David Rojas - A Reflection on Public Speaking and How to Make Great Presentations

A Reflection on Public Speaking and How to Make Great Presentations

David A. Rojas

SPC2608

Professor S. Sinkoff

5/15/2024

 

 

A Reflection on Public Speaking and How to Make Great Presentations

 
    In this blog post, I will discuss my experience as group leader for this class. Also, I will touch on what I learned and took away from each presentation and how I will use that information going forth. To summarize though, I had a wonderful experience getting to work so closely with every group and learning so much from each person’s part on how I can improve my public speaking and presentation skills. I specifically learned a lot on the presentations side of things, which were Groups 3 and 4, whom I worked the closest with. With that said, let’s get into the blog post!

Group 1 - Public Speaking: The Evolving Art

 
    For the first group, their main area of focus was on public speaking and how it has evolved/will continue to evolve. To me, I found the concept of them likening public speaking to an art very interesting. By the end of the presentation, I had made that connection myself, as they went deeply into the intricacies of its definition, influences, and foundations. Also, they talked at great length about different tips and tricks on how to improve areas of public speaking. For example, Destiny and Emily talk about how to ease your mind of uncertainties and build confidence in spite of any worries. One trick that Destiny brought up was the “4-7-8 breathing technique,” which is breathing in for 4 seconds, holding the breath for 7 seconds, and then exhaling for 8 seconds. She went on to explain how this technique can help you find some inner peace and mindfulness before a presentation, and it’s something I’ll have to try by the time the next presentation comes around. In all, I found Group 1’s presentation to be incredibly informative and eye-opening to the world of public speaking. I also thought everyone who presented did a wonderful job with speaking concisely and presenting the information in an easily digestible manner.

Group 2 - Public Speaking: Getting Ready for Success

 
    In terms of the second group’s presentation, they focused a lot on how to actually organize a public speech, and how you can properly organize and prepare for a quality experience. This is done through selecting a topic, properly researching said topic, being aware of the different types of supporting evidence for your topic, and organizing your speech into different parts depending on the material. What stuck out to me the most were the parts on conducting research, especially the section on research interviews. For me, I’ve conducted research in many ways (interviews included) and even I learned some interesting information and techniques I plan to apply to future speeches I have to organize in the near future. Another part of the presentation that stood out for me was in chapter 8 (which focused on proper speech organization), when they made the point of connecting thoughts with transitional words. As an English major, it sort of comes second nature to me, but I cannot stress enough the importance of having a proper segue to different topics. Not being able to properly transition between topics makes an essay (or, in this case, a speech) much more lifeless and robotic sounding, and I believe Group 2 got that point across incredibly well. To wrap this segment up, I would like to say that I believe Group 2 had an incredible presentation, as everyone got their parts down very well and their visuals to back their presentation looked extremely clean, good job from them!

Group 3 - Public Speaking: Getting Ready to do That Great Presentation

 
    The third group is where things start to get a little more in-depth for me, as I worked a little closer with both this and the fourth group so I could write up both the introduction and conclusion for both group’s presentations. To start though, Group 3’s presentation focused on getting ready for actually presenting (this is different from Group 2’s, as they focused more on preparing the contents of your presentation.) To illustrate this point, they delve into retaining the listener's attention by using attention grabbers, using appropriate language for a speech, properly designing and integrating media that properly suits a presentation, and the different ways a speech can be presented. For me, I found that the points on language and speech delivery were most intriguing. For example, Joselyn talked about how it is imperative as a presenter that we use language that is inclusive to people of all genders, as it helps the audience focus more on the actual subject at hand. This is something I had never really considered, it was really interesting to learn that improper use of language can actually take audience members out of the presentation, and I hope to take better note of what language I’m using in the future as a result. Another point that stuck out to me was the different deliveries of speech. Kylie talks about four different kinds of speech and goes into their pros and cons. I had never really thought about speech in that light before and I thought her presentation of each of the four deliveries and how beneficial or detrimental they can be to a speech was extremely informative and eye-opening for me. In a nutshell, I loved Group 3’s presentation and I thought they all did an amazing job on their parts. I’m looking forward to what they have coming up!

Group 4 - Public Speaking: Different Kinds of Presentations

 
    Group 4’s presentation dealt with exactly what the title entailed: different kinds of presentations. In their presentation, they go over informative speeches, persuasive speeches,different kinds of claims, distance speaking (and its variations), special occasion presentations, and group presentations. The parts of the presentation that had stood out the most to me were the parts on persuasive speaking and what makes up an argument. As a writer, persuasion has always been an area of expertise that I’ve lacked, so learning from the group helped me see where I could improve. I also found the idea of ethics playing a role in persuasion very interesting, as I didn’t know people actually tried to use underhanded tactics to better persuade their audience. Another area I lacked in was arguments and their claims, which is something that Group 4 touched on and went into with a very informative lens. To start, they explain how an argument should be formulated, with reasoning and evidence that supports a claim. Then, they went into the two types of claims. Conclusions, which are the main claim that comes to one specific conclusion, and premises are tinier claims that lead up to the conclusion. They also explain that qualifiers should be used, these help strengthen the claim and assert it’s usefulness. I also liked the evidence section, as they talk about how speakers should appeal to logos, pathos, mythos, and ethos. In all, Group 4’s presentation was incredibly informative and I enjoyed every part of it, as everyone did an amazing job with their sections and ideas.