Patricia Gonzalez- Reflection 1

Dear Class:

During this first presentation in our “Introduction to Public Speaking” class, I gained new perspectives on the art of delivering speeches. Thanks to the variety of expositions we had, I was able to obtain the required knowledge to know what I can and cannot do while talking to an audience. In this reflection, I will be touching upon those aspects, highlighting key moments of each group whether positive, negative, or in need of improvement, along with my personal experience, and the diverse advice I acquire throughout the process, always keeping in mind the goal of this written reflection, which is nothing more than to reflect together on our performance to improve for the upcoming assignments.

via GIPHY

Group #1 did a good job;

 They were the first coming up which is always challenging, and nerves can play tricks on you. Their topic was a nice introduction to The Art of Public Speaking, so it was a great icebreaker to the topic and the rest of the presentations as they all gravitated around the same principles. Looking at the individual performance of each team member, I believe they complemented each chapter great, I noticed that, distinct from the other groups, they knew how to play with the distribution of the content amazingly, the first two speakers alternated to add to each other point and their shared chapter, which I thought was a nice, unexpected element that certainly added an interesting flow to the speech. In addition, one of the group members also stood out with an incredible performance worthy of a good communicator. I found it funny that while his chapter focused on the importance of identifying and counteracting the different types of anxiety when talking to an audience, he was actively carrying out those tips, truly gifting us a masterclass on how to combat your fears and use them to your advantage. On the other hand, there were also a few details in need of improvement like the excessive reading of notes that does not allow you to engage with your audience, among other aspects that I will be talking about throughout the reflection of the remaining groups. Overall, I enjoyed this first exhibition and its variations in all matters. 👌👌 

Moving up to group #2, I also found it a well-elaborated presentation, touching on important chapters about crafting your speech and organizing your ideas before the presentation. They gave us useful advice to apply at the very beginning and the end of it. Also worth mentioning their visual aids that added to my engagement and understanding as part of the audience. Key moments I want to highlight are two classmates who rose above the crowd because of their good execution. Their clarity while speaking, employing a good pace and voice tone, allowed them to leave a lasting impression on the audience. I remember perfectly that one of them shared an insightful talk about recognizing and avoiding plagiarism, relying on key points like paraphrasing correctly, acknowledging your sources, and always counting on good research guidelines that will turn your experience into a more positive one. The fact that I, as a public, remembered core information from a specific chapter of the speech, says a lot about the speaker, indicating his effective techniques in the area. To summarize, I would like to congratulate this second group, considering it was a first-class presentation assignment, their performance was outstanding.

              The turn of team number three: I think this was the most professional one as they all came wearing formal attire.  This certainly added a creative point to their speech.

 Regarding the demonstration and overall output of the presentations, they did great, matching the quality of the previous groups. They showed good skills and nice images that supported their points. Additionally, they stuck to the 30-minute time limit, meaning there were not super long speeches but with primordial information. Concise delivery with a dash of innovation, the perfect mix! 👏

To wrap up, the last team for this assignment. My group - Group 4 -. Well, as everything I’ll say might seem biased, I will focus more on reflecting on the content of our Chapters and our ways to improve some aspects. Our content addressed the different types of speeches that exist, sharing how to identify them, create them, and use them to your benefit when facing an audience.

 My teammates did a great job, summarizing and putting together all the data given in the book, delivering a well-balanced amount of information with the most important details covered. Good communication throughout the whole process enabled us to come up with strong visual aids, each slide complementing the next, allowing our spectators to stay completely engaged with the content.

Examples of the visual aids 

 

Even though my group did well overall, there are always little details that we, along with the other teams, can improve; as I mentioned earlier when you read directly from your notes, you are leading to a lack of eye contact with the audience, this disconnects all possibilities of connection with the people in the room,

also, if you are holding any type of card or tablet you are restricting the use of body language, an essential tool to express emotions. If we work on these mistakes our speeches will be more successful and memorable.

When it comes to my personal experience with this first speaking assignment, I had my ups and downs:

 At first instance, I struggled to summarize all the information in the chapter as it was too much to cover, nevertheless, I ended up finding the perfect balance in applying keywords and images to the slides, without overloading them. I also made the mistake of reading more than I should have, which interfered with the audience's engagement with my speech. On the other hand, being in a group where everyone helped each other made the work much less overwhelming and more enjoyable.

 Special mention to the group managers because they did an amazing job directing and answering everybody's inquiries.

To conclude, we can agree every group did a great job. We reviewed the performance of each one and identified strengths and areas of improvement. I hope this reflective feedback functions to contemplate our job with a critical eye, enhance our skills, and achieve even better results in further presentations.