Part 1 Owning Your Speech
Challenge Case for Part One: Amanda Ortiz
Chapter 1: Is Public Speaking Relevant?
Chapter 2: How Can I Manage My Anxiety?
Chapter 3: How Important Is Ethics?
Amanda Ortiz
It could have been anyone’s worst nightmare, but it definitely was hers: a public speaking course her first year of college. After three weeks, Amanda could sense her anxiety mounting every time she walked into the classroom. Today was the day of her first speech and she was every bit as nervous as she expected to be. Her mouth was dry and her stomach was churning.
Amanda asked herself why she had listened to her advisor. Certainly, public speaking could have waited until her second year when she had figured out how to balance having a stressful job, being a single mom, and taking college classes. But this class was required, and there was just no getting around it. “Better now,” her advisor had recommended, “so that you’re prepared for other classes with speaking requirements.” Although his argument was convincing at the time, right now she was second-guessing her decision. When would she ever have to give a speech in real life, anyway? She wasn’t planning to be a politician or a teacher or a pastor—or anything that required speaking in front of other people for that matter. Would her classmates see “stress” written all over her when she stood up to speak? Would her instructor, Dr. Nelson, wonder why her clothes were always covered with cookie crumbs from dropping her son off at daycare? Would he think her topic was silly, or realize that she hadn’t had much time to practice with all the extra shifts she needed to pull at work? Amanda was full of self-doubt; no wonder her in-class assessment had identified her as a having high communication apprehension.
Last night, as she was putting the finishing touches on her speech, Amanda grabbed her cell phone in desperation and texted her mom: “Help!” Her mom called back right away. “I don’t know if I can do this,” Amanda confessed. “Do what?” her mom replied innocently, although she knew where the conversation was going. “Go to college!” Amanda practically shouted into the phone. “You don’t even know what all I have to do! Papers for English, speeches for communication, non-stop math homework. It’s too much, and besides, my first speech is tomorrow. The only class I like is art, but as a single mom, do I really want to go to college just to become a ‘starving artist’?” “Just give yourself a pep talk,” her mom replied. “It’ll be okay; you’ll see. You know how to speak; you’ve been talking your head off since you were a little kid!” Her mom was trying to inject some humor into the conversation, but it wasn’t working. Frustrated, Amanda finally made an excuse to hang up. Her mother hadn’t gone to college; she had no idea how much pressure Amanda was under.
Suddenly an idea struck her: Would the story she read on the O Magazine site several months ago, “Living Life to the Fullest,” make a good topic? It had made a real impression on her at the time, and she could turn it into a speech. That would certainly save her time and effort, but she wasn’t sure if that kind of thing was allowed. On the other hand, who would have to know that the ideas came from an online magazine?
She took a deep breath, realizing that she’d be standing up front in Dr. Nelson’s spot soon. She looked around the classroom, studying the “audience,” but she couldn’t figure out why today’s other speakers looked so calm, even happy. But then again, she reminded herself, maybe they weren’t “high comm apps.” As she finally made her way to the front of the room to begin her speech, everything she had learned so far about public speaking went out the window. To make matters worse, she dropped her note cards as she approached the lectern. Secretly, Amanda hoped that this class wouldn’t blow her GPA and that her mother would understand if her lowest grade this term was in something she’d been doing since she was a kid.
What Do YOU Think?
Amanda doesn’t think she’ll ever have to give an actual speech after college. What would you say to help her realize that a public speaking class is relevant?
Amanda is not looking forward to her public speaking class. How likely is her negativity to affect her success?
In your view, is using a magazine article as a speech for a public speaking class ethical? Why or why not?