I have to admit that speech writing and public speaking are two daunting tasks. In particular, making oral presentations is challenging as the speaker is supposed to overcome the fear of standing in front of the audience. In addition, the audience may have burning questions which the speaker may find hard to answer and this call for deeper understanding of the subject being presented. Indeed, the speaker is supposed to pick a topic in which he or she has interest in. This is one of the areas I feel am I weak in and as such, in future, I intend to pick a topic am well conversant with besides using humor, personal stories and conversational language when making oral presentation. In addition, I feel I need to improve on how I make opening statements, how I concentrate on the message, how to keep referring back to the main theme and how to transform the nervous energy into enthusiasm (Kelly, 2011).
I draw a lot of inspiration from the Toastmasters who have given me invaluable tips on building confidence and making pre-presentation preparations (2011). It has taken me a lot of practice to grasp the basics of public speaking but practicing has not been in vain as it has helped me to be interesting, stimulating, entertaining and informative when making presentations. However, I still need to improve on the art of focusing away from my anxieties and instead concentrate on the message when speaking in front of the audience. Moreover, in future presentations, in intend to use 3×5 cards where I will write down all the salient points. These cards are important as they will help me to present organized work as I will only be required to expound on key points I have written down. Finally, in order to improve my public speaking skills I intend to practice my presentation on a friend prior to making formal presentations and join public speaking clubs such as Toastmasters International where I will gain more experience.
References
Kelly, M. (2011). Effective speech writing. Retrieved from Toastmasters International (2011). Become the speaker and leader you want to be. Retrieved from http://www. toastmasters. org/tips. asp