Section BEG1A

Last lesson’s topic dealt with the qualities of an effective public speaker and good communication skills. An effective public speaker is calm in front of an audience. They should refrain from fidgeting, pacing, and keeping their hand’s in their pockets. The speaker should speak loudly and clearly and try to keep the information they are conveying as concise and easy to follow as possible.  A good public speaker should know their audience: meaning they should use language appropriate to the audience to whom they are speaking. A visual aid, if any, should only be used as a reference, not as the foundation of the speech.

Using appropriate hand gestures to engage the audience in the speech is also a helpful way of bettering one’s communication skills. The speaker should face their audience, as it helps to keep the attention of the audience better. A good public speaker makes eye-contact with their audience and does not stare at the floor, their hands, their note cards, or their visual aid. If there are other members of the group who have yet to present or have already presented their part of the speech, those members should be, or, at the very least, appear to be, engaged in the current members speech. Having good communication skills and being an effective public speaker come hand-in-hand. Both are important, not only in the classroom, but outside of it as well.

“What makes the public speaker effective?”

There’s many factors  that makes up effective public speakers, such as making eye contacts with listeners, memorizing key points, or walking around the stage from side to side. Credibility and conciseness takes a big part too, but before everything, speaker has to get full attention from listeners; whether the information is reliable or not. Public speaker usually gives speeches in a big auditorium. In order to get everyones attention, I think walking around or using hand motions are very important. Personally, when I focus on one point of the stage, where the speaker is standing, I start to lose concentration. Thus, making a big motion and staying active makes the public speaker effective.

Being an effective public speaker is easier for some and harder for others, but everyone can improve through practice. Practice brings experience and experience brings confidence. An effective public speaker needs confidence, wide vocabulary, correct gestures, eye contact, good presentation, and more. This all can be learnt and implemented at your speeches. I believe the more practice, the better a person can speak in public. I have not much experience at it but with every speech I had I improved a little more. I’m willing to improve a lot more since I know it is extremely important if I want to have a Business Major, but I’m sure when the time comes I’ll have mastered this.

There are many variables that contribute to the effectiveness of a public speaker such as eloquence, eye contact, projecting voice, emotional,speak calmly, hand gestures, and speak to the audience. I personally think that’s harder than it sounds because I don’t do a lot of presentations and i have a case of stage freight so I tend to  stutter and mumble sometimes. Being in the business major I know i have to cast away those fears if  I were to succeed in the industry so communication is an important aspect.

During one of the enrichment workshop that i attended on Thursday, there was a mix up as the faculties expected to have 200 freshman students but over 1000 students came so the meeting was only 10 minutes long. She briefly answered some questions and spoke of minors and majors and the requirement of classes that the different schools expects.

To learn and master some of the communication skills in business is through person experience. I think the best way to learn how to speak properly is in a business environment. Some of the skills include, eye contact, perfect distance from the person, voice volume and hand gestures. I’ve been through many internships and I think it is a great experience to get hands on experience with other professionals and among your peers.

Recently, I attended the Freshmen advisement seminor that took about one hour. There was about 1000 freshmen who seemed just be alot more than what they have expected. Questions that were asked were how many credits are needed to graduate, if it was possible to take classes in the summer and questions regarding about minors and majors. It was an interesting experience.

HELLO ALL,

Hope all of you are keeping up with the fast paced college life and also finding time to relax. It was nice seeing you all this past Monday and from your interaction and participation it seems that you have become a little more comfortable with each other. Keep up the good work!

As I mentioned in class, your second round of blogging will be to further your free writes into a more structured form of writing using the knowledge gained in our last session. Basically answering the question of:- “WHAT MAKES A PUBLIC SPEAKER EFFECTIVE”. Also feel free to blog about your experience at any enrichment workshop you might have attended. One to three paragraphs are sufficient but please feel free to write more.

HAPPY BLOGGING,
Junior A Ramroop
Peer Mentor of BEG1A