Public Speaking

The article on public speaking was very helpful. I can be shy when I'm talking in front of people I don't know very well. I get even more nervous when I'm being graded since public speaking isn't my strong suit. I had to talk about an article in my psychology class last week and I was kind of nervous because it was 15% of my grade for the quarter so the first thing I did was refer back to the public speaking article. The main thing the article emphasized about public speaking was practice and I did just that. I practiced my 10 minute presentation over and over again until I memorized all the important facts and after a while I could recite my entire presentation without consulting my notes or the power point slides. Another good tip the article gave was relaxing. When I started out talking in front of the class, I was nervous even though I had practiced and made one or two speech errors but a few minutes into the presentation, I got comfortable and was more relaxed and all the words just flowed better. The last tip I used from the article was going into a room that was similar to my classroom set-up (Group-study rooms at Thompson library) and I imagined that I was standing in front of every one in the class and presenting the topic. All in all, the presentation went well and I really enjoyed it so I encourage every one to refer to the article when in need of presentation and public speaking tips.