Week 2: Discussion Board #1

1). What makes you apprehensive about public speaking?

           Public Speaking has not always been difficult for me. Throughout the years I did begin to develop public speaking anxiety and have become apprehensive about this task. In a sense public speaking should not be more difficult to me as it has become. A variety of things make me apprehensive about public speaking. The fear of embarrassing yourself in front of an audience may be a fear for many, but as the book explains not engaging your audience in your speech is a personal fear of mine. I believe that one cannot give a successful speech if they cannot engage their audience because that is who the speech is directed for.
           Cicero and his five arts explain thoroughly how to excel at public speaking, but  also completely relate to ways to engage a listening audience. The Five Arts are Invention, Arrangement, Style, Memory, and Delivery. Invention and arrangement allows speakers to come up with an idea for their speech and bring together ideas in an organized fashion that will help engage an audience. Style is explained as, "the language you use to bring a speech's content to life," (Coopman 8). Style is important because it can dramatically change the content of the speech. Vivid wording can bring life into a speech. Finally Cicero's last two of the five arts are memory and delivery, which can end up being  the most difficult part of the speech. Memorizing a speech and delivering it has to be one of the things I begin to feel most nervous about. I always feel the need to know the content of my speech, but Cicero's use of memory goes even beyond that saying, "You rely on everything you have learned about public speaking, your topic, the audience, and the occasion, (Coopman 8). The delivery of a speech makes me apprehensive because I have a fear of not making enough eye contact with my audience and sounding monotonous.
           Many people are apprehensive about speaking in public for a variety of reasons, my anxiety comes from the way I present in front of an audience.  The book sums it up as practice makes perfect, when discussing that speech anxiety can be lowered by habituation, fearing a situation less as it becomes more familiar.

Hi :) My name is Raw Men and I am a pre-nursing student. I began college as a biology major in hopes of becoming a physician, but decided to switch into nursing in the summer of 2010. Currently I am in the last year of completing my prerequisites for nursing school and excited to begin applying to schools.I am a quiet person at first, but if I open up with you once, it can become quite difficult to stop me from talking. I transferred out of Sierra College last year to attend Holy Names University after becoming accepted into their amazing nursing program, but unfortunately had to leave due to costs. I look forward to this semester at Sierra College because I have always felt comfortable attending this college. Apart from burying myself in books during the semester, I like to read, shop, and love biking trails.

I have had some experience with public speaking through various classroom presentations, and even some speeches I have given throughout my academic career. I can say that I know that my public speaking skills have diminished throughout the years. At a young age I had no fear of getting up in front of a group of people and giving a speech that I had memorized with little use of the index cards placed in front of me. But over the years that has changed, and now anxiety gets the best of me when I am asked to speak in front of any number of people. I am glad to be taking this course, not only because I am completing a prerequisite, but I also feel that this course is going to help rebuild my confidence with public speaking. I am looking forward to this class and getting to know my classmates as well :)