Time management.

It is so important to stay on top of the work, especially for all the components of the speeches because if you don't turn in even one part it can knock a good portion out of your grade for that speech. Try to work on speeches ahead of time, so you aren't cramming -- these aren't speeches that can be easily done the night before. Also, don't sleep on the Out of Class Speaker Critique. Get that done ASAP. It takes longer than you would think and you want to find a speaker you're actually interested in listening to.

Prioritize.

Along with time management, it's also very important to prioritize and recognize the course load at times. I always work best on projects during the weekends and struggle to be productive on them during the week as I like to just throw myself into the work for hours on end (which definitely isn't the most productive, but I always get my stuff done)! But you have to learn when to say no to things in order to put a good effort into your speeches. Outlines take a long time (at least they did for me, I don't know for others), so I would set aside a whole Saturday just to work on my outlines. One time that meant staying in and saying no to hanging out with friends to be able to finish my outline on the day I had said I wanted to in order to stay on top of things. I ended up finishing it at 1:30 a.m. but I needed that time set aside to dive into the work and get it done, and I was so thankful the next day that I did that because I don't believe I would have been able to get everything done for that speech by my presentation day otherwise.

Pick a topic you're interested in.

You will be putting in a lot of work and research into your speeches, so make sure you pick something you're passionate about or at least a topic you're interested in working with for a couple of weeks. Also, if you're into a topic when you're presenting that genuine interest in your speech will come across! There aren't too many restricted topics, so make it creative and have fun with it! If you're struggling to find a topic, look on Pinterest, ask friends or family for ideas or see what other students may have done in the past and put your own spin on it.

Practice, practice, practice.

For each speech, you have to turn in a speech log. While it's easy to BS these, it is to your benefit to complete them honestly and truly try to practice as many times as you can before presenting. Not only will your grades thank you, but it's also nice for your classmates to watch a prepared, well-thought-out speech. Watching someone struggle giving a presentation isn't a pleasant experience for anyone. We all want you to do your best, so put your best foot forward and practice!!

Present ASAP.

One aspect I love about this course is that you get to choose when to present. What weel, what day, what order. I personally like to present as soon as possible because I want to get it over with (which I highly recommend!) and, also, because I get more anxious the more speeches I have to watch before I present. But it's also important to take into account how much time you think you'll need to prepare for that specific speech in order to complete it at its fullest potential. The first speech I presented on the first day because it was a shorter speech which I finished quite quickly compared to the others and felt ready for (also I wanted to get it out of the way). But for the two middle speeches, I put more effort into constructing them and had more research and practicing to do, so I signed up for a later presentation date so that I didn't feel like I had to cram and also so I didn't become too stressed about it.

Embrace the awkwardness.

My least favorite part: Video analysis. Yes, they make you watch your speech afterward and critique yourself! It's awkward and cringy, but it's also reassuring that you didn't look as uncomfortable or fidgety as you thought. You may notice that your voice projected or you had good gestures or you had good pacing and voice inflection. You don't always have to think about all that went wrong because it helps you see the good in your speeches and makes you feel more confident while helping you find what you need to work on. Still, not a big fan of this aspect of the course, but I see their reasoning.

Also, with how they want you to structure your speeches, it is very straight forward which I had always been taught to make transitions and parts similar to them more elegant and less "basic," but that is what they want. So do it. They will continue to mark it on your rubric to encourage you to say "first, second, third, etc." This kind of makes outlining easier, but also I find those "basic" transitions awkward since I've always been directed away from using them in the past.

Make sure you turn everything in.

As I mentioned earlier, there are many components to each speech. Many of them you need to turn in online and print out to turn in with your speech folder. So it's important to have everything done, but also equally important to make sure you properly turn everything into where it needs to be by the day you present. Part of your speech grade is based on preparation and what's in your speech folder: your outline, notecards, audience analysis (for the last two speeches), practice log, evaluation rubric. Make sure you have everything done! So many people can lose points on their speeches just because of these things before they even start to grade you off your speech. It's basically free points toward your speech grade, so don't be careless with these!

Don't overthink it.

It's not as intense as it is intimidating. You will hear them say it at the beginning of the semester, but you could literally not give the first speech and still past the course, so if you do give the first speech you have even less pressure since you have those points. They also do systematic desensitization, so each speech progressively is worth more points. But I didn't even focus on the points per speech because at the end of the day you still have to give a speech and it's the same process for each. So don't pressure yourself and get in your head that the last speech is worth more than the final because that's self-destructive (unless you work well under that kind of pressure). Take the workload seriously and try in the class, but don't stress yourself out -- it's just four speeches and two tests (midterm and final). You got this! Don't be too hard on yourself!

It'll be over before you know it.

I dreaded this course with a burning passion. It may feel like you're drowning in work for a speech that your classmates may only see for three minutes that you spent days on, but it'll all be fine. This semester honestly went by so fast. And with only having to give four speeches, it was nice to be able to gauge the semester by how many we had completed! Looking back, yes it was a lot of work at times, but I definitely didn't need to be as intimidated or scared as I was at the beginning of the semester and I feel more comfortable giving the speeches. My discussion class was filled with great people -- find friends to struggle with it! It makes it more fun and less annoying.