and emotion should be embraced when giving a speech, as well as trying to lessen any vocalized
filler.
I know from my own experience in class that I have been struggling with both of these
issues and having seen how it can take an interesting talk and make it sluggish and hard to stay
focused on, I know that this is something that I will need to continue to work on as I give more
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speeches and talks. Stopping the “ummm’s” and “ahhhh’s” when giving a speech and having a
changing level of tone is important when trying to get an audience to pay attention and not have
it wander away due to boredom; flat affect and vocalized filler can take away from all the
interesting information and cause a sleepy audience.
It might seem like I bring up the affect and the vocalized filler quite a bit in this class–
this is due to my growing belief that these two things alone can make or break a speech. I notice
it in myself and I struggle with it. I will be struggling with it for the rest of my life. But knowing
how to learn the material enough that pauses can have silence, I think that is one of the most
important things this class has taught me.
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Reference
Nelson, P., Titsworth, B. S., & Pearson, J. (2013).
iSpeak: Public Speaking in Contemporary
Life
. New York: McGraw-Hill.
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