Calixto Alfonso Blog #1

Public Speaking is not something that I genuinely ever think about. Growing up as a musician Ive always been around people and performed live for people who might be there because maybe they have to be school event, or they're there because they genuinely enjoy my music. I've never struggled to be able to speak to a crowd even if i felt completely unprepared. Which is why writing this first blog post is actually somewhat of a struggle for me. Aside from maybe some fun tidbits of information I generally felt like I didn't need any help at all when it came to public speaking or just speaking in general. However once all the presentations where said and done I had a completely different frame of mind, I enjoyed what I was able to listen too and I connected to it because of how much it also relates to performing in front of a crowd!

 

 Group#1

Our group has fantastic cohesion we were able to divide up the chapters we needed to do evenly and aside from a few hiccups (some of my own slides were accidentally deleted the night of.) I found that information in the chapters gave me fun facts to consider if I ever needed to perform or speak! Being able to differentiate between good and bad locations for an audience, the differences between captive in volunteer audiences. My fellow group members did a great job showing how we need to be engaged with the people we're speaking too, it's similar in music that being live and engaging is how we provide the best show and best experience for the people who are there. I may be biased but I believe my team has a very good working relationship and each of us is good at one particular aspect on presentation. 

 Group#2

The presentations I watched during the second group varied in terms of interaction, amount of information and engagement. I was generally bored with group two's presentation not because I feel like they didn't do a good job, but on the contrary I generally feel when I perform or speak in a group of others I always try and prepare myself to be able to do so I don't speak on things I'm not genuinely interested in and love personally some of the tips they provided however can help for those topics I may not find any interest in at all! Being able to write little idea's down so that we can come out with a bigger idea is a good idea for the things we may need to speak about. I can't speak about what it feels like to be nervous to be up there but it resonates that preparation can absolutely vital with how well you feel when you go up to speak. 

Group#3

This was another group who's topic of presentation I struggle to relate with. Talking about preparation having notes to refer too, a solid introduction and ending. Being prepared and knowledgeable on a topic is absolutely key, but I find that speaking more from the heart or soul works for me in a better way. When you can be truly knowledgeable on a subject that you're speaking on I don't think you need to prepare an entire script for what you're speaking on. Being knowledgeable on the subject can make it so that you can begin your speech with something exciting to bring them in and even engage with the audience in questions. I feel like having a script sometimes can take away somewhat from credibility. Not that I would ever say it would make or break a speech but I feel the most effective type of speech is the one where you can truly dive into the subject and discuss. Visual Aids is discussed and something I thoroughly agree on, it's the type of preparation I would never disavow. I've done in my own speaking visually aids where I just draw examples on my own using the specific examples from the audience itself. 

Group#4

This group had for me personally the most interesting of topics. The different types of public speaking that one can do. With the age of the internet this kinda thing has now evolved. You can speak to audience of millions without even seeing them! by doing live-streams to a major audience on a majority of many different type of topics.  Adriel Selling us headphones is a major a fun way to show us some of those different types. Wanting to influence the audience to make purchases or just trying to provide entertainment. It shows how important it was for everyone to be able to know how powerful our words are and how it can shape and influence the minds of those listening to us. Credibility, and the way we speak is what I took the most from this. It's powerful because if we don't know what we're saying or how we're saying it we can easily be spreading misinformation that can be harmful to those sitting and listening. 

Conclusion

This was a fun project to take a part in, I gained a lot of appreciation for my classmates and in particular my group for the way we were able to dissect the different parts of public speaking and present in a fun digestible way. Public speaking is not something I ever saw myself struggling with but so far with everything Ive been learning I do now accept that there's a lot of things I can personally work on to make the way I speak even in general just better over all. I know with what I've seen so far that we can dissect and present any topic that will be thrown at us, and despite my original blase mindset at the start, as always I find myself embarrassed for thinking that way and find myself learning something new that can help me improve in my daily life. My hope is that other students who may feel the same gain that same clarity!

 

 

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