The Columbian Orator

The Making of Great Public Speaker On my thirteenth birthday my parents had given me a ticket to see my all time favorite female athlete. She was going to talk about her life and the journey she took to become successful. At thirteen years old, I felt like I had just received a Nobel Prize. On the day of the talk, I sat front row, and I was ready to become inspired and motivated to becoming a successful athlete. Instead, the speaker walked out with a piece of crinkled paper. I was drowned into…

Great Speech Analysis “Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be. We have an opportunity to make America a better nation. And I want to thank God, once more, for allowing me to be here with you” (I’ve Been to the Mountaintop). Many are not familiar with this speech. It was given April 3rd, 1968 in the Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee. Being…

Persuasive Self-Assessment Throughout the semester I learned a lot about public speech and communication in general. At the beginning of the semester I was not sure what to expect from the class. I did not know where I stood as a public speaker but now after taking the class I can see a big difference in my communication skill. I feel a lot more confident now then at the beginning of the class. Looking back at my first speech, there were a lot to be learned. First, I did not have many sources on…

I consider myself to be a poor public speaker based on my past public speaking experiences. From freezing up when reciting a poem in front of a huge crowd during an assembly to messing up on the Pledge of Allegiance during the Memorial Day ceremony, I have a lot to learn. 
 One thing that I need to keep in mind is to be concerned with information honesty. There were numerous times when I didn 't tell my audience the truth or even dragged on a speech because I didn 't research the topic…

I performed a speech about why teenage relationships are beneficial on November 1st, 2016 in front of my speech class. Public speaking is something that I had been practicing since I was in the sixth grade, however it is apparent that I continue to struggle with nerves. When my teacher called my name, I realized that I was shaking and trembling pretty badly. I told myself I had practiced beforehand and I knew what I was doing. There are many things I noticed while reviewing my speech, critiquing…

Public Speaking in Action I have decided to write about my First Sergeant who will remain nameless. Since arriving at Al Udeid AB, I have had a lot of interaction with my Shirt. From one on one discussion to being a member in the audience that he is briefing, the interaction level has varied. In my opinion, he is a great public speaker and I do not have any major criticism thus far. However, nobody is perfect so I will be talking about his key strengths and weaknesses that I have noticed over…

Recently, I have run into an overwhelming amount of anxiety in my sophomore classroom related to public speaking. For the past few years, I have only taught public speaking skills in a senior-level speech course and a college-level speech course, and in both of those courses, students have either elected to participate or paid to be present. While I still have encountered students with anxiety, I have quickly forgotten how truly terrifying public speaking is to the general population -…

Viewing yourself speaking on video is never a particularly good experience, at least for me, because you notice all of the things you don’t notice when you were in the act of speaking or doing whatever was being filmed. However, watching yourself is a good way to notice your strengths and weaknesses as a public speaker. I know that I tend to look at myself more critically when I watch the recordings, but it was also interesting to see what I did and what I should change/keep the same for the…

Growing up in a small town, I was never the one to stand out in a crowd. I would usually stand in the distance, while my little brother and sister shined to be spontaneous like always. To me, public speaking has always been one of my biggest weaknesses in school. Because of this I would not describe myself as shy, rather anxious to preform a speech. This year one of my main goals is to make my weakness one of my strengths. Public speaking is something that I will not be able to not hide from…

You are in class one day when the teacher announces a new assignment: students are to research and give an informative speech about any topic of their choosing. As the student, imagine that you are terrified to not only present the speech in front of your entire class, but to have to go through the process of picking a topic, researching it, organizing your speech, and practicing it as well. At the beginning of my communication class, this was how I felt about producing and giving speeches. I…