Right off the bat, I realized what you were talking about Julia. I do tend to end sentences off at a higher note and it makes me  sound less confident. I definitely need to work on that in the future. That’s something I did in my last speech, too. I feel like this time around, I used my index cards less. I spoke more extemporaneously. I had a stronger stance during this speech as opposed to older ones. I feel like my volume has been consistently fine throughout. My gestures have gotten better. I didn’t awkwardly hold my arm this time. I believe my speech was successful, but it probably persuaded more girls than guys. It directly affected the ladies in the room so they were probably much more persuaded by it. After watching everyone’s speeches, I noticed a few things. I liked to hear about more social issues as opposed to other ones. I liked learning about interesting thinks I had no idea about. Some speeches did not effect me at all because the speaker’s points and arguments seemed invalid to me. I had a strong stance on many of the topics from before, therefore I instantly agreed or disagreed. The skills I learned in this class will definitely help me in both the near and distant future. Here at Baruch, I know I’ll have to give many speeches, so I will definitely be using these skills. Later, as I graduate college and begin to work professionally, I know I’ll have to do a lot of public speaking. The most important skill I took away from this class was being able to speak confidently. Before, I used to be scared to give presentations and I would be nervous. I had to step out my comfort zone many times in this class and ultimately that ended up helping me.