For years, almost every student in America has stood in front of their fellow classmates, showing off a presentation that they had already practiced many times before. Despite the fact that they spent the entire week memorizing the presentation, it didn’t help with the fact that as soon as they went to the front of the room, they blanked out and just stared at their classmates in silence. Embarrassing. 

Many kids in America are afraid of public speaking which is totally fine, but public speaking is something that you need to be comfortable with in order to actually succeed in life, unless you have a job where you don’t need to speak to people. How are you going to make money if you can’t even present your ideas in front of your colleagues? There are plenty of classes at BHS where you do have to speak in front of your peers. When BHS students were asked for their opinion on public speaking, we got some very interesting responses. “It sucks,” said Lori Novik, a junior. Out of all the students that were interviewed, 75 percent hated public speaking. No worries though. These students can sign up for Voice of Influence! This class teaches students valuable communication skills and how to feel comfortable with verbally communicating their thoughts. The Eagle’s Cry sat down with Ms. Baichan, who teaches Voice of Influence, in order to discuss how we, as students, can present in front of the class.

The Eagle’s Cry: What do you suggest to those who have a problem with speaking quietly instead of projecting?

Ms. Baichan: Practice in front of a mirror in order to learn how to enunciate your words better. You really just have to build your self-confidence, so you don’t feel self conscious in what you’re saying. I feel like with me personally, it took confidence building and actually just practicing, and just knowing what you’re talking about.

The Eagle’s Cry: How do you prepare for a presentation or speech?

Ms. Baichan: We practice a lot, so especially in our class, I give them a week to prepare and then another two or three days of just practicing with their other partner, in order to really just know what they wanna say, know where they have to correct some of their ways. We do a lot of mock speeches, so every Friday, they have a different prompt on the board. They have no preparation, maybe two to three minutes of preparing what they want to say, and they kind of just thrust there. We also handwrite everything first or type it out, and then present it. I feel like presenting it off key is just really difficult.

The Eagle’s Cry: Why do you think learning public speaking is important?

Ms. Baichan: It’s something that you’re gonna have to do for the rest of your life. I tell my students all the time that even when you go to college, they’re not going to take no for an answer, you’re gonna have to get up there and present. The better you are at it at a younger age, the more likely you’ll succeed, especially with being a teacher, we have to present every single day. So it’s something that you have to practing all the time.

The Eagle’s Cry: Are there ways to stop saying words like “uh” or “um”?

Ms. Baichan: That is something we practice during the first week of school. I had everyone partner up with each other and they had to talk about something they really liked for a minute straight and if they said “like” or “um”, the clock would restart for another minute. The only way to get rid of it, is being conscious when you’re talking so you can eliminate those words to practice, speak slowly, and pause before you speak. I still have trouble with saying words like “like” and “um”. It’s really all about practicing. 

The Eagle’s Cry: Is there anything you dislike about public speaking? If so, what is it and why?

Ms. Baichan: I used to be really anxious and I liked to keep to myself in highschool. So whenever I had to do some sort of public speaking, I used to get really really anxious beforehand. Especially when I’m teaching, it’s like a presentation everyday, oif somebody’s not paying attention, I feel self conscious cause maybe they don’t like what I’m saying or they’re not interested in what I’m teaching about, so I overthink those moments or ask myself “how can I make this more entertaining?”, so they feel like they want to pay attention or sometimers when people are just watching you all the time, it can kinda get under your skin a little bit, but I usually just stare right at the back of the wall and just talk.

The Eagle’s Cry: How can someone make the audience interested in what they say?

Ms. Baichan: It’s all about engaging your audience’s perspectives. It really just depends too, as the speaker you have to determine what kind of emotion you wanna draw from your audience. If you want them to think about the words that you’re saying, you have to kinda cater towards that. It really just depends on the speaker and their purpose in saying what they’re saying and then trying to gauge that emotion from their audience.

The Eagle’s Cry: Lastly, do you have any advice for future generations?

Ms. Baichan: You need to get up and rip off the bandaid and I know that it’s easier said than done with putting yourself out there which is something we always hear all the time, but you realy just have to do that. The more you do it, the better you get at it, so you won’t feel as self conscious.