Hi! My name is Andrew, but I also go by Andy. This is my 2nd year at San Jose State majoring in Business Management. I am a commuter student who lives in the neighboring city of Santa Clara. When I am not playing the role of a student, I also work full time as an analyst for a research company where the primary focus of work is on corporate mergers & acquisitions, as well as employee feedback management...topics that can put many to sleep :)
Public speaking and myself...
I would say that my public speaking skills are average in many cases. I seem to have a harder time with public speaking when the subject is academic related, compared to if it were to be business related. I think that the main reason I feel this way is because I find that I do not encounter time constraints when dealing with public speaking outside of school. Many times when I've had to speak in front of an audience at school, I feel like I worry more about making this speech long enough, rather then communicating the key points across.
My first and foremost goal for this class is to just learn more about public speaking. I've never had formal classroom teachings on public speaking, and have had to self-teach since I've entered the workforce. I would like to be a more effective communicator and at the least, I think this class will show me the aspects of good communication and how I can improve my own.
The biggest fear I would like to overcome is the fear of ending a speech short of the required speaking time. I've had so many speeches at school where I've practiced the timing for days, only to cut it very close when it came time to present. That feeling of trying to fight time really distracts me from other things, and I think if I were to overcome that I would be much more comfortable.
