Blog Reflection - Carlos Santana

My experience with the first presentation & working with my team for public speaking was extraordinary and I learned a lot from it. I was originally very scared at how I would perform at first when presenting and with such a short amount of time to prepare my presentation part & speech. From the first class to the second class, I realized that I could keep up with deadlines very quickly and get the work done when it needed to be. Communication between my team members was great, we answered many of each others questions regarding the assignment and there was no problems when completing parts. It was put in order, all team members respected one another and allowed everyone to work at their own comfortable pace before the deadline. I was surprised to keep up especially with such a short term for a normal class that would usually span the course of a entire semester, this is the first time I ever did short term classes compared to long ones. I am happy that our teacher is very friendly and understanding of the students, it really brings up the learning experience.

My group was the very first to present, my team members were Alejandro Martinez, Aliya Jones, Briana Sanchez, Anhelina Murvaska, Marco Samoyoa and Daria Aliotta. Our group went over a variety of topics about public speaking such as the phobia, foundation, effects of COVID-19 making public speaking virtual, effective listening skills, real-life application, and the do’s and do nots of public speaking as a listener and a speaker. I also remember this funny moment when me and Marco were basically doing the same part because of a message Briana had sent which confused Marco and he was basically doing the same part I was doing. We had discussed in class beforehand, regarding the parts and I was supposed to take the second half of Chapter 3 and he was supposed to take the first half. Only hours later, I realized after he finished his part that I realize the message Briana had sent regarding the group order was wrong and I sent a message correcting it in the group chat. Unfortunately, she had made the mistake of getting it wrong aswell as another chapter but good thing that they didn’t do the same mistake that we did and listened to the message instead of the prior conversation. Me and Marco messaged each other in confusion but he offered to just do the first half anyways so all ended in good terms. 

The topic of the phobia of public speaking stood out to me the most because I have dealt with that fear for basically my entire life, since I was a kid I was always fearful of what others thought about me and that led to me being silent aswell as more distant toward the other kids. I would only ever talk to someone else when they talked to me, I wanted to avoid as much interaction and communication as possible but overtime I learned to eventually open up and start talking more to people. Though today, I still do like to distance myself to others but at the same time I always liked thinking about becoming a leader in something great and innovative. It’s a weird conflict of interest, one side I feel like distancing and the other I feel like leading it’s like if I have the perspective of two different people but unsure how to find that balance to get the objectives of both.  

The fear of public speaking probably stems from when I used to only know how to talk in Spanish, but because of that my teacher said to my parents that I had to learn to talk in English. Eventually, I started to forget my Spanish language and all I talked was in English as I continued to grow into who I am today. I think that my confidence in not knowing English at first to interact with other kids when I was little is one of the major reasons that caused me to have this fear, because I didn’t know the words to express myself and I didn’t want people to laugh at me. 

Another major topic is the respect you must have as an audience member and a speaker when someone or yourself is presenting. As a speaker, you must always adhere to feedback that people have about your speech and not take it personally that you would lash out for being opposed about your opinion. You cannot have bias about a topic as a speaker or an audience member because that would make turn defensive when presented with a conflicting viewpoint. Speakers must speak coherently and if needed practice their lines or speech so that they are prepared especially if the speech is important. Audience members should be respectful and show their full undivided attention toward the speaker, aswell as listen intently and look at them to show that they are listening. Don’t distract or interrupt the speaker because you don’t want to be treated badly yourself when you’re up there speaking too or at any real life situation. 

The final topic I will be discussing is the effects of COVID-19 on public speaking, it has turned more people into being scared of public speaking and became a worldwide problem. The issues of covid-19 is still being felt today not by the virus but by what it has taken away from humanity, all that time we could of been in class talking to one another and going to important events. We were forced to talk to our friends, family and others through screens & that just doesn’t feel the same as real interaction. Learning problems have occured and we basically overstimulated our brain with all types of content making us feel bored and have lower attention spans. While there are some benefits to virtual public speaking, it just doesn’t feel the same as in-person where the crowd is there present and not just on a screen with their cameras off listening.

Overall, this presentation gave me an experience that I would never forget. I managed to successfully keep up with deadlines that seemed impossible to complete and now I am ready to continue the rest of the term. I learned a lot from the presentations presented not just from my group but from the rest about public speaking and its basic rules & changes throughout the years. Public speaking might be intimidating but eventually I will get better at it and continue on my career as a lawyer. I am glad to have worked with such a nice and friendly group of people. There’s much more to learn from public speaking and it inspires me to be confident when speaking infront of a large crowd.