BRAINSTORMING:

For my “Lone Wolf” speech, I’ll be discussing how to become a better version of my academic self.  In order to connect with the audience and my peers, I’ll point out the obvious fact that we are all academics as of right now.  All of us are attending this private university together and learning new ideas and concepts all the time.  This is a way in which we can relate to one another, teach one another, and learn from one another.  I think it’s safe to say that we all care about our academic selves at least a little bit.

I chose to talk about becoming a better version of my academic self for a combination of two reasons.  First, as I’m nearing the end of my undergraduate journey, I’ve taken the time to reflect on how far I have come and all the great progress I have made through the years.  When I was younger, I don’t want to say that I didn’t care about school work, but I didn’t apply myself as much as I could have and should have.  Now I see the importance of my own individual education experience.  I also chose this topic because I want to prove to myself that I’m capable of learning difficult concepts and becoming a smarter person overall.

I think it’s best to kick off the speech by introducing myself.  List off the basics: name, class, major, and hometown.  Just so the audience knows who they’re listening to.  The first real point I want to get across is what I talked about in the first paragraph regarding how I will connect with the audience.  Mention how we are all academics or students and how that is a way in which we can all relate with each other.  Also, point out that it’s important to understand that it’s not a race by any means and that in order to get the full educational experience, you have to take it at a pace that’s right for you.  Next, I’ll describe different ways in which I personally plan to better my academic self.  Becoming invested in my education, starting to care more and apply myself more.  The feeling of accomplishment when you finish a tough assignment or long essay.  To conclude my speech, I’ll review my key points and maybe throw in a motivational quote from a celebrity.

DRY-DRY RUN Outline:

Lone Wolf Speech First Draft

Introduction:

  • James DeCrisantis; Senior; Sport Management Major; Hartford, CT
  • Main topic of the speech is to pick up new ideas on how to better yourself academically
  • Key points I’ll be discussing:

1. Setting clear, realistic goals

2. Accomplishing efficient time management

3. Reaching out for academic help and assistance

Setting Clear/Realistic Goals:

  • Being focused and having a sense of direction
    • Where do you want to be and what are you doing in order to get there?
      • You might feel more motivated to do better in certain classes rather than others
  • Having goals that are measurable
    • Tracking your progress throughout your courses
      • First 5 weeks, middle 5 weeks, last 5 weeks
      • Make the Dean’s list at the end of the semester
  • Realistic goals
    • Setting goals that are too out of reach in the moment could lead to lots of frustration and potentially burnout
    • Consider current abilities and resources when setting academic goals

Accomplishing Efficient Time Management:

  • Scheduling and planning out projects, tests, and other assignments
    • Prioritizing assignments based on due dates and how in depth they are
  • Setting aside blocks of time to study or complete homework
    • Making sure you have a solid block of time in your schedule strictly allocated for school work
      • This could be independent or with a group of friends
  • Taking breaks and practicing self-care
    • Working for large amounts of time with no breaks could lead to burnout and decreased productivity
    • Take a break, stretch, rest, whatever you need to refresh or “recharge”

Reaching Out for Academic Assistance/Help:

  • It’s like having someone give you money for your business
    • Your brain is your business, you already put all your money (knowledge) into your business.  Why not receive someone else’s money (knowledge) and put it into your business (brain)?
  • Receiving help will reduce stress levels
    • It’s helpful to have someone guide through academics
      • Scheduling, time management, etc.

Conclusion/Wrap Up:

  • Clear and realistic goals
    • Focused, sense of direction, measurable
  • Efficient time management
    • Prioritizing, setting aside time blocks, take breaks
  • Reach out for help
    • There are no downsides to asking for help
  • Thank you/questions

DRY-DRY RUN Reflection:

My Best Advice:

The best peer review that I offered to one of my peers was simply to condense their speech to fit into the 3 to 5 minute time limit.  Their speech was very good, there were just a little too many extra details.  I thought it would be in their best interest to keep the key information he wanted to address and the best parts of the speech.  The rest wasn’t bad work, however, it isn’t necessarily needed.

Why It’s My Best Advice:

I think this was good advice because condensing a longer speech into a shorter one would keep the audience engaged for the most part.  If a speech starts going on and on for too long, the majority of the audience is most likely going to lose focus.  I believe that an audience is more likely to recall or remember shorter speeches compared to longer speeches.

Best Advice From My Peers:

The best peer review that I received was to cut a little bit of information out of my speech.  In just my first draft outline, I had close to 3 pages of notes and points I wanted to get across.  While trying to get through all of that information, my peers felt that I was just talking at them instead of to them.  This is a quick way of losing an audience’s attention, so I should try to stay away from it.

Why It’s Their Best Advice:

This was the best piece of advice I received because the last thing I wanted was to have the audience get bored.  When typing up my first draft outline, I was worried that I wasn’t going to have enough to talk about to get through the 3 to 5 minute time span.  It’s good to know that I have more than enough and what I should focus on is getting rid of some of my information.

DRY-RUN Outline:

Lone Wolf Speech Second Draft

Introduction:

  • James DeCrisantis; Senior; Sport Management Major; Hartford, CT
  • Main topic of the speech is to pick up new ideas on how to better yourself academically
  • Key points I’ll be discussing:

Setting Clear/Realistic Goals:

  • Being focused and having a sense of direction
    • Where do you want to be and what are you doing in order to get there?
  • Having goals that are measurable
    • Make the Dean’s list at the end of the semester

Accomplishing Efficient Time Management:

  • Scheduling and planning out projects, tests, and other assignments
    • Prioritizing assignments based on due dates and how in depth they are
  • Taking breaks and practicing self-care
    • Working for large amounts of time with no breaks could lead to burnout and decreased productivity
    • Take a break, stretch, rest, whatever you need to refresh or “recharge”

Reaching Out for Academic Assistance/Help:

  • It’s like having someone give you money for your business
    • Your brain is your business, you already put all your money (knowledge) into your business.  Why not receive someone else’s money (knowledge) and put it into your business (brain)?
  • Receiving help will reduce stress levels
    • It’s helpful to have someone guide through academics
  • There are no downsides to asking for help

Conclusion/Wrap Up:

  • Thank you/questions

DRY-RUN Video Recording (YouTube):

Recorded on Sept. 29, 2023

DRY-RUN Reflection:

My Best Advice:

The piece of peer review advice I had to offer was to try to avoid going off on side tangents.  The speaker, who was very confident, would get side tracked and start talking about something unrelated to their speech.  My advice was simply to stick to the key points of the speech and minimizing unnecessary details or sub-stories.

Why It’s My Best Advice:

I think this piece of peer review advice was helpful and hopefully useful because it allows the audience to stay engaged and not lose focus.  When a speaker goes off on side stories on multiple occasions, I feel like it’s hard for the audience to follow a long and remain focused on the central topic of the speech.  Avoiding these side tracks will allow for the speech to flow smoother as well.

Best Advice From My Peers:

My dry-run speech was very quick and speedy.  I think it was the shortest speech in our class, time-wise.  The best advice my peers gave me was to add more content and information.  Also they suggested using longer vocabulary words just to “fluff” it up a little.  Overall, my speech needs to be longer and contain more depth.

Why It’s Their Best Advice:

This peer review advice was valuable to me because I do need to make my speech longer.  A speech that goes by too quickly will leave the audience thinking they might’ve missed a key point or thinking to themselves, “that’s it?”  Also the use of longer vocabulary words is helpful to me because it’s such a small adjustment that will help my speech out greatly.

FINAL Outline:

Lone Wolf Speech Final Outline

Introduction:

  • James DeCrisantis; Senior; Sport Management Major; Hartford, CT
  • Main topic of the speech is to pick up new ideas on how to better yourself academically
  • Key points I’ll be discussing:
    • Setting clear/realistic goals, Accomplishing efficient time management, Reaching out for academic help/assistance

Setting Clear/Realistic Goals:

  • Being focused and having a sense of direction
    • Where do you want to be and what are you doing in order to get there?
  • Having goals that are measurable
    • Make the Dean’s list at the end of the semester
  • Everyone is going to have different goals
    • Everyone takes their own, unique path to accomplish their goals

Accomplishing Efficient Time Management:

  • Scheduling and planning out projects, tests, and other assignments
    • Prioritizing assignments based on due dates and how in depth they are or how long they’re going to take
    • VISUAL AID
      • Organized by class, due date
      • Make sure everything due the next day is done by NBA or NFL games on that night
  • Taking breaks and practicing self-care
    • Working for large amounts of time with no breaks could lead to burnout and decreased productivity
    • Take a break, stretch, rest, whatever you need to refresh or “recharge”

Reaching Out for Academic Assistance/Help:

  • It’s like having someone give you money for your business
    • Your brain is your business, you already put all your money (knowledge) into your business.  Why not receive someone else’s money (knowledge) and put it into your business (brain)?
  • Receiving help will reduce stress levels
    • It’s helpful to have someone guide through academics
  • There are no downsides to asking for help

Conclusion/Wrap Up:

  • To summarize the main points to keep in mind:
    • Setting clear/realistic goals, Accomplishing efficient time management, Reaching out for academic help/assistance
  • I appreciate your time and attention, thank you

FINAL Visual Aid:

FINAL Reflection:

This was the first time I had ever gone through a project with a process like the Lone Wolf Speech.  I have never done multiple trials for a presentation for any class in middle school through high school through college.  I think it helped me out a lot in multiple ways.  First and foremost, I thought it was critical to hear feedback from my peers after the dry-dry-run and the dry-run.  I thought the class as a whole did an amazing job giving and receiving criticism in a constructive way.  Everyone was truthful and honest but shared their thoughts in a way that wasn’t hurtful or rude.  The second reason why I found this process very helpful is because I don’t like public speaking very much.  It makes me nervous, anxious, and uncomfortable.  This process helped me get used to it and gave me a chance to fix the mistakes or problems I’d made in the first trial in front of the entire class.

Another reason I enjoyed this project was because it incorporated other assignments into it.  For example, the reflections after each trial were also journal assignments.  I found this to be helpful as it kept me on top of getting all the work done on time.  Furthermore, the designated page on our eportfolios helped to keep me organized throughout the project from start to finish.  It was also cool to see the progress I made through the brainstorming exercise phase to each of my outlines to the YouTube video recording to each of the reflections.  Overall, I think the experience of this project was very helpful for getting future projects done as I can take what I’ve learned here and apply it to other aspects of my personal, academic, and even professional life.