Public Speaking

In our last communication class we discussed some of our experiences with public speaking. Some people’s experiences were positive and some were negative.

Speaking in front of groups is not everyone’s favourite thing to do and for some people this can be a difficult thing

We had some in class exercises where we all had an opportunity to practice saying something in a group setting and two students gave speeches on two random topics peanut butter and nightmares.

The first speaker was Maxwell Miller who spoke about peanut butter and did a good job of it too. He mentioned so interesting fact about peanut butter and spoke clearly and at a good pace and used humor to keep his audience interested. The only feedback would be that Max was quite fidgety throughout the whole presentation and this distracted from the message he was trying to convey.

The second speaker was Anna Fawcett and she spoke about nightmares. The information presented was interesting and she used humour to get the audiences attention. Anna’s speech was great but at times she spoke too fast which made it hard to keep up.

There are a few good tips that you can use to make a little more bearable and save unnecessary embarrassment.

There are several steps of tricks to use to overcome the fear of making a mistake or looking foolish when you speak to a group:

1. Be well-prepared before speaking to a group
2. Practice your speech
3. Have a backup, in case you forget what you want to say
4. Reduce the fear of your audience
5. Relax yourself just before you speak
6. Dress appropriately

Below is a link to a website for further tips on being an effective speaker:

http://www.effectivespeaking.co.nz/

Public speaking needn’t be daunting and by applying some of these tips. And Remember, "He who fails to prepare is preparing for failure - so Prepare, Prepare, Prepare".

Listening

Being an effective listener is sometimes a difficult thing, because people are usually more focused on what they are saying than what they are hearing.

Now don’t fall in to the trap of thinking by giving the occasional nod of the head or uh huh, yup or yeah will make people think you are listening to them because they know you aren’t listening.

A good listener is someone who centers their attention on you when you are speaking to them and takes a genuine interest in what you are saying.

There are a few key things we can do to improve our listening skills:

• Decide to be a Better Listener
• Concentrate
• Give Feedback That You’re Listening
• Keep An Open Mind

http://changingminds.org/techniques/listening/good_listening.htm

The web link above gives more tips on how to become an effective listener and goes along with the handout we were given in class.

I have heard many people complain that people who speak English as a second language are impossible to understand. By listening carefully and concentrating, we can usually understand what is being said. As for myself I am not the world’s best listener and have often been accused of having selective hearing.

The Self

Recently in class we discussed the self- concept. This concept is made up of three key concepts:

Others images- How do significant others see me?
Social comparisons- How do I compare with my peers?
Your interpretations and evaluations- How do I evaluate my own feelings and behaviors

Along with the self-concept we also learnt about the Johari window which is a concept that deals with different parts of the self. The Johari window is made up of four parts.

Open self – shared information
Blind self – only known to others
Hidden self – only known to yourself
Unknown self – unconscious information

Below is a link to find out more about the Johari window:

http://www.noogenesis.com/game_theory/johari/johari_window.html

This concept is aimed at the positive aspects of the self and useful tool for illustrating and improving self-awareness.

There is also a Nohari window which focuses on the negative aspects of the self.

I find these concepts interesting for finding out things that you may not know or recognise in yourself.

On the other hand some people are apprehensive to take part in evaluating themselves with these types of concepts and often become defensive when the outcomes aren’t the ones desired.

I find that using these types of concepts that if you are honest with yourself you will be able to pin point the areas in yourself that need changing.

Unfortunately most people let their pride or ego stand in the way of this happening and the only one who loses out is them

Television communication event

One of our first assignments for class was to use a television show or movie to describe a communication event. We had to pay particular attention to the barriers and listening skills and then identify what they were and if this was a negative or positive example of communication.

I chose a scene from Fawlty Towers as my communication event. Using the communication model we were shown in class I have identified some of the barriers in this scene that affected clear communication. I have also added the dialogue of the scene from Fawlty Towers and a link to the clip so you can get a better idea of what happened.

Fawlty Towers: Touch of Class

http://youtube.com/watch?v=o8DngrgIpS0

Basil Fawlty: Ah, Manuel? There is too much butter on those trays.
Manuel: Que? (What?)
Basil Fawlty: [speaking slowly] there is too much butter on those trays.
Manuel: Ah, no senor. No "on those trays"... [Counting the trays]
Manuel: "uno, dos, tres" (1, 2, 3).

Channel: Speaking

Sender: Basil Fawlty.

Idea: He wants to communicate to the waiter that he has too much butter on the trays he is carrying.

Transmission: Basil says “Ah, Manuel? There is too much butter on those trays”.

Receiver: Manuel.

Idea: Manuel thinks Basil is trying to say uno, dos, tres (1, 2, 3) in Spanish.

Feedback: Manuel replies to Basil saying “: Ah, no senor. No "on those trays"... [Counting the trays] "uno, dos, tres".

Barriers: Manuel doesn’t speak English very well so he has misinterpreted what Basil is trying to tell him and has decoded the message as Basil is trying to say uno, dos, tres (1, 2, 3) in Spanish. On the other hand if you have watched the program before you will know that Basil is not very patient with Manuel and doesn’t think to speak slowly when talking to Manuel. It is also interesting to note that Basil’s Spanish is not good and his guest house that he owns is in Spain!

This small example of communication shows how the barrier of language can cause the receivers idea to be misunderstood and vise versa.

I have had the experience of teaching English in a foreign country and have found that not speaking the same language can result in a great deal of confusion and misunderstanding. It is important that when you speak to people who don’t speak the same language you need to make sure they understand what you are saying.

Communication

Well I am now into my second week at Wintec working towards am BMA majoring in public relations and advertising.

So far I am really enjoying the different classes that we have and starting to slowly absorb the information that sometimes confuses me.

In our communication class we have been asked to set up a blog and write bout the things that we learn in class. This week we have been asked to think about two aspects of interpersonal communication: What is communication, how would I define it? And what does it mean?

Communication to me is the process you use to get your thoughts and ideas across to another person. Traditionally the channels we have used to communicate have been face to face communication made up of both verbal and non verbal messages or on the telephone.

Over the years the mediums or channels that we use to communicate have changed, with the advancement of today’s technology we now have the internet which brings with it email, instant messaging and web cam conversations. We also have cell phones that have a long list of different functions including internet access.

Below is a copy of the communication model that we received in class.

There are many examples of communication models on the internet and I have found a website with a communication model that is similar to the one we were given. Even though this example is not as detailed as the one we were shown it still shows the basic communication concepts.

http://www.mala.bc.ca/~soules/media112/resonant.htm

So what does all this mean? Basically we all use communication and some people prefer some mediums to communicate over others. The communication model shows how we can communicate effectively and if we aren’t communicating effectively it shows us what we might be doing wrong.

Now that we have all of these technological advancements it is easier to communicate with people i.e. if something happens in a remote part of the world we can find out what has happened faster now that we have cell phones with cameras and the internet.

With all this technology you would think that that there would be no more crossed wires or break down of communication but this is not so. I still believe that face to face communication is still the best medium of communication because it is easy to delete an email of use your caller identification to ignore cell phone calls but when you are talking face to face you can’t.

Something else we looked at in communications class this week was a working in group’s model. The key steps in this particular group model are:

1) Finding common ground
2) Roles and goals
3) Getting the job done
4) Reflecting/Reflection


On a whole I found this model to be very effective but only if it is used correctly. We watched a video of a university study group.

At first the group weren’t getting along, this was mainly because they all had different ideas on how they should be doing things. With assistance from their teacher they were able to follow the working in group’s model and change from working against each other to working as a team.

I have found that when I have been in groups that have followed this model the outcome has been a positive one, I have also been in groups where things haven’t gone right and I think it was due to not following the steps in this model which resulted in a poor mark and ill feelings towards group members. There are alternatives to using this group model but they all seem to contain a lot of the same key elements.