I took this class for a few reasons. I wanted to take an intro COM class, because I'm interested in the major. In addition, I knew that no matter what I decide to major/work in, public speaking will be a valuable transferable skill. Plus all the other classes I wanted had filled up and the professor had great reviews, so why not?
Below are the videos from the speeches I gave for the class. Watching and critiquing these videos helped me to grow as a speaker/presenter, especially because I thought I was doing a lot better than what I see in the videos.
This is from our first speaking assignment, the Impromptu Speech. There were about 50 "change" topics related to the UW, like "UW should require living on campus for first years" or "UW should ban bikes". On our assigned day, we would pick one at random out of a hat. We were then given 6 minutes to prepare a 4-5 minute speech either for or against the change, with 2 main points with two supporting examples for each. My thesis was "UW should offer free printing for students".
You might be wondering: why is this split in to two clips? If you look closely at the end of the first part, you'll notice that I take a pause before the audience starts applauding, and I reluctantly sit down. However, the problem with that was that I was not done with my speech, as I had not finished my conclusion. A skilled speaker might have just continued on after the applause, but for some reason I decided to just give up, sit down , passive-aggressively murmur "I wasn't done yet..." only to be heard by my TA and given an additional 30 seconds to finish.
Despite this misunderstanding and a few gaps in my delivery, I really appreciated this assignment as a whole. It's meant to mimic the on-the-spot style questions that can be asked in interviews, and the assignment gave me the basic outline and tools to structure a quick and understandable response. Now when I am asked a question, my immediate instinct is to run through this speech format to draft my response, although I don't always have time for that. Overall, the assignment was a great introduction into public speaking, and why it's important to study and practice it.
This is a video of my second speech assignment, the Ceremonial Speech. This asked me to pick a person/event/organization and talk about values associated with it. I chose to focus on Goodwill's job training services, which I was only vaguely aware of before researching the organization. I wanted to focus on the values of philanthropy and diversity, primarily by telling stories of the lives impacted by the organization's services.
This was definitely a lot more in my comfort zone, because I got to plan out what I was saying in advance and prepare more in terms of how I would deliver. This let my acting experience show a little bit more. I definitely liked giving this speech more, although there were a couple things I would change if I did it again. The two main things were: I wish I had elaborated on the diversity value more explicitly, and I realize I need to emote more with my voice/gestures. When you're giving a speech without hearing yourself, you think you're really lively and varied in pitch, but then the camera shows you what the audience is actually listening to. This inspired me to go more over-the-top in my next speech: even though it felt dramatic, to the audience it seemed like natural movement and intonation.
This is the (cellphone quality) video from our last speech assignment, the Advocacy Speech. I was asked to pick a societal problem, explain why it's a problem and what's to blame for its persistence, discuss a cure for the problem (like an organization or law), and then give the audience specific calls to action they can do to help the cure address the problem. I wanted to talk about the prevalence of relationship violence because my aunt experienced it, and I know how widespread and harmful it can be. I claim that survivors of domestic abuse are often unaware of the resources at their disposal to leave their abusive partners, and suggest supporting the National Domestic Abuse Hotline to help address this blame. I then give a few things the audience can do to support the organization and the people in their own lives who are/might be being abused.
This was my favorite speech to deliver, because it's where I felt I got to put the most emotion and style in it. The speech is really meant to convince the audience of the problem and how they can help, so I liked writing through this lens. It was a lot more rewarding to deliver this speech theatrically, really putting emphasis on the pain this problem causes, and seeing the audience nod knowingly. I feel I did a good job inspiring the audience to take action and support survivors of domestic abuse, which I feel is a worthwhile cause.
And I got an award for my advocacy speech! A solid $50, plus the recognition that I am skilled at public speaking.