To read day 8, click here.

Today was a big day in class. The major assignment for this course is a 5-to-7 minute informative speech. The speech could be about anything as long as it wasn’t persuasive. Obviously, we also had to include statistics, quotes, etc. There were major penalties for going too short or too long. Unofficially, I think this speech is like 95% of our grade.

For that reason, and because most people hate public speaking, the class was pretty nervous today. We talked about nothing for awhile then Mrs. Ms. Smith asked for volunteers. It all pretty much went downhill from there.
 

• The first speaker talked about his time in the military and gave some pretty cool demonstrations. Unfortunately, he got confused on how much time he had left and finished a minute short. 0/1 on speeches so far.
• The second speaker not only finished a minute and a half short, she broke the projector while trying to show a visual aid. Yikes. 0/2.
•  The third speaker actually managed to speak for the correct amount of time, but somehow forgot to make an outline for the speech, something Mrs. Ms. Smith said we would need to hand in before speaking if we wanted a good grade. 0/3.
•  Our fourth speaker talked about culinary school and would have been great, if not for the part where Mrs. Ms. Smith actually had to cut her off when she reached the 12 minute mark. Yeah, things were not getting off to a good start.
•  The fifth speaker talked about a water park. Yeah, by now you’ve probably guessed she was two minutes under. Who can speak five minutes about a water park? Also, why didn’t any of these people time themselves while practicing the speech? This would seem to be a pretty important assignment.
•  It took five other spectacular failures first, but our sixth speaker actually managed to finish in perfect time, hand in an outline, and not break something. Sure, her topic (Taiwan) was unbelievably boring and broad, but gotta give credit where credit is due.
•  After a couple more failures, I got up to give my presentation. I talked about my experiences as an audience member on The Price is Right and my friend getting called up as a participant. I must say, the speech went over very well. I finished in 6 minutes, made everyone laugh, and got major compliments from Mrs. Ms. Smith (though I don’t know if that’s a good thing).
•  I couldn’t tell you what our last speaker presented on because I was too busy eating the cupcakes she handed out. Yeah, seems unfair because she’s obviously going to get a great grade, but I’m too busy eating to complain.