option 2

Public speaking is a great challenge for me. I’ve been did several presentations before and it feels horrible. Regardless of the deep breaths and efforts to calm myself, I would get sweatier and more frightful with each second. As I spoke, I stuttered, words sounded shaky, and I talked as if a gun was pointed at me. Public speaking had got to me, and I didn’t know how to defeat it. It’s really a horrible feeling. So for now, I just want to improve my communication skills in front of the class. I not expected I can speaking in front hundreds of people, but at least be confident with 25 people in class. It’s maybe a small step for others, but for me it’s really huge. And I’m ready to go for it. The biggest problem on me is I always skip the ideas in my mind. Before the speech, I think I was well prepared, but at the time when I was in front of the class, I was so nervous that I want to finish the speech quickly, so it’s make me skip the ideas I have. To overcome this difficulty, I will try my best to practice. One cannot learn to swim with-out going into the water, and one can never learn to speak in public without speaking in public. I hope I can overcome the fear in public speaking. Get some confidence and become a better speaker for my future in college and the real world.

Option 2

A situation in which I want to improve my communication skills is in public speaking.  Public speaking is a very important skill in today’s world. It is needed for anyone to be successful. It is used everyday in business and  in Baruch where pretty much every class requires some sort of presentation. Confidence is essential in public speaking. Confidence in yourself and in what you are trying to convey is necessary. If you are not confident while speaking people will not take what you are saying seriously. My public speaking skills are horrendous. During presentations, nerves and terror get the best of me. I try to get through the presentations as fast as possible by speaking as fast as possible which causes me to mess up such as missing important points in my argument. Sometimes my anxiety worsens and my voice starts to quiver and at times words cease to come out of my mouth. I would like to develop my speaking skills to where I can speak confidently in public situations. I would like to not cease up during presentations and be able to speak clearly. The biggest obstacle to overcome for me in achieving this goal is me getting nervous. Being up in front of a group of people makes you feel vulnerable and its absolutely nerve racking.  If I can conquer this problem I believe I can become a confident speaker or at least one who is not completely inept. But that is easier said than done.

Option #2:

A particular situation where I would like to improve my communication skills would be in speaking in front of a large group of people. Usually, I am fine speaking with multiple people in an informal setting. However, when there are thirty or more pairs of eyes looking at me – it gets difficult. In most cases during school presentations, I usually have an outline for how I present. However, all that seems to disappear and I start doing the presentation impromptu because of my “stage fright”. There are many cases where I would forget simple words and stutter a ton. The way I normally talk is informal and usually comedic. Although this is usually the case, I have no problems emailing a professor using very formal language; even speaking to them during or after classes. The problem lies within my inability to express my thoughts clearly and coherently in front of a large group.

During this “amazing” semester, I will have to do a thirty minute presentation with about six or seven other group members in one class and a fifteen minute presentation with four others in another. This in itself is nerve-wracking especially coupled with the huge workload that I have because I took those classes. My main goal in terms of communication skills is to get rid of the fear of speaking to a large amount of people. The only obstacles that I can immediately detect would be the fact that I can get overwhelmed easily with other school work and forget what to do; along with the obvious fear of lots of people.

 I am normally not shy. I am very outgoing and feel energized when attention is on me. I like to discuss my opinions and support them with personal anecdotes, things I’ve read, or theories. In general, I’m not afraid to be outspoken. One beast stands in my way. He is the FADER. The Fader is experienced in rhetoric. Usually, he is angry and more often than not, he is convinced he is right. The Fader flays you verbally, causing you tons of emotional distress. But, he excuses his harshness artfully, saying, “Sonny, you are wrong. I’m just trying to help.” Your intuitive sense knows, however, that the Fader is not right. What do you do?

In this sort of situation, outspoken me flies out the window. I crawl into the fetal position, allowing the onslaught to wrap itself around me. I internalize it, thinking to myself, I deserve this. Instead of speaking up, fighting for the truth, I disagree and make my points against the Fader in the quiet of my own mind. It is something about the Fader’s tone which stops me from fighting back. It is the tenseness in the room, the coldness of his aura. When did things get dark? Light fades, when the Fader’s on the stand.

Why stay in the fetal position? I’d rather unfurl my legs, stretch out my arms, and jump to my feet. Stand. Face the Fader. Respond. But, I’m quite unfamiliar with this territory. I’ve tended, throughout life, to disagree with people inside my own head. Throughout, I’ve chosen to not voice my opinion when it opposes someone else’s. I’m afraid to make any person feel disliked, so instead I make no comments. And, I shy away from debate because I fear that I might argue for a premise that is incorrect. I would hate to look dumb.

One thing I’ve noticed about the Fader is that he doesn’t care if his words upset you or not. He only cares to be right. Although the Fader has caused me a significant amount of distress, he may be the man I desperately need to take a lesson from. Perhaps he can teach me to voice my opinion when I believe in it and teach me to not fear hurting the feelings of a friend for the truth. I hope to work on this during this semester. Stay tuned. -Adrienne

Public speaking is a very important skill in our life. You have been in school long enough to know that school provides many opportunities to speak in public. Like take part in group discussions in class, and participate in extracurricular organizations express their ideas through public speaking. Also public speaking influences your career development in the future. I am not a good public speaking, when I standing in front of the class I feel really nervous, and I will forget everything, that is very horrible. I think natural and confident are parts of the qualities valued in the context. First of all, confident is essential, you have to believe yourself you are the best, do not nervous. But I did not do it. Then to be natural, Good speakers let their unique personalities shine through. They don’t try to imitate other speakers. As you deliver a speech, you’ll communicate those same interests and attitudes to the audience through your verbal and nonverbal delivery. Because it isn’t as natural to express yourself through public speaking as through conversation, you must be well-prepared. My current communication skills are very horrible. For example, when I presentation in class, my palms sweat and my heart rate very fast. Because I am so nervous get speaking in front of many people. I would like to learn how to became a confident speaker and not nervous. For me, the biggest obstacle exists in achieving this communication skill is standing in the front of people and they watch me. I hope from this class I can control my nerves, have good speeches.

Option # 2

First off, I’d like to say that communication is the most important thing between people. Not only is it central to everything that we do, but without communication no one would be able to relate or connect to anyone. The image which I chose defines me when I try to communicate to a large group of people. The qualities of communication which are valued in this image are that of nervousness, uneasiness and embarrassment. Making speeches to or in front of a lot of people is so nerve-wrecking for me. Normally when making speeches, I get so panicky that I start changing things in my speech, or start shaking on the inside a little, and sometimes my voice also begins to stutter. It has always been this way for me since the beginning and I’ve always been so apprehensive when having to give a presentation or speech in front of a class. Furthermore, being that I get so uneasy when making speeches, I have never been able to show the real potential that I have to make a great speech. I would definitely like to develop communication and speaking skills that would allow me to deliver a speech/presentation, whether in front of a class or in front of a whole auditorium, with confidence. Being in this class, I hope to learn so much that there would be a complete change in the way that I make presentations and speeches. Therefore, I believe that it’s just a matter of taking this class that would allow me to better my skills and hopefully overcome this fear of making speeches.

option 2

Communication skills are crucial in any situation. I have felt importance of communication skills all the time, especially in public speaking. I graduated Art high school in Korea, and I majored in visual design and minored in making, directing and editing film and Web3D. There are a lot of processes in making film, so Presentation is important to communicate others. I had Film-making class every day, and I had to do Presentation once a week. At all the time in the class, I got praised for lots of ideas, but I was pointed out whenever I did Presentation. I did not convey all information or what I want to talk about. Before the Presentation, when I talked to my teacher face to face, I could speak very well. I could convey all information about the layout of film, and the teacher understood what I want to inform about ninety-nine percent. However, in the Presentation, because of inactive attitude, I could not speak loudly so my voice was so ineffective, and I made a mistake in reading the script that I prepared before the Presentation! In the end, I mass up the Presentation at all. I have thought that my classmates understood my presentation about twenty percent. In this context, I would like to emphasis the qualities of the attitudes. One of my friends had a very typical idea in making film. When he did Presentation, his attitude like voice tone and gesture was perfect to convey the messages what he want to talk about. Everyone in the classroom wanted to work with him. Likewise, positive and active attitude in speaking helps you to persuade other people and inform your ideas. Even if the context that I have was great, it would not be effective idea because I could not convey my idea to other people. Moreover, I could inform in conversation with the teacher, I failed to inform my idea because I am not a great speaker in front of the public. (But I think that most people who have great conversation skills are good at public speaking.) After the time, I have avoided speaking in front of other people. However, in many business places, public speaking is crucial, so I cannot avoid it anymore. My communication style is still inactive, and even English is not my first language, but I would like to practice it actively and positively to develop my communication skills. Absolutely, shy and quiet characteristics can be obstacles in public speaking, especially in speaking effectively. However, more preparation and practicing are improve my communication skills. In addition, I believe that the experiences of speaking in the class will improve my speaking skills.

Communication is more and more  important in our life, it’s frequently occurring in working and teaching at anywhere anytime. You will communicate with yourself, your friends,family and bosses.  I always heard from my parents that a powerful and confident speech will influence what people think about you. So I  really want to improve my communication skills in communication class under Professor Goldstein’s help.

First of all, as a non-native speaker, it’s hard for me to speak fluently when I face a long sentence which includes difficult words. Second when I speak in front of crowds  or boss  my hands will start to move around and I like to walk forwards and backwards… My face will turn red so I always want the lights to be off. My biggest problem is when I’m nervous , I always forget the key points& facts sometimes I even forget what’s the next topic I will talk about. However, the good thing and never changed for me is I can keep speaking loudly even if I feel like I forget what’s next. .

I still remember one of my professors told me the first minute of my speaking is very important, it has to includes key points and powerful. During a public speaking, eye contact is an important part… I had two group presentations last semester, since its like only 3-4min for each person and my teammates were standing next to me, as I expected, I wasn’t that nervous, but in this class I know  I have to do sole speech, it’s gonna be a new challenge for me. So I’d like to learn more skills…

There was  a large-scale gathering in Queens College in September 22, 2012, which grasped many attentions from society  to the campus in that autumn. It was all because of a famous person, the Myanmar democracy leader and also the Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. She came to the United State to advocate  the government not to take the democracy for granted.  We could see from the picture, she dressed up by the traditional Myanmar dress with their national   hairstyle .The audience ‘s attention was already attracted by her clothes. Her soft but persuasive tones also lead people to continue to follow her speech. Especially, she used her own story in the period when she was arrested by the government and keep staying in a house for 15 years to convince the audience that keeping hold  their faith and fighting for their freedom are always reward. It was a  moment  leave a deep impression to me  was when she joked herself was a “5-start residence”. I could see a optimistic, positive and stronger women at that time. In my mind, she was not only a political leader but also a good speaker.  She is confident and have good interaction with audience. 

Option 2

Public speaking is important and can benefit for everyone because you are freely speaking out your mind to anyone such as friends, families, or jobs. I am terrible at public speaking. This image reflects me because when I have to present a speech or an assignment to a class or to my co-workers, I forget what I have to say and I studder my words, my face turns red, I will not try to look at what I wrote because I want to feel more professional, I usually repeat the same thing more than twice because I forget what I have to say, and try to go through my speech quickly so I don’t feel nervous anymore and feel that relief that it’s done and over with.  Once I thought of my situation in communicating with other people, I think I should change my communicating skills so I can feel extremely more comfortable in public speaking. I think that in developing this type of style is that I have to practice on what I have to say to people and also practice speaking normally as if I was talking to my friends about anything. Also have some notes in an index card so if I get stuck on my next point, I can just look at my card, quickly skimmed through it, and go back to speaking about my point. Mainly my duty for being at least a good public speaker is to practice alone and to practice in front of a person or two to obtain some feedback and to feel calm, comfortable, at eased.