Communication & Self-Management

     Ashton Kutcher's speech at the Teen Choice Award was excellent. His ability to connect with the crowd came from how he opened his speech with a joke to draw people in, followed by his "insider secrets" to navigate Hollywood and get work. Ashton announcing to the crowd that his actual name is Chris was another great way of getting personal with the audience and keeping them interested in what he was saying.      One thing that I noticed Kutcher did a particularly good job of was managing the crowd and their cheering. Kutcher was able to continue speaking to the audience despite people from the crowd letting out screams. His ability to stay focused was impressive and shows that he is a comfortable and confident speaker.

     Steve Jobs' 2005 address to the graduating class at Stanford University is an excellent example of great public speaking and speech writing. Jobs has a natural ability to captivate his audience and was able to grip ahold of everyone right from the beginning by diving straight into telling stories. His moral filled stories combined with his subtle joke-telling intertwined with his fluidity of speech made his address powerful and intriguing to the audience and kept them hanging on to hear what he had to say.      Jobs used pauses effectively in his address, especially while discussing his cancer diagnosis. This gave a bit of drama to his speech and made it all the more interesting.      Steve’s address remains one of the most inspirational I have heard.

     Brandon's MasterTalk on public speaking was very useful. Since we had just given our first presentations in class, this video provided me with some more in-depth tips that I will look to incorporate into my next presentation.     The biggest takeaway from this video I have would be to master filler words (um, ah, eh). I was aware of this and had previously known it to be a weakness of mine, but always found it difficult to actually make the change. Brandon's tip on replacing those words with silence I found to be useful and will certainly be something that I try to do during our next in-class presentation.      I hope to see my public speaking ability increase when it comes time for our second presentation.

     Amy Cuddy’s talk on the importance of body language was fantastic. She was a confident speaker who was captivating and provided scientifically-backed facts on how one's body language can change the way they carry themselves and improve their confidence.      I had learned about non-verbal communication before and was aware of its importance in communicating with others but had never considered its personal benefits.      Amy's tips on "power posing" and taking up space will be something that I practice more often when trying to reduce stress levels as I wrap up my public relations degree and begin interviewing for full-time positions.      I am curious to see how simply being aware of my posture could result in me becoming a more confident version of myself.

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