The Smart Speak Student

Greetings and Salutations my fellow students!

            This is the Smart Speak Student and today I am going to help you with your speaking and writing skills.  Our Smart Speak Spotlight today is focused on the ‘economy of words’.  No, this is not a lesson on money, but more of a lesson on our word choices.  When it comes to speaking and writing, get to the point!  There is no need to ‘beat around the bush’, especially when your grade is on the line.  Use word choices that let you get your point across in a way that is educated AND fits your personality.  Here are some tricks of the speaking trade that can come in handy:

• Plan it out:  Make a battle plan on how your speech or essay is going to flow.  This is called your outline.  The more you plan ahead, the better prepared you are.

• Use connotative meanings:  Textbook definitions and examples are BORING.  When you can, explain your points by relating your experiences with it.  This will not only make it easier to understand, but will also keep your audience (ie. your peers) paying attention.

• Practice:  Mom was right with this one, as practice does make perfect.  Having several drafts of your essay makes the final one perfect.  Practicing your speech out loud does the same thing.

• Avoid filler words:  I like to call this a case of the Ums or Ers or Uhs, whatever filler word you personally choose.  People use these in speeches as a way to think real quick about what you are about to say, but you come off sounding like you don’t know WHAT you are saying.  Do yourself a favor and when practicing, have someone keep a tally of how many times you use these words.  When you become aware of how many times you use them, then you make it a point in your brain to not.

I hope these tips lead you down the path to a better grade. Just always be on the word watch and make sure that you are getting to the point.

Happy speaking!

Unit 7 project/discussion

Class and Professor,

In planning a podcast, you must know your audience, pick a theme, research talking points, and practice (Villano, 2008).  For my podcast, my audience is apparent… it is all of you, my classmates and fellow students.  To research how to make a successful podcast, I read this week’s reading assignments and found that it is important to wisely edit your podcast to ensure correct length based on your audience.  With students (my audience) it is pointed out that ‘if you want students to sit through the podcast in one sitting, it needs to be under 15 minutes’ (Villano, 2008).  Time and more importantly, your word choice, should not be wasted to get your point across to students.  I have personally found this to be important as a professional trainer.  Because of this, I plan on podcasting about the ‘economy of words’ and how to apply this to communicating.

#homework

Employees make me laugh

So an employee walks up to me this past Saturday, saying that he doesn't feel well.  He is holding his stomach, looking anxious.  He asks to go home.  It's a Saturday and my flock of employees were not happy to be working early on a Saturday morning.  I already had one employee try to escape their shift, but this guy looked distraught.  "What's wrong?" I ask.  "I don't feel good," he says.  "Do you have a fever, or migraine, or stomach ache?" I ask, motioning towards him holding his tummy.  "I feel nauseous... and I feel like I have mud butt..."

I think I almost gave myself mud butt to prevent from laughing.  I let the agent go home, not wanting him to get sick (or mud butt) all over his desk...