Introduction to Comm 20

Hello world, my alias name is "Piper" and I am excited to be involved in this online public speaking course :). I like to play volleyball in my spare time and I am currently taking a volleyball course in the morning, it's pretty fun and keeps me feeling productive. Other hobbies that I especially enjoy are playing card games, dominoes, and Rock Band :). I have lived in San Francisco for a majority of my life and I love the environment there. Although San Jose has a different vibe, I have enjoyed my college life here so far as I meet new people and endeavor new experiences.

My past public speaking experience has been minimal. There were several class speeches that I created in high school and I usually received average feedback. One of the courses that I took in Fall 2008 involved a very important speech about my college experience towards the end of the semester and it involved the use of Power Point. I must admit that it was a little difficult to work with Power Point while maintaining eye contact and ensuring that I got my point across to the audience. It was also difficult to move to the next slides because the computer and mouse were located behind me, making it awkward to look back every one or two minutes. I have the tendency to say "um" in between my sentences as I gather my thoughts, so that is one thing that I would like to work on in this class. I would also like to learn how to communicate effectively with people whether it is at meetings or social events because I can be extremely timid and shy. I hope that I gain plenty of beneficial communication skills and have fun viewing and creating videos :).