Oral communication has never been a weak domain for me, which made my Public Speaking class quite enjoyable. I’ve chosen to feature my speech, Why You Should Spend Less Time on Your Phone; a message I felt could be of interest to each individual in my audience, despite varying ages among my classmates. This seven-minute speech begins with an introduction to the topic and a preview of its components, where I implement a strong thesis statement alongside a brief explanation of how the message is actively relevant to my viewers. Next, I begin unpacking my four primary supporting points in an organized and topical manner, before unifying the message with a strong conclusion. 

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My initial goal was to keep my message organized and comprehensible. I wanted everyone in my audience to easily absorb what I was trying to communicate, regardless of varying lifestyles amongst my listeners. I had this goal in mind from the beginning, so I took early steps to achieve this by composing a typed, topically-ordered outline of my speech to act as a study guide. I documented each main point, then created sub points to keep an organized flow. After two weeks of continuous practice and reference to my outline, I was able to effectively deliver my speech in an intelligible manner. This accomplished end result was confirmed when I received positive feedback from my instructor, regarding the speech, with a note reading “great organization.”

 

My second goal was to speak clearly and enunciate. I set this goal for myself with the intent of increasing the effectiveness of my message by speaking confidently with no errors. As an attentive listener, I understand that it’s easy to tune out a speaker who mumbles or murmurs their speech. To properly persuade my audience, I needed to avoid stumbling over my words or distracting from the message. In pursuit of this goal, I used the last several days leading up to my final delivery to rehearse and record myself speaking. By doing this, I was able to go back and rewatch my tape, studying my mannerisms and taking note of any errors. After practicing this technique several times, clear and enunciated speech came naturally to me for the final delivery. I felt satisfied with the end result when my classmates commented on my “confident speaking tone” during feedback. 

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Being able exercise my oral communication skills in a classroom setting was quite fun for me. Keeping myself grounded with the implementation of these two desired outcomes, I enabled myself to execute an organized and intelligible speech in a clear and confident manner.