Jinjin Xu

This caricature compares a person two situations. One is she types her written communication on her computer. She writes, “And, thus, I can conclude that my hypothesis was indeed correct.” She uses a word “thus,” it is very clear, and it’s transitioning to the conclusion. When she finished her speech draft, she drinks a cup of coffee and feels relaxed. Another is when she presents her verbal speech in front of the audience, she was all of a sweat. She is so nerves, therefore, she stumbled through her verbal speech.

I can tell by her face that she is so nerves. She was glassy, expressionless and immobile. Her speech is full of vocal fillers. For example, she said ” An so. Um. Like. Well so yeah it’s like, you know.” Her hands holds her outline without any gesture. She reads entirely from notes, and doesn’t speak extemporaneously or make eye contact with the audience.

This caricature reflect on my personal speech. I seem like this caricature’s protagonist, I was finished my speech draft, and practised a lot. However, Halfway through my speech, I forgot the rest of what I wanted to say. Sometimes my voice was utterly and drearily expressionless. Both the protagonist of the caricature and I were holding the outline during the presentation. We should be more relaxed and try to use physical gestures to expressing the depth of an emotion. Making eye contact is very importance. We should make sure that we are talking to the whole audience. I had rattle through my speech. I should slow down and try to make some pauses. When I watch the vocat, I realized I said “hmm” so many times. I should use pauses instead of using undesirable vocal fillers. All in all, we need to be confidence when we delivered the speeches. In addition, we need to do a lot of practice, it may not build our confidence but it will reduce anxiety.