Debora Ferreira

Hey Guys, I want to start of my first blog by telling you a little bit about what it was like doing my first group project this semester on Public Speaking. Let me tell you starting this semester with a presentation was an extreme way to become comfortable in this class but I am thankful for the uncomfortable situation.  I am not one to come out of my shell so easily but when my grade is on the line I will, I enjoyed the fact that our first presentation was based on HOW to present. So, if you think about it, we got a free guide to an easy A. The way this worked was we were assigned chapters were from 1-4 with a total of 10 participants while being split into groups. There was group 1-4 I believe and each person had to create a PowerPoint slide that portrayed your piece of information.

Personally, I enjoyed my group for the sole reasoning that everyone was very determined and on task since the very first day, no one was scared to speak up and ask questions and we were and are still very active in the chat. Working with people like my group make group projects worth the effort and everyone know with the wrong set of people, group work can become a hassle. On my bias opinion, I enjoyed my group a little more than everyone else. Once everyone started their presentations, I noticed while an individual was presenting, every camera was mostly off and there was no communication whatsoever except for our professor, this made me believe they probably were more anxious than they should be and here is why.  If you are worried or presenting and on top of that there is no interaction then it makes you feel worse, maybe overthink a little about how bad you’re doing. I believe this could have been subsided by the following: some peers could have participated and said thank you or asked question about what was being shown so that an attitude of interest was portrayed. Many students probably were working hard on their speeches and creativity so a little support from everyone would have gone a long way. I include this idea because even though I was not fully staring at the people, a couple exchanges of words would have been great for my nerves. I was struggling beforehand to calm down, giving myself a pep talk and re-reading my speech like eight times but at the end, I did well. Once a couple of students went, I felt myself relax at the thought that everyone is just as nervous as me and I could see it as well. Something we tend to do when anxious or a bit worked up is repeat the same phrase in different wording, which can become an issue if further down the line, the exact same thing is said; then that means there was no creativity. A couple ways to combat not only the feeling but as well the repetition is. Practice! In my part of the project, I had to discuss a couple ways to help you succeed in Public Speaking and one was “Practicing Your Audience.” If you are on edge about speaking, practice your speech with a person depending on what you believe your audience might be. If you have no idea than apply your knowledge with someone who will give you constructive criticism while acting as the type of audience, you want to reach to. However, it does not just stop there, to succeed in various aspects, you need to prepare your work. Group 2 did a review on Organizing and Outlining, and it is told the importance of preparations is how it can affect you as a person! Someone who is organized is perceived to be “competent and trustworthy than speakers who deliver disorganized presentations” When trying to convince your audience of whatever it may be, you need to look the part and that’s where prepping comes along and provides a boost. What is amazing is that everything coincides with one another, so while I am explaining tips on how to help you engage with you audience, the next group is giving you reasons as to why certain steps are taken and how they are important. This assignment has provided a tremendous amount of knowledge that is necessary to succeed not only in presenting but also real-life circumstances. We need to remember; we are presenting our own self to others daily. We speak to catch the other persons attention and use things we might have in common such as our race, field of interest, economic status, hobbies, and etc… This gives us an advantage in making conversations easier than we would think. Thus, practicing your communication skills. I like to see it as a positive thing, we need some type of guidance to lead us in the right direction, so for those who might think this class can be a waste of time, id re-think again.

I enjoyed my class and my presentation; I want to become very knowledgeable to give myself a boost in society. Knowledge is power and this specific type of power provides you with not only a job but countless opportunities, the key to success here in life is how you carry yourself and how you communicate. Sweet talking a person or being kind can get you in to places you can ever imagine, sharing the same interest creates lifetime friendships such as myself for example. I am a huge reader, I have my own library and I have organized my books by author and theme, recently a coworker of mine revealed she was a book fanatic herself, we started to share our favorite books, quotes, characters, and book shelve ideas; now this gave us a friendship which we value, we talk to each other at work every day and update one another on what books we have read and now we bought the same book to read at the same time. To conclude, the power of knowledge can take you to unexpected places and whether you are expecting it or not, that small class or assignment you did, set you up for success.