Speak Up!

Our class today was centered around public speaking and preparing ourselves for our Action Plan presentation next Friday. A guest speaker, Jennifer, came to talk to us about the proper way to speak to a crowd. We brainstormed an entire list of things that are important to remember when speaking publicly and the list got really long. Before today’s class, I wasn’t too nervous about presenting my action plan but after seeing the list of everything to remember when presenting, I began to get really nervous.

In my opinion, the most important things to remember when giving my presentation will be the ethos, pathos and logos appeals. In order to give an ethos, or ethical, appeal, one must appear honest and trustworthy. For this appeal, I’m planning on connecting my Action Plan to my own life to show that it is something that is close to my heart. For a pathos appeal, arguably the most important of the appeals, you must be able to appeal emotionally to your audience. Those ASPCA commercials with the videos of suffering animals? They are using a pathos appeal because the majority of the people who watch those will feel bad for the animals and want to help out. The last of the appeals, logos, or logic, is important because you need to be able to back up your plan with facts and statistics to ensure your audience that you are smart and know what you’re talking about. 

Notes!

When we returned from our lunch break, we broke up into two groups (one group went with Dean Almandrez and the other with Jennifer). Within these two groups, we each had one minute to prepare a short speech about either our action plan or a prompt given to us (such as your dream job or an item on your bucket list) then present to our groups. After presenting, we got feedback from the group about our speech. It was nerve-wracking to jump into a speech so unprepared but it was helpful to get feedback from my peers about what worked and didn’t work about my speech. This weekend, I plan to work hard on my speech so I can be as prepared as possible for next Friday.

Back at Siena!

I finished the day off with a cohort dinner at Siena. Even though it’s only been a week since we last went to Siena, it feels like it’s been much longer. So much has changed in just one short week. I’m looking forward to getting some time this weekend to explore Rhode Island and work on my Action Plan. This has definitely been a memorable week.