Litzy.Miranda_Post#1

As the first project of the semester, I want to give a round of applause to our class for participating in our first presentation. I feel like entering a new class, especially a class where you have to talk in front of people, is pretty scary. I know from experience that I hate talking in front of people, especially with an online class. I feel like we must be more engaging with everyone, and speech class is the perfect way to gain confidence and get out of your comfort zone. The first project of the semester was to teach the class about making speeches, how to choose your words, and how to interact with the audience. Usually, when someone mentions talking in front of people, many of us tend to dread it, and it is perfectly normal, sometimes you will catch us stuttering and pausing, forgetting the words of our speeches. Our professor had asked us to give a presentation in three groups and assigned us into groups, where each group was assigned to chapters of our textbook and present it to the class. Within our groups, we had to communicate with each person to assign a certain part in the textbook, and create slides based on that part in the textbook. I think the professor dividing us into groups helped a lot because we learned how to communicate within each other, and it was nice to have other people to lean on to give you feedback about what you should or should not do while giving a presentation. 

 

By the time it came to presenting, I am sure that all of us were nervous, especially the first group. I want to start off by applauding everyone, and they did magnificent in giving their presentation. Every group had creative ideas in the slides, entertaining videos, and confidence, the most important thing in a speech class. How do we analyze what a satisfactory presentation was? Did our classmates take up too much time presenting their slides? Did they interact with the audience? Was the audience intrigued or bored? So many questions we can ask to analyze and feedback in acceptable speech making. 

Starting off with group one making their presentations on chapter one through four from the ISpeak textbook. I think group one was the bravest out of all the groups because they were the first ones to present. Group one started off by talking about several topics on how to prepare your presentation. The power point was presentable, organized, and unique. The slides used appropriate words, and phrases. Also, the power point was organized by going in the order of the chapters, and every speaker knew the order they were supposed to go. The slides in their power point had designs, pictures, and they did an excellent job capturing their topic of the chapters. The downside that I found about group one’s presentation was that they went past their time, each group had forty-five minutes to an hour to present, meanwhile they went over by two hours, which was unfair to the next group. I think the group members should have talked for three minutes max for each slide. Some members were over presenting, and I noticed that their presentation was becoming too repetitive. Some of the videos they chose in their presentation were too long, the videos should have been kept short especially when there is a time limit for class time to present. The presentation went on for too long. I felt very lost and confused about what they were talking. Although something that stuck out to me was what someone said in their presentation was that public speaking is exactly like having a conversation with a friend or family member. That gave an understanding on how to present for the next groups. Overall, their presentation was exceptional, plus props to them for being the first ones. Plus, it is the first project of the semester. It is all about trials and errors. 

 

The next presenters were group two, the one I was a part of, we started off talking about chapters five through nine from the ISpeak textbook. The chapters talked about how to select and arrange contents in public speaking. I think that groups two and three had more time to prepare which could have been the reason for both groups staying on their time limit. The presentation we gave had vibrant colors. We included SmartArt’s, pictures, and short videos to try to capture the attention of the audience. The group tried to stay within the talking range 2-3 minutes per slide. Something that I noticed in our group was that some of us were not looking at our audience but instead on another screen which it is something we can approve in our next project. Another thing that some of my group members seemed more confident than others I know I was nervous that I sped through my slides, which is something I must work on in our next project. Considering we presented half a PowerPoint in one day and presented the other half the next day we were organized, and everyone was aware when it was their turn to speak and present their parts. We included parts to try to connect to the audience and inform them what things to include in their public speeches, and things what not to do. Overall, I think for the first project I think we did well. 

 

As of the last group presented chapter ten through twelve from the ISpeak textbook. Their presentations consisted of the types of presentations you can give in public speaking. Group three had a phenomenal knowledge of their contents. Also, they talked about how there many types of speeches such as informative, and persuasive speeches. Overall, group three gave us an informative presentation on the diverse types of speeches. All three groups did spectacular, especially with their PowerPoint. I am excited to see the upcoming projects and see what each group has in store.