Simoun Urcia

Professor Hamlet

2/15/2021

What do John F. Kennedy, Socrates, and Adolf Hitler have in common? They all had the gift of public speaking. Throughout history, powerful public speakers have changed the world for both the better and the worse. I learned about all these great speakers in my public speaking class that I took last year. My advisor had told me I needed to take a public speaking class as it was a core requirement for my major. I was nervous at first at the thought of having to speak in front of so many people on a weekly basis. However, as the semester progressed, I slowly became a better speaker and learned so many things. The ability to speak with fluidity is very important. I slowly grew to like the class as it taught me new things and made me more confident.

This class made me realize the power of language. Along with language, this class taught me how tone, body movement, and your presentation can impact how well you influence an audience. As the class progressed, I read and listened to many speeches. From TED talks, to graduation speeches, to political speeches, and more. I saw how different speakers had different styles to convey their messages. We also practiced in class and we did class presentations. One of the most memorable moments that I had was when the teacher told us to bring an item from our house and we were going to make a sales pitch in front of the whole class. I chose my crocs to be my sales pitch. I was nervous at first but I slowly became calm as I talked more. I talked about how crocs were waterproof, customizable, and very comfortable.

My teacher taught us that we needed to draw the attention of the audience to our best abilities. So, I spoke loud, clear and maintained eye contact. This class helped me be more confident in my use of the English language and that one exercise also helped me become more persuasive through the use of my words.

The class made me realize that with great language and great communication skills, you can influence millions of people. We watched a clip of President Obama in class and I remember how moving it was. I remember he said “ We are not a Liberal America, We are not a conservative America, We are the United states of America”.

The ability to speak in public can help you in so many ways. From small things such as class presentations or even bigger things such as Obama did in running for presidency.

Before this class, I was not that confident in speaking in front of so many people. I was afraid I might stutter or fumble my words or just have a complete breakdown because it is pretty nerve wracking talking in front of so many people. However, as the class progressed it helped me become more confident speaking in front of many people. Even when the pandemic happened and there was a quarantine. We continued the classes online and did our presentations through zoom class. You might think its easier to talk from your home but the nerves are still there. However, as I kept doing more speeches for the class, I got used to it and as you keep talking, you just naturally calm down. I remember our last project. I wrote a speech about abolishing privatized prisons for class and I had to say it over zoom. It was my longest speech for that class. It was about 9 minutes long. However, we had made so many speeches throughout that semester that I was pretty confident in my ability to speak already. I ended up getting an A on that project and an A on the class overall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WiX6loFiwA

That is a link for my public speaking project about abolishing privatized prisons that I did through zoom. (When I still had long hair)

I believe that taking getting out of your comfort zone and becoming uncomfortable is essential to growth as a person. Taking that class was definitely uncomfortable at first. However, once I finished it, I realized the importance of public speaking. There are definitely people out there that are shy especially in very social settings. I feel like public speaking classes would be a great way for shy people to break out their comfort zones. Also, public speaking will help us on a daily basis. It can help us in class presentations as well as in our jobs.

It was a pretty memorable moment for me because that class made me go out my comfort zone. On a weekly basis everyone was required to speak in the middle of the class. Although it was nerve wracking at first, it made me more confident, especially with my use of the English language. It taught me how the way you speak can be very influential. I want to be a Physician Assistant in the future and I know that the skills I’ve learned in that public speaking class will help me in the future. A physician assistant talks to patients on a daily basis. It is very important to have communication skills and to be able to speak to different people. Just like a public speaker that speaks to different audiences, a physician assistant will speak to different people on a daily basis. This will truly be a handful skill. The public speaking class made me more confident as a speaker and I’m sure that it will translate into my career choice.

SOURCES

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WiX6loFiwA (My public speaking class speech)
2. https://www.wbur.org/news/2017/05/22/jfk-massachusetts-speeches (image of JFK)
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJzjyYL8l5Y (Obama speech)
4. https://deichmann.scene7.com/asset/deichmann/US_01_112359_00?$rr_pdp_zoom$&defaultImage=default_obs (crocs picture)
5. http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2008/speeches/speeches_plato.jpg (Socrates picture)