My Voice

I found the article pretty interesting. There was defiantly a lot of suggestions for teachers and students that I agree with. Personally, I've never had a problem with public speaking. I find public speaking very intimate and exciting. My personal motto is to go up to the stage and entertain everyone.

When I think of public speaking, I think about Nabokov’s theory on writing. The writer must be the enchanter, teacher, and storyteller. When it comes to speaking, I tend to enchant the audience by being warm, receptive, and making them feel comfortable. I embody the storyteller by adding personal anecdotes where I can and inviting the audience to be a friend and inviting them to be apart my conversation. As the teacher, I tell the audience what I need to tell them, once I enchant them with my storytelling.
I agree with the author when they said public speaking must be practiced. Everyone has a different style of speaking and communicating and not one way is the correct way. When speaking, the speaker suddenly becomes aware of their vulnerabilities. Personally, one of my insecurities is my voice. I hate the way my voice sounds, especially when its on a microphone. My first and natural reaction is "Oh God!" but I just do it and have fun.

I feel also know, as a speaker, you have to know how to engage your audience and keep their attention. Some leaders, due to their personality and leadership style are boring to listen too; while others are more energetic and charismatic, which always engages audience. Depending on the way your culture is and who you are talking too, the way you engage them and communicate can either help or harm your presentation and how they receive your message.

As far as time management, I find myself never spending too much time practicing for a speech. I just give it. Most of time is dedicated to researching and knowing the facts that I'll be speaking about. By knowing the facts, you'll be confident and comfortable and everything will fall into place.

I've learned throughout my public speaking character that I'm pretty good at it and that you must always engage your audience and paint a story with your words; you're speech must have an easy structure and a beginning, middle, and end. Most importantly, you have to be confident and take your time; just imagine you are having a conversation. That’s all public speaking is: a conversation