Taking a Public Speaking Class
< 2 minutes read >
Public speaking skills are valuable in both our personal lives and careers. As a business major student at Loyola, one of the curricula required classes you need to complete is COMM 103: Business & Professional Speaking. After taking COMM 103 for a month and completed my first speech this week, here are some of my experiences I want to share with you all!!
FYI: My class is held at Loyola’s Water Tower campus each Tuesday and Thursday morning (75mins per class session). Also, there is no school year restriction for this class, which means you can take it during your first year at Loyola too!!
Okay, allow me to assume that a lot of people have some fear of public speaking (me🤚). So, I want to start with a question: “What do you think would make a public speaking class more comfortable or enjoyable to students?”
My answer would be respecting, supporting and appreciating each other. After 3 weeks of learning, preparing and practicing. Our first speech presentation week is finally here. (A 5-mins informative speech on any topic you want.) In Prof. Borden’s class, there is an important rule everyone has to follow on speech days: clap 👏after every speaker finish their speeches. It may seem like a very little thing, but it shows a lot of your respect and support to the speakers. We all have good and bad (performance) days, even though we did our best. Ice-breaker talks with my classmates helped us get curious and excited about each other’s stories and speeches.
At a very diverse school, there is a big chance your classmates may come from different countries or culture backgrounds. Which is also part of the reasons why I enjoy this class so much. Students have the option to choose whatever topic they want to talk about. So far, I have heard speeches on Mexican Tacos, Shanghai Yuyuan Garden, and Princess Diana, etc. It’s very interesting to learn something new or something you are familiar with from a different perspective. (The Taco one was so fascinating!! I couldn’t stop thinking about trying some traditional Mexican Tacos🌮!! Btw, there are two Flaco’s Tacos restaurants at both of our campuses.)
Please let me know if you want to hear more about my COMM 103 class experience in the future. I am happy to share more of my experience and stories with you!!
Before I go,
If you ever feel nervous about public speaking, I have a quick tip for you. As Pro. Borden always says to us: Your peers and audience want you to succeed. Don’t be nervous, you will do great!! 😊