Step One: Determining How Change Is Marked

Public speaking used to be a daunting task that I would try to avoid as often as possible, often I would be the last to present a project and would refrain myself from having to read outloud. When I would speak my head would fill with thoughts of how other were perceiving me and how easy it would be to mess up. With this nervous mentality my speaking was stuttered and confusing.

One of my more vivid experiences of public speaking was when I was taking a class at a community college. While taking this class I would often have to give speeches and demonstrations in front of the class. As I was waiting for my turn to give my very first speech, I was very certain that I would have no problems at all, it would a piece of cake, or so I thought. All of a sudden, I hear my name being called as it was my turn to deliver a knockout performance, but as I stood in front of that small class of people I just blanked out. An overwhelming amount of anxiety came over of me. I could feel my heart beginning to race and my hands starting to sweat. I could not for the life of me remember what I was going supposed say. In addition, the

Whether I like it or not I been given the opportunity to talk to large crowds like a squadron or just a couple of people in the class. My problems have always been the same getting shy, anxiety, and even sweating. Learn to analyze the size of the audience, I want to be able to captivate my audience and overall I just need to find the confidence in myself to do it.

Let me start by saying I was nervous, which in itself caught me by surprise. I consider myself a fairly confident person; I’ve always experienced butterflies prior to any public presentation but this was more than that. The nervousness led to other issues such as the vocal characteristics of my presentation. For instance, I stumbled on my words during the introduction, tongue-tied as it were. I saw the words in front of me but couldn’t seem to verbalize them. I stopped, re-grouped and moved forward. I continued with a number of vocalized pauses which prove not only

When I have to get up in front of the class I get really nervous, it is almost like I have a mini panic attack. When it is my turn to give my presentation I feel the same way I did on my first day of fifth grade. My palms sweaty, heart pounding, and heavy breathing. Giving presentations definitely make me step out of my comfort zone. I have to try to breathe and relax then when I finally do that I am all right and actually do not mind it.

A study was done that showed men have more trouble and anxiety than women do speaking to another culture. When you get nervous about public speaking, your brain tries to help you by making your hands shake, knees quiver, and stomach flutter. Which really makes you more nervous than before. Whatever the reason of your nervousness, your brain gets conflicted. You want to do great, but you're not sure if you can actually pull it off. Your breathing increases, your adrenaline starts to pump, and your blood starts rushing through your veins. Then your anxiety starts up, with rapid heartbeats and perspiration

When I gave my speech, I felt confident. I don't exactly have a fear of public speaking- anyone who knows me could tell you that. I looked out to the entire audience for the entire speech because I didn't use note cards. I also kept my energy up throughout the speech which helped keep the audience focused on the speech. I made some jokes, and the audience laughed at most of them, which was a good feeling. But because I failed to fully memorize the speech, there were times that I was left trying to figure out the exact phrasing, which took away from the performance slightly, even though I don't believe it was that big of a deal. I also made a pun by ending my speech with "My speech is all ogre now" and very few people caught it. This was probably due to my poor

From exploring the Internet to acquiring my classmate's opinion, I came to realize that nothing had worked for me and needed to come up with my own tactics. So, I've adopted the habit of practice until made perfect. This motto that I abide by has been utilized since the early stages of my life. I remember the first time I learned how to ride a bike. At first, I was taught the basic understanding. Then it was all about the enduring practice until I had gained confidence to successfully perform the task. I took what I did in the past, and I applied it to the obstacles that I had found most difficult such as riding a bike. Carrying over the same experience for the twelve-year-old me, I struggled with public speaking for as long as I could have remembered. In order to conquer this phobia, I had practiced speaking in front of the mirror over and over again, until it was simply second-nature to

Comparing my first speech to this one, I can see several differences. I can tell by watching and listening that I was very nervous. My first speech was much easier, because it was over a topic that I know endless amounts of information about. I fumbled over my words, and that throws off rhythm, and makes me use several verbal pauses. The first speech, I hardly used my note cards. I did have them filled out but after starting the speech, I just went by the picture order and talked accordingly. My second speech, I could see many of the same mistakes. Being nervous is the main culprit, but practicing more, would have made the presentation smoother. I practiced multiple times, on a few different

Public speaking can be very stressful, regardless of the many techniques out there to assist in calming your nerves. I think that every “first time” is a failure to me. If I’m starting a new class, leading a certain briefing, or addressing new people, I will always walk away with the feeling I could have done better. However, with that way of thinking I feel like it has pushed me to do better and I still use this to continue to show improvement. The first briefing I did as a young soldier to my superior command was almost too overwhelming. I found that after a few minutes it immediately got easier. I now use this experience to assist myself in current situations. I can become very nervous due to the fact that I’m competitive in everything

This time around during the advocacy speeches I was a lot less nervous. It might have been because I have gotten so used to speaking in front of a specific group of people. I’m familiar with them and also the ways that they give speeches. Also preparing for the speech was not as much work as the previous assignments. Since I had previously did most of the research when preparing for the background speech, it wasn’t as time consuming. The only thing to do was pick a specific topic and give my viewpoint on it. I am very opinionated so it was easy to create a script on something that I am so passionate about. I feel as if I have learned a lot about public speaking from watching the different approaches that various people had taken.

Public speaking is one of the most trivialize mastery taught in school, yet it one of the most beneficial thing that we need to overcome some way or another. I’ve been an AVID student for 6 years in total, the AVID program taught me how to be a more outgoing and fearless individual; when it came time to present in front of numerous students. Before, the Avid program I was tense when it came time to my turn to present my topic to the class. People tend to be stressed about doing presentations, because they see countless pairs of eyes setting on them and that makes them very nervous. Individuals have a tendency to freeze, cry, or even have anxiety when they know that they are going to be put in the spotlight. For me, I was constantly being engaged

For as long as I can remember, public speaking has always been one of my greatest weaknesses. Whether it’s a simple in-class presentation or a speech in front of an auditorium filled with people, I can barely get my words out from the anxiety and

Public speaking is a large part of any young adult’s or professional’s life. It is said that if you can’t express your ideas in an understandable and complete way, that you might as well have not thought of them at all. Being able to express your opinions on matters is a life skill that will never stop being useful. To have nuanced and intelligent conversations, you need to be confident enough that anxiety does not get in the way of your ability to convey your thoughts. Being a collected and thoughtful speaker is an invaluable skill that will help you excel in life in not only social, but economic matters as well. Public speaking is a challenging subject to cover since it is not a traditionally taught class. There are not any formulas to learn and for the most part, it is not a passive skill that you can pick up from just observing. The only way to tackle both the anxiety of public speaking, and the struggle to communicate your ideas in a coherent manner, is to get up and do public speaking, and fight through the struggles.

Another interesting experience that helped me gain confidence was my speech communications class with my professor, Mrs. Larson. I knew I didn't have any trouble with talking to a group of people. I love to tell jokes and stories to many people at one time, but I was nervous and somewhat embarrassed about preparing some boring speech and making everyone else suffer by listening to it. Mrs. Larson explained that we all have problems with this and that it can be overcome. I remember something simple she said that stuck in my mind: "The only way to get over the fear of something is to just do it." She was right. As I had to go up to give the speech, her words constantly kept running through my mind. After the speech, I realized that we were all in the same boat suffering from the same seasickness- nervousness, We all had to give speeches. No one was out to criticize anyone else and we all ended up supporting each other! I learned that I could make a "boring" speech interesting if I have fun with it and feel comfortable as the speaker of the moment.