I think we all remember October 13 very well! The day we had to give our oral Presentations in Freshman Seminar on who we look up to an why. That was the first time I spoke about my mother in front of an audience, and of course I was nervous. Before the presentation, I was calm and excited. I knew that I had worked hard on what i had prepared to say, and I even practiced in front of my parents. When I got up to the front of the room, I was Nervous. Everything that was written on my index cards suddenly looked a different language. Everything that was on my mind suddenly blanked out. I paniced but I still managed to utter the first few words.
My feedback with Sue turned out completely different than I expected. I thought she was going to tell me that she felt I could have done better, which I agreed to myself. Instead, she smiled at me and asked me how I felt about my presentation. Before seeing the video, i thought it was horrible.
After seeing the video, I realized that I should have given myself a little bit more credit for my first presentation. Although i stumbled over a few words, I spoke loud and clear so that everyone could hear. I had occasional eye contact with my audience and I took short breaks in the right areas. Sue agreed to this, and she also gave me a few pointers on how to improve my speeches overall in the future. One point she mentioned was looking in the mirror and watching myself as I recite my speech. She also mentioned repeating the speech over and over like on the trains or in front of friends more often can ease the nervousness I get when standing in front of an audience. Our one on one session was really helpful. I feel that I received enough pointers to help me become a better spokesman in front of a crowd.