first one was spatial and it gives a visual understanding of the topic. Next was the topical pattern and it explains how the elements come together. After was narrative and it helps the audience and the speaker to interact by participating. The cause-and-effect can be used for informative and persuasive which it might help for my next speech. Since the problem-solution pattern shows the problem and solve it to convince the audience, this would be very helpful for the persuasive speech that is coming up. Last but not least was transtitions: ordering, reinforcing, contrasting, chronology, causality, and summarizing. These transitions can be used as I make my outline and as I make my speech which it can also improve my speeches.

Self-Evaluation

As I look back at my speech and see how I did in my presentation, there were a lot of changes. The purpose was to send a message to the audience of what the topic is about and the importance of the topic. Like before, I was afraid that the purpose was not delivered to the audience and there would be no point of a speech if the purpose was not shown. However, after watching the video that was recorded, as an overall rating of how I performed I think that the purpose that I was trying to prove was accomplished although it was not thoroughly, but the gist of it was presented. As for confidence and comfortable speech, it was very hard for me to express since my weakness was presenting in front of audiences. I did not feel comfortable because I believe that although I knew what I had to say, I was not ready to perform those aspects of what I want to say. As for confidence, it was just that the courage in presenting in front of many people is very weak. Having to do it over again, I would most likely change the way how I organized my speech since I noticed the order of what goes first and what goes after was distorted and I believe this was because through my nervousness.

One goal that I would have for improving the content in my next speech is the organization. As before, my organization was very weak and after watching the video, I found out that my thesis was given after I have presented my first topic. Since things were out of order, I start to lose the momentum and stop at certain points to pick up what I forgot. For the delivery section, I believe that if I put more time into how I present and the step-by-step into making the speech, it would have been better. To add on to this, I noticed that I use a lot of filler words to replace the quietness when I get stuck as I was making my speech. Furthermore, aside from filler words, I also move my hands a lot although I did not move around at all. Another thing I found that was really disturbing was that I kept looking back at the powerpoint slide to point out the details and pictures of what I was saying and that kept me from making eye contact with the audience and if I was to rate my eye contact with the audience, I would give myself a 6 - 7 from a scale of 1-10.

Sources are important and citing them is extremely important because if we don't cite the sources, it would mean that we are plagiarizing. As for the pictures that I have posted up on my power point slide, the last slide was reserved for the citations of all the pictures that I used. However more importantly was mentioning the sources that I used to deliver my speech. Without the sources, I would not be able to even research about my topic and find out facts about it. Although I was making my speech, I did not mention anything about my source such as: "According to.....". It was terrible and I had forgotten to mention the sources as I lay out the facts that I found in these sources. As a result, on a scale from A-F, I would give myself a because although I had all the information, the time management in giving my speech was not efficient and this resulted in leaving out some information. Not only that, I also did not give a lot of eye contact since some of the time I either look at my power point and look at my note cards after stuttering.

Discussion: Chapter 5 Concept

In chapter 5, one of the concept that I found interesting was the Audience Research Questionnaire. As it was always told, asking questions is always the best way to learn and gather information. In this concept, the book explains that this will get a "sense of your audience's standpoints, values, beliefs. and attitudes" and this will actually help us have a closer look towards what our audience actually wants. Like how the book said, as we ask questions, we will be able to gather data to research on what it's about. With such surveys, it will also help us find out the statistics of what our audience thinks.

Discussion: Audience

The concept of audience adaptation and audience analysis are useful tools that can we can use as an advantage when we make our speeches. For audience analysis, we can determine if the audience is interested in the speech that we are making. We may also see who the audience will be and how to attract them through what we say. On the other hand, audience adaptation is another concept to keep the audience interested in our speech. By using audience analysis, I hope it will enhance my ability of getting to know the audience better and have a comfortable environment. How? hmmm.....I will try to not make the audience get bored as I make my speech and keep them entertained with information that would interest them.

Discussion: Speech Buddy

In the Review Drinking video, Matthew seemed to be confident but then the speech went downhill as in enthusiasm. Also his eye contact was not completely looking at the audience since he was looking at the note cards half or more of the time. However, I think that the speech that he made was clear and the concept of the cause of drinking was defined with ideas. As for the Light Pollution video, Courtney seemed a little nervous and was speeding up. I think that I would probably be nervous too but these videos showed me that note cards are very helpful.

Week 4 Discussion #3

A concept that I believe would be useful in chapter 6 is through internet resources. I think this is useful because it is the most widespread information throughout the world. It is very common for everyone to use the internet as a tool to find the information they need. However, compared to other resources, I think that the internet gives the most information than any other sources since most people in the world have the internet to access to what they want. On the other hand, it is also easy if you already have internet because you don't have to worry about getting to certain places to find your information. Furthermore, I think that internet gives the most information because with so many sources posted up, it is a matter of fact of getting as much information as possible to present a speech; like how they always say...but opposite: quantity over quality.

Week 4 Discussion #2

As I watch chapter 6 video, there are many ways through searching the topic that is chosen. Like how Evan discussed in the video, print and non-print, organization, interviews, and the internet are ways for us to find information on what we need to. The steps to getting the information was the crucial part as of what Evan said. Since this is the part where information will be found, it is up to the person that is researching to whether absorb the information or not and if the information is valuable. Another thing that I learned was to ask myself what would the author think and what are the author's opinions as I read the article. To do my research, following the steps like how Evan said is a good way to start off: "prepare to do your research, gather your information, and evaluate the sources".
Oh and I also learned a lot about slugs. =]

Week 4 Discussion #1

I remember having to do an entrepreneurship presentation for my govt./econ class in high school. What we had to do was find en entrepreneur or a boss of a company and interview that person about how s/he became successful or in what ways. It was basically making up our own questions and asking them. After that, we use the answered questions to make a power point and present it in front of our class. The person I interviewed was a person that owns a fast food restaurant in Los Gatos. I forgot what the name of the place was but it was a fast food where they sell burgers similar to In-n-Out. What went well was how I was able to interview him since it is really hard to have a one-on-one talk with a person that is busy most of the time. I was also able to get the information I needed. However, when presenting I left out some of the important information because I panicked and rushed through the presentation. I would say to not rush things and consider when presenting. Slow down and present; take your time and say what you have to say. =]

Discussion #3

After reading chapter 4, I never pay attention to how the audience would think until I read the "Consider the Audience" section of chapter 4. I would always think that if I make a good speech, then it would be great and the audience would like it. Of course the topic is one of the most important key to entertain the audience but I just realized that although the topic is a tool of showing interests to the audience, it is how the topic is given. If I just give a simple speech about the topic, then the audience would probably know most of what it's about. "Consider time, setting, and speaking event" was also helpful because certain topics shouldn't be presented at certain places, time, or environment because it might cause a problem towards the speaker and the audiences.

Discussion #2

In the video 2.1, visualization, relabeling, and relaxation are ways to manage anxiety. I learned that staying calm while presenting, it would help to present with less fear. Breathing is also a process of inhaling and exhaling that can release tension that may stress out my body. In 2.2, I learned there are certain ways that I can overcome my nervousness such as locating my weak points and develop them so they can become my strong points. I also learned that giving gestures and hand movements such as how in the video "Intro Jessica" was shown. Jessica also gave a lot of eye contacts with the audiences. I hope in the future, I will be able to use these handy tips when I present.

Discussion 1

What makes me apprehensive about public speaking is that I get nervous easily and I start to finish my presentation as fast as I can. When it comes to presenting by myself, I am really bad at it. I also start to forget what I am going to say when I present, so then I leave out information; and sometimes important ones. What happens the most is that I stutter and start to speak really fast and the next thing you know, my speech is over. I remember people trying to show me different ways of overcoming my fears but it did not work at all.

My name is Darrick Nguyen

Hi, my name is Darrick Nguyen and I am a freshman at SJSU. This is my first time having an online class and I'm still not used to it. As for "public speaking" stories.....I remember having to present many projects in high school. Most of it was very comfortable for me because it was a group presentation. On the other hand, presenting by myself is what I'm very weak at because I get nervous. So for this class, I hope to achieve this fear and bring out my new self after taking this class.