Self-Analysis

Prepared for - Heather Jorgensen

Prepared by - Ainhi Nguyen
Date: July 18, 2016
Public Speaking (COMM-1020-700-SU16)

In the following paper, I will discuss what I have learned in Public Speaking and
my experience throughout the class. I will also touch on my strengths and weaknesses
as a speaker.
When putting together my schedule, I saw this class was available. I very
hesitated to take it because my lack of confidence and nervousness. I had a few
choices but ended up sign up for it anyway and Im glad that I did. After taking this class
I feel much better giving a speech or just talking in public in general. I noticed that my
communication skills have improved a lot and it helps build up my courage.
Without communication skills, the ability to progress in the workplace and in life,
itself, would be approximately impossible. Public speaking is one of the most important
and most fearful forms of communication. In the fourth edition, A Pocket Guide to Public
Speaking written by Dan OHair, Hannah Rubenstein, and Rob Steward, states public
speaking is a type of communication in which a speaker delivers a message with a
specific purpose to an audience of people who are present during the delivery of the
speech. Public speaking always includes a speaker who has a reason for speaking, an
audience that gives the speaker its attention, and a message that is meant to
accomplish a purpose (p.7).
Public speaking has several components that embrace such things as
motivational speaking, leadership/personal development, business, customer service,

large group communication, and mass communication. For me, public speaking is an art
of facing a group of people and communicating to them your thoughts and feelings by
means of effective speech with a specific purpose.
Personally, the most importance of public speaking for me is to motivate people.
A great public speaker promotes the power to motivate his or her audience to do
something, stop doing something, change a behavior, or reach objectives. Robin
Sharma once said, Words can inspire. And words can destroy. Choose yours wisely.
Public speakers are leaders who are able to inspire their audience to work harder to
achieve their goals, isnt that incredible. To become a motivational speaker, it requires a
lot of knowledge, credibility, and lots of practice. When people talk about having a voice
in the world, they mean having an impact on the world by voicing your thoughts and
your knowledge in an exciting way. A mastery of public speaking allows you to relate to
the audience and gain their trust. As a skilled public speaker, you become likable and
believable, and you will be able to inspire and even entertain the crowd. I love watching
motivation speeches and get the chills from excellent and hardworking speakers. TedTalk is one of my favorite place to go, its not just about inform people with knowledge,
motivate an audience but also raise awareness and created a platform for creative
speakers.
Even though I did have a lot of difficulty with this course I did enjoy my chances.
From this class, I was able to figure out my strengths and weaknesses. When I was
young, I get nervous just to stand up to ask the teacher for permission to go to the
bathroom and this proved to be a very difficult course for me. Originally going to this I

thought I would have a hard time but it turns out it was a perfect course for me to start
my college experience.
Although I dont have an extensive amount of experience with public speaking, I
have various strengths when it comes to talking in a large crowd. My strengths include
arrangement and delivery. I usually spend a lot of time in order to prepare for my
speech so I can present my arguments or materials in a well-organized fashion. My
speeches are structured so that I can thoroughly explain my thoughts through my
introduction, body, and conclusion. I focus the most on how to create effective
introductions and conclusions. I learned many advantageous tips from the book, A
Pocket Guide to Public Speaking, I explore the body of the speech, it consists of three
elements: main points, supporting points, and transitions (p.96). I capitalize on using
transitions a lot throughout my speech because it helps my speech goes smoother and
feel effortless.
My main goal is to assure that the audience understands my purpose; therefore,
delivery is one of my strength. I am cautious about explaining and reiterating my
thoughts to ensure that the audience fully understands what I am saying. Additionally,
my delivery has some positive aspects. Effective delivery is the controlled use of voice
and body to express the qualities of naturalness, enthusiasm, confidence, and
directness (p.142). For instance, I would not consider myself to be a monotone speaker.
I am always sure to have some variation and excitement in my voice, to make to topic
seem more interesting and to capture audience attention. Personally, I only pay
attention to speakers that have a strong vocal and enthusiasm voice, because it shows
that the speakers themselves actually excited about giving the speech.

Ironically enough, my speech delivery is also one of my weakness as a public

speaker. Although I am able to maintain a lively voice, I still struggle to control by my
body and make eye contact with my audience. I find myself losing focus whenever I look
directly to anyone in the audience and it is an ongoing problem that Im trying to
develop. I usually stare at empty spots in the audience rather than looking at my paper
or down the floor; in the end, it is not a very good solution. I know if I can get over
myself to look directly at the audience and correct this weakness then it will significantly
increase my quality as a speaker. I dont think I can change my stage fright right away,
but with practice and time, I think I will able to get over them.
My goal is not to a perfect public speaker. There is no such thing. My goal is to
become an effective speaker. Are great speaker made, or are they just born that way?
Like anything else in life, it takes practice. The most important concept of public
speaking I will continue to develop after this course is discipline, practice makes
perfectly good. We too often take communication for granted because we speak to
people every day. Imagine if you cant talk, isnt verbal communication is just a blessed.
I thought about this for a while and I think I need to practice more not for this class but
also life. I work in a fast food restaurant so I communicate with people in all ages every
day; therefore, practice or discipline myself to become a better speaker is critical in the
long run. It not only affecting myself and also how other people view me as a person,
know that I know that basic knowledge about public speaking, I need to practice and
improve my skills. One of my favorite quotes is from Ralph Emerson, All the great
speakers were bad speakers at first.

In closing, I would like to add that I really enjoyed the experience of this class. It
has been a good time for me to learn about public speaking and it is a great skill in life.
Thank you for your help and patience.