John Ocampo Blog (SPC 2608-7 LEC 4730)

                               My Experience In Public Speaking             

            

   When I first signed up for public speaking, I had no idea what to expect from this course. I was beyond nervous and anxious to begin this class. The first task handed to us was a group project that involved teaching chapters 7-9 to the class. When going into the groups among ourselves we needed to decide on who would lead the group and who would oversee the technology aspect of the presentation. I was hesitant in volunteering for the leader position because I didn’t know anyone in the group. I usually enjoy being the leader of groups because I’m extremely organized and like taking the challenge of managing the group's tasks. I decided on taking the position once all my team members agreed on it. Then Isabelle volunteered for a tech person, which filled the last spot of the group. Then after deciding the leadership roles in the group, I made sure everyone in the group had ordered their Intro to public speaking book. I ordered mine on amazon and received it in 2 days. After receiving it I opened it up and headed towards my chapters which were 7-9. From there on I made sure to see how many group members we had to evenly divide the topics. I decided on taking chapter 7 topics 1-3 and Joe got the last 2 topics of chapter 7. Then in chapter 8, Heyner would do topics 1-3 and Katelyn the last two topics. Lastly, in chapter 9 which Isabelle did topics 1-3 and Jacques the last 2 topics. After everyone’s chapters were assigned, I started to read chapter 7 to have a better understanding of my topics.

The first thing I went over in chapter 7 was effective delivery. So, what is effective delivery? Effective delivery is how a presenter can efficiently deliver their presentation to their audience in a way where the listeners actively comprehend what the presenter is saying. To start off with, active gestures are important to utilize in a presentation. The presenter wants to actively move their hands to emphasize certain things in the presentation. This will grab the audience's attention and allow them to see that your dialogue is important due to the active gestures you add. Secondly, the way the presenter speaks and the formality the presenter uses is vital to a successful presentation. The presenter wants to aim for a conversational tone to provide the audience an opportunity to ask questions. It creates a comfortable environment for the listeners and allows them to actively listen. If a presenter sounds like a robot it tends to be difficult to pay attention. Lastly, eye contact is a crucial piece to the presentation. For example, the presenter is giving their presentation but never has constant eye contact and is either looking at their slides or their paper with the information. This will cause a lack of connection between both parties and the audience could be disengaged.

The second topic really opened a lot of different avenues in terms of how you can deliver a presentation. I had no idea a presentation could be delivered in 5 different modes. I learned that there are 5 modes to a presentation which are: extemporaneous, memorized, manuscript, impromptu, and question and answer. Each mode has its positives and negatives depending on how you utilize the mode you select. For example, the Impromptu mode is where a presenter gives a presentation with no prior preparation. This can usually be done when the presenter has experience or knowledge of the topic being discussed. Its positive effect s that no preparation is required, but the downside is that the outcome can be unknown. Memorized mode is my personal favorite out of the 5 modes. The reason is that once you successfully memorize all the content you maximize your delivery and gestures in the presentation. The negative that can stem from this type of mode is that if a presenter stumbles on a line or forgets what they're supposed to say it tends to be difficult to recover from that point on. Another mode that I had no idea about was question and answer. I had previous knowledge about the Q&A concept, however, I thought that it was just a dedicated section of the presentation. But in reality, you can do a whole presentation on questions and answers. It’s such an amazing concept because you can actively engage with the audience and answer their questions. Then we have extemporaneous mode which tends to be a favorite among presenters. This mode allows the presenter to use notes to highlight key points during the presentation. One advantage that can come from using this mode of delivery is that it’s extremely versatile because you can adjust your presentation depending on the audience’s responses. Then we have Manuscript mode, which is where the presenter prior to the presentation writes out the complete speech in advance and then uses it to deliver the speech. An advantage of this mode can help presenters avoid any errors when delivering their speech. A disadvantage is that you become disconnected from your audience since eye contact is reduced and it can limit the gestures used.

Next, I looked at my last and final topic which was how can you use your voice effectively. Prior to reading the topic, I had a decent understanding of certain techniques that could be used to achieve the effectiveness many presenters seek. First, you need to adjust the rate to the content you’re displaying and keep in mind the audience you have in front of you. When a presenter speaks extremely fast it can be difficult to keep up, which can cause the audience to lose interest. Then we have the pause for effect which is a great technique to use to get the audience to soak in the information you previously said. It’s also useful when you want to emphasize a certain point. The one technique that I learned and believe is superior to the rest is the use of volume for emphasis. This is where the presenter decides the loudness or softness of their voice. When using different variations it can create emotion, importance, suspense to the presentation. This technique is great to get the audience engaged. One example could be Martin Luther King Jr and how he used his voice and put such emphasis on his tone, which created a sense of empowerment.

So, after learning about topics 1-3 in chapter 7 I started the process of practicing my presentation. I decided to schedule a practice session with the group on Sunday at 10 am. This would give us a better picture of how long everyone would take on their slides, and for us as a group to get comfortable with each other on camera. As a group, only 4 of us showed up, which I understood that most team members had to go to work. It became a challenge however because we had no clear indicator of how long it would take everyone to finish their slides. Just alone between the 4 who showed up for the presentation rehearsal, it took 50 mins not accounting for the other two team members. As a result, I decided to schedule one more rehearsal to see if we can get all members to join. It was on Thursday from 11-12 pm. For the most part, everyone was on the same page and would attend this meeting, and this was the day before the real presentation date. Unfortunately, I could not attend due to a math exam, but at least the rest of my team members did.

Finally, it was our day to present the project we all worked so hard on. But before I continue, I just want to say everyone else who presented did a phenomenal job demonstrating each of the chapters. I truly learned a lot about the art of presenting and took a lot from each presentation. Moving forward to our presentation Kasandra did an amazing job introducing our presentation. Then I followed with the first 3 slides of the presentation. At first, I was anxious, but by the time I hit the second slide it became natural, and I felt confident due to all the preparation prior. From there on, every single person in my group did a fantastic job in delivering their presentation. To conclude, it was a great experience to lead this group and I learned a lot while creating my presentation and reading each of the topics I was assigned.