Hi everyone:

VOCAT reflection #3 is due on Wed. Dec. 17.

The final essay (Ted Talks Essay) is due to me by email on Fri. Dec. 19, by midnight.

Congratulations on making it through the last speech of the semester!

Steven Spielberg is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Spielberg is known to be one of the leading pioneers of the New Hollywood era. At an Academy of Achievement event, he conducted one of the most inspirational speeches of all time. His speech was impromptu but he successfully carried it out. It was based on his life and the dynamics that influenced his career. Although he talks about achieving a tertiary education, not just for sustainability but for reliance, he indicates that dreams are possible. The beginning of his entertainment exposure started when he was six years old and his father had lied to him about a circus visit. The deceit turned into something that triggered his curiosity for filming and cameras. He discovered the wonders of a camera and the story that can be created with it. But his first creation of a film was for a Boy Scout badge. He choreographed a western movie.
The renowned director tells his audience at the end of his speech that a dream does not come head on but sneaks up from behind you. He says, “A dream does not shout to you but it whispers.” He tells his children that it is very hard to listen to your intuition. His message was effective because he gives his life example. Talking about his childhood and his memories of becoming a film director. He displays charisma. The way he conduct the speech seems as though he is talking to one of his children. He seems like an approachable individual that can give the best advice. Steven had a major impact on his audience because he inspired them about dreams. It does not always become or appear obvious but it quietly signals you what your path to life time success should be. A dream is an unexpected gift that is showered upon you and makes everything seem clear.  The picture demonstrates the friendly relationship he has built with the audience by talking to them like people in his everyday life.

During my days in high school I had noticed that staff was relatively young. Many teachers were recent graduates and many more were still going to school to get their master’s degree. In the mix between an experienced teacher and a new one there would often lead to sloppy work execution. Many of the students wouldn’t get what they were being ask to do. It seemed like both the teachers that taught the class never met outside the classroom and never talked to each other about things. They did things separately and never got together. This caused mass confusion and chaos in our studies. The error was not talking to each other, arguing instead of finding middle ground. This would’ve not only made for less arguments but it would have also let to a better classroom environment and an effective way to get their information across to their students. In the midst of confusion and arguing , many students struggled with that class and often never learned anything. There is a big difference in preparing for a lesson and or speech and just not thinking about it until the last minute. It will show in the way you convey your information to others and how well they grasp it.

This year was probably one of the toughest years I have ever had. The starting was college was an excitement for me ,and the starting of feeling depressed.This is my first year of college, and yet it is also my first year in my life to lose something valuable.It all commenced with my grandpa having a cardiac arrest. I was around that time when this arrest occurred. That moment of time, I had no idea what to do. In my mind, I’m thinking should I try to perform a CPR and how do I call the police to come immediately. I  stood next to my grandpa obstinately and wonder if the police or ambulance I called would come. It was a 5 minute battle game in my mind; I wondered did I actually called the police.When I called the police, it felt as I did not speak English nor able to communicate in English. The first thing they asked me on the phone what was wrong? I literally had no idea how to correspond to such a response. I ended up saying that my grandpa fainted, but the truth is that he had an arrest which is different from a normal faint. The next thing they asked was where do you live? I gave my address, and it felt as if I gave the wrong address. I was petrified and immersed with fear thinking that if i really had done the right thing. In my mind, I trivialized everything that was going on. Instead, I  had this terrible vibe around me thinking that the police thought I was making a prank call. When the police arrived, I was allured that my grandpa could not make it already. It was a horrible experience that I would always remember. The lack of communication experience I had delayed the ambulance to come. If I was to experience this again ;  I would know what is the essential thing to do at that moment of time.

During the end of my junior year, the fiscal year of my virtual enterprise firm was coming to an end. This is when the stress was accumulating. I had to finish financial documents with a deadline around the corner. That is when the coordinator of the firm offered me to go to a job interview with the director of virtual enterprise. I saw this as a great opportunity to not only grow as a person but to complete my 60 hours of work based learning. I needed these hours in order to receive my endorsed high school diploma. So I took the opportunity.

I am the type of person that freaks out before anything even happens. I was completely nervous weeks before the interview. I was being interviewed by the director and I needed to do better then good. When the day came, I tried to show confidence. Therefore, I said that I had an interest for accounting. Not knowing that I was speaking to an accounting professor. He started offering me his accounting courses and I tried to tell him that I didn’t really want to pursue a career in accounting. I had already taken the first accounting course and I completely disliked it. I didn’t want to get a poor grade on this second level course. This miscommunication led to almost taking a course that would have finished into a disaster.

A few weeks later, I spoke to him directly and said I was not interested. He took it better then expected. I was already wasting his time so his reaction worried me. I learned that speaking directly and honestly is a communication skill that is essential.

I’ve seen a handful of speeches, but “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch is the most powerful speech I have seen. Randy Pausch’s motivational speech was presented literally as he is dying of pancreatic cancer. He shares his view on childhood dreams and the importance they have. He guides us through his life story and experiences achieving his dreams. We later find out that the whole speech was initially written for his three children that he will not be able to see grow up.

For the most part his speech can be considered a motivational speech that allows us to believe in our dreams and ourselves. His nature of speaking is that of a professor giving his students a lecture. He uses a slideshow to help express his ideas through images that relate to his speech. The speaker shares some of his experiences though life and uses them as life lessons; many of which relate to the audience and inspire them. He makes his speech extremely personal which allows the audience to become attached. He uses words such as “you” “we” and “us” it turns it into an engaging conversation.His speech not only reaches the emotions of the audience but also their aspirations and dreams causing every single person to give their undivided attention.

The image above illustrates his connection with the audience. He not only looks calm but also focused on his audience. His audience returns the favor, and is concentrated. As all eyes are on him he expresses his view of the importance of childlike wonder. Randy Pausch’s motivational lecture left a major impact on the audience; I also found myself seeing life through a different spectrum after his moving speech.

It was during my junior year of high school. I was taking my final semester of Japanese. Our final assignment involved a partner. We were to create a short script about whichever topic you choose. It has to be in Japanese and act it out in front of your classmates. My partner and I chose to write about going to a Japanese restaurant and ordering things off a menu. I was the customer and my friend was to be the waitress. I worked so hard on it. Our teacher said we shouldn’t read off the script and was expected to have it memorized. I studied the script we created for days. I could memorize it word for word, while I was in the shower. I thought I was ready. My parents’ even thought I was ready for it!

When the day finally came, I was excited and nervous at the same time, but ready. The script was still fresh in my mind. As it was finally, our turn to act out the play, I just totally blanked out. I don’t know what happened to me, but I couldn’t remember a single line. It was the first time it happened. I stood there like I was some silent customer who couldn’t make up her mind. I’ve done other projects in the past and I was fine with the memorization. I failed my partner and most devastatingly failed myself. I was so confidence that I would ace it… I felt utterly embarrassed and ashamed that I unintentionally let down my partner, my teacher, my classmates, and most of all telling my parents, I had failed the performance. I wanted them to feel proud of me for doing a job well done. They tried to cheer me up, but I was still ashamed.

Because of this experience, I tried not to rely entirely on my memory. I can always look at my notes or index cards, but never try to read off from it. With that said, I still have difficulties in not reading my notes during a presentation, because deep down I still worry something like that would happen again.

I am not a perfect public speaker, and throughout my life I have encountered many situations in which it has been difficult for me to communicate. My main enemy is nervousness, I often get nervous when I have the undivided attention of a group. My most recent break down happened last summer, I had a interview for a job opportunity. It was not a one on one interview, instead it was a group interview.

There were two interviewers and around eight other people who had applied for the job. Everything was going fine until it was my time to speak, everyone else in the room had already described who they were, and why they were applying for the job in a clear and effective way. As my turn to speak approached I grew more nervous on the inside, something that started to notice as I started blushing and sweating. I tried to deliver my description of myself, and suddenly I forgot everything about myself. I struggled, and it was visible. I was speaking in a very low tone, which made it hard for my interviewers to hear me. I was not speaking clearly, stuttered a lot, my pronunciation was terrible, and to top it off I never looked my potential employer in the eyes. Showing that I was not confident about the things I was saying.

All of these things combined resulted in my potential employers taking me out from the interview because they felt as if I wasn’t ready. I knew I had what it took, but my speech impediments didn’t allow me to portray my potential. Just because I didn’t speak clearly, and didn’t have confident body language, I ended up wasting a very good job opportunity. I have learned from this experience in order to improve my qualities as a public speaker. Now when I speak in public I try to have the right tone, something that I am still improving. Regarding my eye contact, I consider it pretty good as of today. I make sure that I look at every audience member in the eyes to make sure that they feel acknowledged, and also to show my confidence behind my points. This situation did embarrassed me a lot when it happened, something that I am grateful for today because it has led to me improving as a public speaker. Public speaking is very important, and not being good at it can ruin so many good opportunities for you.

Public speaking has never been something I thought I was good at, but it was all because others said I was. Seeing myself in tape was definitely changing because of many mistakes I was able to pick up. My posture, my tone in the classroom, my swaying around, my pauses, and my eye contact was  something I didn’t expect to look not so great doing it. My presentation definitely got the message across, but not in the ways instructed. It was a very direct messages with short or almost no transitions.

As of how my physical stance was, I definitely need to stop moving around and playing around with my index card when I get nervous or don’t recall what my next point was. Take longer pauses instead of saying “Ummmm” or “Ahhhhh.” I made eye contact with everyone  in the audience, although my speech could’ve definitely gone smoother.

I can tell that I have a lot of work to do in order to have a successful speech. But I’m willing to work hard and dedicate more time to my speech preparedness and my outline prior to my speech. I’m not the worst, but theres definitely room for improvement.