Needless to say, I lost the election. My speech was too weak, my confidence too low, and my voice too many octaves high. For the next couple of months, I rarely though about public speaking. But at the next year's NJHS induction, Sean gave a speech to all the new inductees and their parents. He was incredible: for such a young kid, he was well-articulated, funny, and clearly had fun with giving his speech. From that moment on, I fell in love with public speaking.
Since 7th grade, I have had a couple of opportunities to speak publicly. Even though my speeches had many weaknesses, I still loved giving them. The first of these speeches I gave was ironically at the National Honor Society officer elections. I was again running for president. My speech's content was solid, however, I struggled to make eye contact with the audience and to give the speech at an appropriate pace. Nevertheless, I won the election.
This led me to my next two public speaking opportunities: speaking at the NHS induction and (even more ironically) the middle school NJHS induction. I gave my NHS speech about character. Again, the content of my speech was solid; yet, I was nervous and still struggled to make eye contact. My pace improved significantly. At the NJHS induction, I hit my stride. I felt very comfortable as a senior talking to eighth graders. My content was great, my pace ideal, yet again, my eyes would drift to awkward places.
Obviously, the aspect of my public speaking that needs the most work is my eye contact. If I can improve on this, as well as perhaps regulate my pacing in nervous situations, I think I will turn into a solid public speaker. I guess I'll find out next Wednesday!
Obviously, the aspect of my public speaking that needs the most work is my eye contact. If I can improve on this, as well as perhaps regulate my pacing in nervous situations, I think I will turn into a solid public speaker. I guess I'll find out next Wednesday!
