HUC 106.6014
Self-Assessment
Jason Chester
10/15/2009
HUC 106.6014
Jason Chester
Professor Heppner
Self-Assessment
Public speaking is a skill that everyone should take the
time to acquire. It is a process that we go through on a day to
day basis. Whether it be simply greeting our neighbors or
friends, or more complex situations as speaking with your boss
or professional staff members. Mastering it takes time, but it
is time well spent. I have had many years of practice as all
through life, I struggled to be loved, to be popular, to be the
one people liked to be around. I was unsuccessful at times when
it came to getting the attention of certain people, and at most
times lucky to find favor with those that recognized genuine
qualities I had. I guess I passed their rubric.
A rubric is a set design of how a person should be graded
or evaluated. When it comes to public speaking, you can be
judged based on your eye contact, personal style, energy, use of
narrative, how you adapted your speech to the audience,
organization, vocal style, use of gesture, posture/attire,
adheres to time limit. Looking at the speech I did, I can see a
lot of my past playing a part in the composition of what I
presented. A lot of people tend to be conservative with their
speeches expressing themselves truthfully, but often holding
back their feelings, and making their presentations less
emotional. For me I have to pour my heart and soul into
everything I do. Let the world see my soul for what it is and
everyone must know and understand. I live through my words and
my presentations. For when the time comes and I no longer exist
on this planet. I want those that were a part of any type of
event with me to remember, I always expressed myself with pure
emotion, energy, and truth. I always believed that the true
meaning of life was to live unashamed of the things that made
you happy. I never am embarrassed about doing the things that I
do and did, although they’re always critics who disapprove. This
I understand to be part of life.
My presentation on my meaningful object was the core of
what pumps blood through my body. It might as well been my heart
I displayed. I showed everyone my NYPD auxiliary badge and ID.
Ever since I was ten years old, and a police officer came into
my class for career day, I knew I wanted to be a cop. It wasn’t
the uniform, it wasn’t the pay, and it wasn’t the man. It was
the words. A fellow student asked him if he ever shot anyone. He
said “Yes I did, I am not proud of it, nor did I wish to ever
have to do it, it was something that had to be done.”
I knew
right there I wanted to be a cop because, in my neighborhood was
filled with a bunch of shady characters with no morals. Cops
were always looked at as a person to be feared not respected.
But that day I realized although this officer was doing his job
and was justified in using his gun, he still had remorse and
regret for doing it. In this life, at times you do things you
must with only one choice, at times you may seem robotic, but
you must remain human, you must trust, you must love. That is
the main reason I want to be a cop. I feel compelled to be that
individual that puts his life on the line for others, and knows
that through sacrifice and high morals a better society can
exist. That was the message for my speech.
10-most effective narrative
9-Personal style
8-Energy
7- Adheres to time limit
6- Adapted speech to audience
5- Organization
4- posture/attire
3- Use of gesture
2- Vocal style
1- Least effective eye contact
Viewing my speech I felt I looked very nervous, and felt
awkward. Which I’ll be honest I did. I don’t like talking about
myself. I consider myself interesting and a person people would
like. But I don’t like talking about myself. I do a lot of
things in my life, but I do it because I want to, not to brag
about it or be seen differently than others. I just want to be
happy, and doing the things I do, make me feel that way. My most
effective characteristic was my narrative. I started off singing
to hook the audience, talking about my difficult upbringing as
into what I believe in and stand for. I’m sure in the two
minutes people were painted a perfect picture of who I was. The
one thing I felt unhappy with the most was my eye contact. I
noticed I looked down a lot as well as only on one particular
side of the room. I looked mostly towards the left over those on
the right. Mostly because the camera was on the right and I
wanted to ignore and forget it was the room.
Eye contact is something not many people can master. For me
in my culture looking someone in the eye can be offensive and
threatening. People mostly stare you down to see if you’re
lying. Referencing the text book speak up, I was able to find a
lot of valuable information to help me be more secure when
speaking. On pages 384 to 387 in chapter thirteen. They talked
about delivering your speech. I noticed that the effective ways
are to stare directly at your audience and be aware of who is
paying attention, from who looks puzzled, angry, or bored.
It
is not easy to overcome this, but it is important to understand
that doing this will make you a more effective speaker as the
audience is more aware when they see you looking directly at
them. Try some eye contact exercises with small groups, maybe
your family members or close friends. Then branch off to
different areas which are not so comfortable. Eventually you
will find a way to be effective. Last remember the best trick.
When in a small group bounce your eyes around the room from
person to person, and when giving a speech to a bigger audience
slowly move your head from left to right as if staring at
everyone in the room. Now they all might not make eye contact
with you, but they will feel you are.
My most effective aspect is my narrative. I am a writer and
I’m always practicing ways to say things interesting and keep
people hooked. I had a lot of experience from when I was younger
being mostly smaller than the rest, I had to deal with a lot of
bullies. The only way to avoid being beaten up was to come up
with a good story to make them laugh and bring a little joy to
their unhappy lives. We all know happy people don’t go around
wanting to hurt other people, it’s the sad misguided souls, who
feel no one cares about them, that makes them go into the world
that want to produce hate and rage. As a writer, as a reader,
and a person who loves to speak! I feel narrative is important,
it’s makes people interested and allows you to get your message
across.
For my future speeches, I will speaker slower, use gestures
wisely and not as often, while making sure they’re reinforcing
the message. As for eye contact I’ll stare into the world
realizing we are just like each other and there is no reason to
be shy. Public speaking is a friend that will guide to being a
person who will be heard around the world.