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.

King Platano was birthed on November 17 of the year 1996, and since his birth he has been a very special individual. KP, as many call him being short for King Platano, has the ability to come up with ideas on the spot of a situation. He has the ability to react quickly, KP has extra quick reflexes; both mentally and physically.  Something he has used to help him from getting in trouble, be it at his workplace, school, or be it in the streets. KP also uses his ability to quickly come up with thoughts when he loses his train of thoughts.

Although he has this ability, he uses it most while delivering speeches or presentations. Not always being a good student, King Platano has had to look for different alternatives to succeed in school. Throughout the beginning of his public school years, King Platano had stage freight, something that would affect him a lot. KP would always forget what he was supposed to say, or how to do certain things. Until he finally came to the realization of his ability during the fifth grade. Since then he has been on the top of his game, KP has been able to make the right choices in fight or flight situations. Has been able to say the right thing at the right time, earning him points with people around him. And it has also improved his skills in sports, making him a better basketball and football player. All of these things added up to improving KP’s life.

Before the fifth grade King’s presentations would be horrible, they would always be unclear due to the fact that he stuttered a lot and would get very nervous. Now KP is a better person at giving speeches. His speeches are now more clear and interesting, they are also more outgoing instead of awkward. Nowadays for KP giving a presentation or speech is not a unwanted task, it is just one more thing to do. King enjoys giving presentations, because he knows that he will always have something to say, something right about the subject. Due to this confident boost KP is now also a better student at participating in class, and often raises his hand when being asked to answer some sort of question. If the answer is wrong, KP doesn’t feel embarrassed, instead he looks out for the correct answer.

King Platano is a better communicator than he has ever been, better at doing so to his friends rather than on a professional basis. But he still has a lot to improve on, something that he will get out of his Com 1010 class, in the fall of 2014. A class that he is guaranteeing an A as a grade in. Doing so while also giving away laughs to his audience at certain points.