My Best Advice:

Throughout the 13+ weeks that I have been in SPC100, I have learned how to effectively give and receive feedback. The best advice that I have given to one of my peers is to stop moving around so much. Try to relate your body movements with the message you are trying to get across. Don’t just move around because you are fidgety or because you are nervous. Becoming aware of this problem is the first step in controlling it because then you can focus on correcting this.

Why it’s my best advice:

This has easily been the best advice I have given to a peer because I could tell that my peer was not aware of this distracting behavior when they were giving their speeches. It was something I noticed from the first speech and it wasn’t until the third speech that I wrote this advice to them because I figured I would wait and see if it was just nerves or the apprehension of giving our first speech. I think this advice was really important because other than this, I thought they were a really well prepared and confident speaker. But, the fidgeting body movements were very distracting for me and that was something I found myself focusing on– straying away from what they were talking about. I made sure to give them positive feedback along with this negative feedback and I think this is key in giving negative feedback.

Best advice from my peers:

Receiving feedback after each of my speeches has always been something I have looked forward to. Seeing what I am doing right vs. what I could be doing to make things better has always had value to me, especially because it is coming from an anonymous peer. The best advice I have received from one of my peers is to slow my thought process down and take a breath here and there. Try to stop focusing on the nerves or anxiety around being in front of a crowd and embrace the message you are delivering that day. A breath in between paragraphs or ideas will help immensely.

Why it’s their best advice:

This was easily the most beneficial feedback I have received from one of my peers because it addressed something I have always struggled with– being very anxious when giving a formal presentation to a class. I never really knew how to fix my nerves, I always just thought they would go away with time. And although they were becoming less and less for each speech, as soon as I got up in front of the class it had felt like nothing changed. I had always gotten feedback that said I was speaking fast, or rushing through my speech, but no one gave me advice on how to fix this until this one person. After receiving this feedback, I knew taking breaths while speaking and slowing down my words would be something worth trying. And to my surprise, it worked. I made sure to write on my outline *PAUSE* where I felt I could take a deep breath. I also wrote tiny notes on my outline that said “slow down” and I think this helped me slow down and get rid of a lot of my nerves.

Big reflective moments:

After each speech, we had to reflect on our delivery and content. Looking back on my three reflections from each speech, I have picked out two of the most important reflective moments that I would like to carry with me for my final speech. The first big reflective moment was that “I liked having the outline of my speech rather than a whole written out speech because it is a lot less stressful and easier to navigate.” My second big reflection was “this time I rehearsed to myself in one of the study rooms in the commons alone and filmed myself as we do in the dry runs. This helped me realize what part I could add in longer pauses because even alone, I was rushing. So, I added delivery cues of PAUSE at the end of each paragraph and I think this was a big contributor to me being more confident delivering.”

Why these reflective moments matter:

For the first big reflective moment, I focused on the importance of a brief outline rather than an entire speech written out. Prior to this class when I had to give speeches in high school, I always wrote my speeches out word for word and delivered them that way. However, this class taught me to outline my speeches with as few words as possible. This has been one of my biggest takeaways from this class because I noticed my thoughts were a lot freer this way and I could talk more off the top of my head rather than focusing on getting every word I had planned out. Also, I found that I didn’t mispronounce or read the wrong words as I would have before. My speeches have definitely been a lot more natural because of the freedom from a scarce outline.

My second big reflective moment had to do with using delivery cues in my outline. This was a major takeaway because I found that using delivery cues made me more aware of my pacing and breathing when speaking. I became a lot calmer and focused on my speech when using these delivery cues. For example, I would plan out where I wanted to pause and take a breath. I used these delivery cues because I noticed that when I delivered my speeches, I talked so fast because I wasn’t really breathing; I was so focused on saying what I had to say and getting back to my seat that I forgot to focus on my breathing. By being alert about my breathing, it helped my body calm down a lot more and I soon didn’t have the urge to get back to my seat as soon as possible.

My Biggest Strides

After presenting three speeches, and one presentation, I feel like I have a better understanding of myself as a public speaker. I now know the preparation that I will need, and the effective delivery actions that will establish credibility when speaking. Looking back on my dry-runs, I noticed that my biggest improvement was during my “What You Mean To Me” speech. In my dry-run, I did not know any of my speech and I was reading almost every word from my laptop. I was still unsure about the organization of my speech and I had not developed an outline from the speech yet– it was all words. However, when I gave my actual speech I barely looked at my outline, and my outline consisted of very few words. I think I was most prepared for this speech and I am dedicating it to the fact that I prepared differently for this speech. I started practicing in front of my roommates, and in a study room alone– forcing myself to not look at my outline when presenting. This drilled the speech in my mind and allowed me to tell it naturally, rather than following how I initially worded it.