Reflective Entry for Round 3
In the beginning of Round 3 I was scared. I was scared because I was set to only give one speech in this round which meant it was going to be worth a lot of points. When I created my Speech Schedule in the beginning of the quarter I purposely set my schedule up to only have one speech for round 3 because I wanted to force myself to accomplish my goals I set for this course. Setting up round 3 to only giving one speech was like betting all the marbles to see if I have what it takes to give a good speech.
Luckily, I did not disappoint my plan I created in the beginning of the quarter. Most of the compliments I got from my classmates included “This was your best speech so far,” and I too believe it has been my best speech this quarter. I believe I finally jumped my learning curve in regards to public speaking.
In regards to my goals,
My first goal was to overcome my fear of public speaking and I truly believe I have done so. For my Round 3 speech I did not allow my nerves to take over, in the contrary I tried hard to not even let my nerves wander in my head before giving my speech. I made sure to ignore my fear which took away the power it had over me.
My second goal was to learn how to successfully share an idea with my audience. I believe I was able to reach this goal in Round 2 and I had a good practice run this round. Just as I realized in my Round 2, the key is to be knowledgeable of the subject you are talking about. Another key I learned in round 3 to successfully share an idea to an audience is to use descriptive efficient language and visuals if possible.
My third goal was to appear confident when giving a speech. After this round I feel I have accomplished this goal. Although I still used “and uh” as filler language, I did not use it because I was nervous, I simply unconsciously used it as I was gathering my thoughts while giving my speech. I took a big risk this round as I moved the pulpit to the side in the beginning of my speech and it paid off. I was afraid that I might freeze mid-speech since I didn’t have the pulpit to stand behind, but luckily I actually felt more comfortable without the pulpit as it was something that was kind of holding me back rather than something that was aiding me.