I really like this point. When people listen to facts or statistics it may be hard for them to connect to the material. However, when people listen to someone tell a story they can be sucked in and feel an emotional connection. I think especially when giving a persuasive speech, having a personal account of someone connected to the topic can help you influence your audience.

I feel like this also relates to experience I have had in theatre. When giving a speech, yes you want to stick with what you know. You should even be willing to learn and study more on your topic, when writing a speech. In theatre I was always told "no matter how good you are, someone else is better than you. And sometimes, that person might be in the audience". I feel like it is similar when giving a speech. There will most likely always be someone that knows more than you do, so make sure you are giving true facts because someone in your audience might know better.

Going along with this, it is important for you to know your strengths. People can and may believe whatever they want. But you should always be aware of what you do well. If people believe you are funny, then you should recognize your potential for humor and practice it. Knowing your strengths can give you confidence and direction for improvement in the goals you have. The more you practice and improve your strengths, the more confident you will be to deliver those strengths no matter the audience.

This is a principle I have seen and used in my life. I have done a lot of musical theatre productions and auditions. Auditions are very similar to this concept except you are only trying to present yourself and your abilities. As stated, when giving a speech or doing an audition, you want to stand out and be memorable. Once you have made yourself stand out, then you want to deliver a presentation that will have a profound influence on who receives it.

This is something that can be helpful in any situation where you are presenting information. I spent a lot of time giving lessons and to a variety of people, most of the time in their own home. Everything we did from the second we had contact with someone, we were trying to build their trust in us. We were respectful, we kept lessons short to value their time, we complimented them and their homes, we offered service, and a host of other things to make sure they knew we could be trusted. All of those things that built our credibility, helped us to be able to keep meeting with people.

This is very true from what I have seen. I have a lot of friends that own businesses and do a lot of interviewing. They always judge people by the way they can talk and present themselves. If they can not portray themselves well, they will not be able to communicate with or advocate for customers.

This is an interesting concept I have never heard laid out before. I learned how to speak Tagalog, and their language is pretty complex in the sense that they have a lot polysemic words that change depending on the way you say them(very similar to mandarin). They also can be extremely precise in what they're saying by the way they arrange their sentences. It is cool to be diving into English and our way of communicating after having learned how another group of people communicate.

This is an extremely great tool when teaching or negotiating. This shows active listening and sincere interest in their opinions, views, and concerns. I was taught this during a time in my life where I did a lot of teaching and it made a huge difference in lessons when we would ask clarifying questions.

I could see this way of illustrating our thoughts and even emotions being a terrific tool for kids with special needs. My brother learned so much from his therapy as a kid, but I never knew any of the tools they used or practiced. But I feel like this could help kids not only show what they mean when they something, but could also be a huge help in allowing kids with special needs understand what other people around them mean when they are speaking. People with autism especially need help understanding what people actually mean.

I see this a lot in my family. Our personalities are very different from one another and we each interpret things differently. What I consider funny, my sister finds offensive. What my brother finds infuriating, I find depressing. This can lead to some arguments and contention if we don't take the time to explain our viewpoint and consider each others interpretations.

I really like this example because I believe that for me, my schema of school and education was vastly different from most people around me. I was homeschooled my whole life and so the schema I developed towards education was a unique one. However, when I entered middle school, I took some elective classes at the public school near me which was a huge learning curve for me. I had to learn what formal teacher-student relationships were like, learning grading systems and tests, how to interact with other students, etc. I had my own learning experiences within my own home that I was expecting to find in public school and I quickly changed my perception and opinion of what formal education looked like.

I think this is something people have a hard time understanding. I really liked the TED talk video that went into detail about how we all perceive things differently. We can become so upset with someone for what they say or do without taking any consideration for what all the variables that could have played and influence on them. The way they were raised, their genetic make-up, the media they see, their education, how society has treated them, etc. These judgements that we place on these patterns can be incredibly helpful to us, but we also need to be considerate of other peoples' judgement and what could have led them to that belief or perception.

I knew this was a real thing, but I never considered it in a communication viewpoint. I can see examples of how I expect certain communications out of certain people. For example, compliments and encouragement from my mom, critique and advice from a coach, complaints out of people that typically have a negative outlook on things. I want to keep my eye open this week and see if I am expecting certain communications from the people I interact with.

I think this is especially true for youth and adolescents. I think in my life, most people that go seeking to try or learn new things are of an older age and maturity. Most children find their passions because at one point their parents forced them to try something. This was true for me and how I found my love for dance and performing. I'm not sure why we are less inclined to try new things when we are younger, but I am grateful for my forced exposure to new things.

This can be a whole range of both external and internal stimuli. For example, our pain can be blocked out when we are focused on someone or something else that we feel is more important. We can block out our hunger when we are about to give a public presentation or performance. When we truly believe that something is the most important thing at that moment, we can have almost superhuman like abilities to drown out anything that could be keeping us from that one singular thing. First responders and military would be a great example of this.

I have never considered the value of studying communication and how it can apply to my daily life. I have always felt like I do a good job of communicating with other when I want to. I am starting to see that studying and breaking down different methods and concepts of communication can be a be a great benefit to formal and informal relationships. My brother is autistic, and as part of his therapy he went through a lot of therapies to help him understand how other people communicate, and how to communicate well with others. I knew this was an unmeasurable benefit to him, but I never thought that it could be for me as well.

I find it interesting that interpersonal communication is the least studied or researched. I don't know how much study has been done on it's behalf or how much it lacks in comparison to the other forms. I believe however, that deeper study into this form of communication could offer incredible benefits to society. If we could learn better ways to coach/teach ourselves or our children how to talk and motivate themselves better. If we knew how people with special needs communicated in their own interpersonal thoughts, perhaps we could find new insight to help them connect with the world around them. If we knew how those with mental illnesses or criminals communicated interpersonally, we may find new methods of treatments and earlier signs for prevention.

I think this plays a big factor how we choose to act in most situations. We learn to talk a certain way to babies because we know that speaking with a certain tone or volume or energy can get the best reaction out of a baby. We do this with adults as well by gauging how much attention we get from certain types of humor, topics, words and expressions we use and so forth. Which can lead people to believe they are "funny", simply because they know how to communicate around certain people in a way that will get the most amused result. This can also be to our disadvantage because we may learn to communicate in social settings in a way that we don't actually enjoy or believe is our own true character.

This was honestly very insightful to me. I have a friend who is majoring in communications, and I have always wondered what she would be able to do with that degree. It is cool to see all the different types of coaching, teaching and learning that falls under the umbrella of "communication". I think understanding the different applications that come from the study of communication can help me find more gratitude for this course.

I love this. I resonate with the "increasing one's power to serve". If we think of communication as exchanging information, then one's ability to communicate better makes them more serviceable to those with whom they are giving information to. If we think of this in terms of politics and leadership, you would want someone to represent you that has good skills in communication and listening. If we think of this in terms of a courtroom, you would want a lawyer who is confident in their ability to communicate for you and in your behalf. In almost any setting where someone is representing or serving us whether paid or unpaid, formal or informal, you would want someone who has proficient skills in being able to express themselves and their opinions.