Talking Is Hard

We have all had to deliver many speeches, perhaps even one every year since middle school. Giving a speech to a group, even only as large as thirty people, can seem to be the end of the world. However, with all the speeches that I have had to write and present to a class, I have learned an awful lot about what I can do well, and what I really cannot.

My biggest weakness, like many others', would certainly be nerves. In every speech I gave in high school I was certain I had the worst nerves of anyone else in the class. I have learned now that the easiest way to eliminate nerves is simply to practice the speech over and over again. So to overcome nerves in all of my future speeches I will make sure that I have all of my content internalized enough to be conversational, but know exactly what I am talking about to be confident in my presentations.

Another big issue I have always had is that I have no idea how to stand, where to walk, and what to do with my arms. I have known people who would use hand gestures in everyday conversation, but that has never been me. So when it's time for me to stand up before an audience and we are not supposed to simply put our hands in our pockets, or by our sides, I haven't the slightest clue how to gesture without appearing awkward. I think that the best way to overcome this would be to practice gesturing while speaking, but I do not know how that could be practiced. Hopefully the workshops we will be doing in RCL will help with this.

I believe that my strongest strength in speaking is my verbal variety. I think that I am very good at creating variable sentence structures, and projecting my voice in a way that engages the audience. By putting emphasis on certain words, and just having a dynamic voice in general, I make my speeches more interesting to listen to. I will continue to capitalize on this by practicing my speeches and knowing where to place emphasis during delivery.

By putting a lot of effort into practicing my speech, learning how to use my arms, and capitalizing on my dynamic speaking, I believe I will be able to deliver a killer presentation.