Reflective Essay 1: Self Introductory Speeches

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On Thursday (2/2), our class had our first round of introductory speeches. These speeches were the commencement of many presentations to come for the remainder of the semester. While they only had to be three minutes long, it can still be a little uncomfortable the first time you have to speak in front of a class full of strangers, especially when the topic is about something you have lost. Goals Prior to my introductory speech, there were a few goals I knew I wanted to accomplish. As this was the first speech, I thought it only seemed appropriate that I try my hardest to set off on a good start, as the presentations are only going to be come longer and more in depth with content. As we have read in our readings over the last week and a half, rehearsing your speech is always important in order to feel comfortable getting up and speaking. My goal was to rehearse the speech at least two times through in my apartment, especially making sure I had a smooth intro to the speech so I wouldn’t get tongue tied when actually presenting. Another important goal I had in mind for this speech was to not do any nervous habits like rock back and forth, touch my hair or lean on the table while presenting, which I’m pretty sure I managed to avoid. I also thought it would be important to try my best to make consistent eye contact with my classmates. A lot of times students who present tend to just look at the wall behind the students (which might be OK but kind of takes away from the connection) or worse, they will solely focus in on the professor who is grading them. Since I was presenting something to my class that was quite personal I wanted to look and feel comfortable, which meant maintaining consistent eye contact with all. Going along with eye contact, another goal I set out to accomplish was to limit my use of looking at my note cards. Normally when I present I have the
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