Good Evening Everyone! I hope you’re enjoying your night so far, and Thank you for coming!
Welcome to my In-depth project of 2019-20. My name is Devon Brooks, and I chose to do public speaking! I chose public speaking mainly because, at the beginning of this project, I didn’t feel comfortable speaking in front of large groups of people. I viewed this as a big problem because of how much you’re required to talk in front of groups of people in day to day life. Although I still don’t feel super comfortable, my confidence has definitely improved, along with my ability to speak understandably and clearly. I owe a huge part of this confidence to my mentor, Terry Towner, who taught me so many helpful tricks and techniques that helped me feel much more confident and improve my speaking in leaps and bounds. I learned about how to speak at a normal speed, how to vary my tone enough that it engages the audience but I still sound like a normal person, how to shift eye contact to strategic places around the room to keep interest from the most amount of people, and much more. Out of all these lessons, however, one I view as one of the most important lessons is the value of taking it slow. If you rush almost anything, be it public speaking, doing homework, or even talking to your friends, the more you rush through and press to get everything done quickly, paradoxically, the longer it will take. More speed equals more mistakes, and it takes even longer to fix those mistakes than it would if you’d just taken the time to do it right the first time.
I originally had planned to do one big speech, but since that doesn’t appear to be happening anymore, I’ve decided to record a small piece of my speech, and leave all the different tools I would’ve used, in order to keep the main spirit of my project.
This is a short clip of me presenting my speech, just to give some sort of sense of what it would’ve looked like.
I’ve got some pretty wacky facial expressions, just a warning.
Thanks for checking out my post! Please don’t feel shy to comment any questions, and enjoy the rest of your evening!
May 25, 2020 at 7:49 pm
Nice job!
May 26, 2020 at 2:35 am
Thanks!
May 26, 2020 at 1:31 am
Cool In-Depth topic!
May 26, 2020 at 2:36 am
Thank you!
May 26, 2020 at 2:01 am
Great short clip of your speech devon 🙂 keep up the good work!
May 26, 2020 at 2:37 am
Thank you, and right back at ya!
May 26, 2020 at 2:04 am
Nicely done my good sir!
May 26, 2020 at 2:37 am
Thank you good sir
May 26, 2020 at 2:12 am
Good Job. Public speaking is very difficult to master.
May 26, 2020 at 2:38 am
Thanks! It’s certainly been an upward learning curve, and I don’t think it’s going to get any easier from here.
May 26, 2020 at 2:25 am
Good job bro 🙂 🙂
May 26, 2020 at 2:38 am
Thanks dude 🙂
May 26, 2020 at 2:47 am
Devon this is great!! I love your confidence!
May 26, 2020 at 2:47 am
Thank you!
May 26, 2020 at 2:51 am
The content of your speech is your passion. Great skill to get better at. What was the hardest part for you? Why?
May 26, 2020 at 2:55 am
Great question! The hardest part was definitely starting the speech. Whenever I got up in front of people, my brain starts to go a bit haywire, so once I get past the first 2-3 sentences I feel a lot better. I think it’s because once I get into the meat of the speech, my brain switches from panicking about being in front of people, to more focused on the actual content of the speech and how I’m going to present it.
May 26, 2020 at 2:58 am
Yoooooooo nice job dude! I can really tell that you’ve been practicing 🙂
May 26, 2020 at 3:00 am
I really have, thank you so much for noticing! : D
May 26, 2020 at 2:59 am
You are so confident! If only… But seriously, amazing, amazing!!!
May 26, 2020 at 3:01 am
haha… I wish. The trick is to fake it ’til you make it! It’ll come with time dude. Thank you : )
May 26, 2020 at 3:06 am
Hey Devon!
Great job with your in-depth project! Public speaking is actually one of the things I struggle with the most. You did amazing with your speech in the short clip.
What are some things you found helpful for dealing with nerves? Any tips on how to remain relaxed during a speech?
Thanks! Congrats on your in-depth!
Kailey
May 26, 2020 at 3:13 am
Thank you! For dealing with nerves, this might seem cliche but I honestly have found no way of getting rid of nerves besides going straight into it. Not thinking about the speech at all won’t help, because you’re more likely to mess up if you’re not practicing, but at the same time, if you think only of your speech you’re going to fret over it and build it up in your head to more than it is. In order to relax myself, I find it helps to just focus on what you’re going to say next, and what you’re doing with your face/ body language.
May 26, 2020 at 3:12 am
Devon! Great work! I can really tell you put in a lot of effort. Keep up the great work buddy.
May 26, 2020 at 3:14 am
Thank you!
May 26, 2020 at 3:17 am
that’s some top-notch presenting skills mate
🙂
you should be really proud!
May 26, 2020 at 3:18 am
Why thank you dude! and you’re one to talk haha. 🙂
May 26, 2020 at 3:20 am
Wow! That presentation was on point! Straight fire, Devon!
May 26, 2020 at 3:23 am
Thank you! Feeling pretty “lit”, as they say haha
May 26, 2020 at 3:20 am
I loved watching your video Devon! You sounded amazing!
May 26, 2020 at 3:23 am
Thank you!
May 26, 2020 at 3:21 am
Great Job Devon!
May 26, 2020 at 3:23 am
Thank you 🙂
May 26, 2020 at 3:22 am
Nice job! Is there a piece of advice that you got that helped you feel more confident?
May 26, 2020 at 3:25 am
Thanks! I would say lots of practice, and doing enough research that you know what you’re talking about even if you completely forget your lines is definitely a good confidence booster! Even just getting to know your audience a little bit, so you can get it in your head that they’re nice people and won’t judge if you mess up.
May 26, 2020 at 3:34 am
I would have enjoyed seeing this presented on a stage to a room of your peers. They would have been infected with your enthusiasm for Space. Great job. I’m proud of how hard you worked with your Mentor, your Grandma, and adapting under difficult times.
May 26, 2020 at 3:35 am
Thank you! I’m a little disappointing too, but also relieved. That would’ve been a lot of stress.
May 26, 2020 at 3:37 am
Amazing as always, Devon.
May 26, 2020 at 3:38 am
Well thank you : )
May 26, 2020 at 3:39 am
Thank you Devon! Other than the larger audience, what is the fundamental difference between speaking and public speaking? How much of public speaking is dealing with nerves and how much is it about the tools of performance. Way to tackle something you were not completely comfortable with!
May 26, 2020 at 3:44 am
I would say that the biggest difference between speaking and public speaking is when you’re public speaking you feel a lot more pressure. Generally an audience is watching when you’re public speaking, as well. I would say that it’s 20% prep 80% nerves. I say that because if you have complete reign over your nerves, you can make up for your lack of preparation. But if you have no control over your nerves, you could prepare for years and still flop.
May 26, 2020 at 3:40 am
Well done Devon! Public speaking is very difficult indeed! You did a great job & should be very proud of this presentation!
May 26, 2020 at 3:40 am
Thank you so much!
May 26, 2020 at 3:54 am
Hey Devon great job on your speech! Perhaps you should become a speaker for TEDxGleneagleSecondary in the future, I would’ve loved to hear you talk about the cosmos at my event ; )
May 26, 2020 at 3:56 am
Perhaps… I guess we’ll have to see what the future holds ; )
Thanks for checking out my blog!
May 26, 2020 at 4:00 am
Nice job!
May 26, 2020 at 4:09 am
Thank you!
May 26, 2020 at 4:02 am
Pop off!
May 26, 2020 at 4:11 am
Thanks bro 🙂
May 26, 2020 at 4:06 am
Hi Devon,
I think it is great that you took on something scary. What might you say to others that want to face their fears?
May 26, 2020 at 4:11 am
Just go for it! Do your best, and the worst case scenario is you mess up, and even then you’ve learned what not to do next time, and you get to try again!
May 26, 2020 at 4:15 am
WOW! Your project is SO amazing!
May 26, 2020 at 4:25 am
Nice job! The clip was great, you sounded so chill.
May 26, 2020 at 4:56 am
Great work! Such an important skill to develop! If you could give someone who is normally very shy one piece of advice about public speaking, what would it be?
May 26, 2020 at 5:07 am
Great job Devon! Your topic is really cool and useful.
May 27, 2020 at 3:16 am
Devon you did a great job as I knew you would. Would love to see you speak in front of a live audience.