Jackson has changed a lot throughout this communications course. He used to have a lot of nerves when presenting in front of people. Although he still does tend to get nervous when it comes to public speeches, constantly practicing in this class has really helped him become more accustomed to it. He seems to have gained more confidence when speaking to an audience. He doesn’t become shy anymore. Jackson started off having a neutral feeling about public speaking but is now that feeling has become more positive. Jackson has formed a new habit of standing still with a strong posture when presenting. He also stopped fidgeting as much as before. Prior to this speech class, he would always move around during presentations and would only make eye contact with spot in the room. He has since learned how to scan the audience to make eye contact with everyone present in the room.

I believe that the most important aspects of effective public speaking are maintaining eye contact and having a strong physical delivery. Without these two aspects, even if you know what you are talking about yet are stuttering over every sentence, the audience will have a difficult time understanding what you are trying to say. Maintaining eye contact is essential to engaging the audience and allowing the audience to remain interested in what you are saying. One observation that I have noticed over the course of the semester that surprised me was the fact that it doesn’t really matter how many people there are in the audience to which you are speaking, people still tend to get nervous.

As a communications major, this course has equipped me with the necessary skills needed to progress in this field. This course has helped me get over my nerve of speaking in public, as well as teaching me methods to help me better get my message across to an audience. This course has also helped me outside of the classroom in everyday conversation as well as professionally.

Working in sales enables me to communicate with people from all walks of life as well as observe the interactions between colleagues and their customers. Unfortunately, not all of the communications between the customers and sales persons always run smoothly.

An example of this was between a customer and a coworker. A man walks into the store because he was shopping for a last minute anniversary gift. One of my coworkers, Jason, walks over and greets him. The man starts telling Jason what he wanted, but he spoke so low it sounded like he was mumbling. It almost seemed as if he was shy to say what he wanted. This made it very hard for Jason to understand him. Jason politely asks him to repeat what he said. The man repeats what he said, which sounded like “bracelet”. So Jason goes and gets him some bracelets to choose from to which the man responds, “No! That’s not what I wanted!” After several exchanges like this Jason starts to lose his patience a bit, and starts talking with a tinge of frustration in his voice. The man was eventually able to convey what he actually wanted, which was a necklace. Had the customer spoken more clearly, he would not have spent so much time looking for what he wanted, causing frustration amongst everybody.

There were several things I learned from observing this experience, particularly from the customer, one of which is the importance of always speaking clearly, and audibly so that the other party may understand what you are trying to say. Speaking clearly and confidently is essential to communicating to the other party. Secondly, from my co-worker I saw the value of patience when dealing with other people.

Jackson is currently an undergraduate student at Baruch College. Jackson has good interpersonal skills, but is not so great in giving public presentations. He does not have much experience with public speaking aside from a handful of presentations for classes in the past. Jackson tends to start off strong while giving presentations, but starts stuttering and repeating the same statements later on in the speech. Jackson has a neutral feeling towards public speaking. While it’s not his favorite thing to do, it’s not something he hates either.

In class, Jackson is an active listener. He likes to listen to other’s inputs to the discussion first before participating. Sometimes Jackson participates a lot because he is interested in the topic being discussed. Other times he won’t really participate much because he doesn’t really have much to say on the matter. Jackson has good speech communications skills in personal situations but needs refinement in professional situations. While interacting with others, Jackson tends to use body language to get his message across. He also utilizes repetition, where he will repeat the same idea twice or more in a different way to ensure that the other party understands him.

In terms of oral communications, he is the best when the situation is not high in pressure; i.e. social gathering with friends. Jackson is at his worse when there is a on the table. Such a situation would be a job interview. Jackson starts to get anxious which causes him to stutter and lose track of his thoughts. Overall, Jackson enjoys speaking and wishes to further his communications skills for his professional career and for his own personal benefit.