June 9

Public Speaking 2021

  Judges, Teachers, and fellow friends

 

           Let me paint a picture for you. Fifteen college students participate in a psychology thought experiment. They sit in a large circle with one student in the middle. Everyone takes turns sharing their first impression of the person in the middle, and how it has changed over time. At first, everyone is kind but once they have done the exercise multiple times and arrived at the last students, everyone is so tired that they admit the truth.  Sometimes they are so honest they are mean. How would you like this experiment? Would you rather be at the beginning and hear only great things said about you, or would you rather be at the end and have to face the truth?   This experiment led me to think about my topic: “What do other people think of me?”.      Should I use others’ opinions to put my life in perspective and work on my faults? Do I need a personal brand? Or does it not matter what other people think?  These are the issues we will be discussing during this speech.

 

          For some people, others’ opinion of them is of critical importance…To change what other people think of them they change their personal brand. A personal brand is how someone is judged or perceived by others. Some companies rely on people who care about their personal brand. The makeup industry depends on people who want their personal brand to be mainly about physical appearance. Even the social media industry is all about establishing a relatable personal brand and showing off your proud moments.  That’s why most influencers spend their whole life trying to be popular on social media – so they can attract followers, and so they can have a better personal brand. But sometimes changing your personal brand can lead you in a bad direction, especially if you’re hypocritical. Just like social media influencer, Dominique Baker, did when she took an all-expenses paid trip to Jamaica during lockdown despite working at Public Health Canada.

 

 

 

Sometimes listening to others’ opinions can create positive change, because you can analyze your low points, and make an effort to correct these flaws. Changing for the good is an important step because it helps to regain self-confidence and to make yourself stronger. Sometimes changing for the good is necessary, people even have jobs to help others change for the good, like book editors and fitness trainers. Editors will take a novel, or an article that is inaccurate or poorly written, and make corrections that improve the quality of your writing.  Fitness trainers motivate you to change your body through exercise, lifting weights, and changes in diet.  Once we’ve decided that we can use others’ opinions in a positive way, we need to think of how to actually gather those opinions. You can use many methods.  For instance, you can just ask. You can watch others’ body language towards you.  You can hire a personal coach. Or you could just think deeply about it. So, the next time you feel down about yourself and believe you can change, always be open to others’ opinions and “Change For The Good ”.

 

In the end, however, it might not matter what others think. Has someone ever pointed out one of your traits that you dislike and you took it to heart? Well, I think this has happened to most of you. Just like when someone said my ears are long and I took it to heart.  In the end, it doesn’t matter what other people think. You should be whoever you want to be. You should have friends that you enjoy being with and should surround yourself with kind people. If you wrote a book and someone called you a bad writer, most people would start to lose self-confidence. But who cares. Sure, one human out of the 8 Billion humans that stand on our earth thinks your book is poorly written. Have self-confidence! Maybe 7.999 billion people love your book. How does the restaurant industry respond when they receive a bad review? Do they immediately shut down the restaurant and never serve another meal? By now I hope you’re starting to realize that people aren’t as judgmental as they seem.  Next time you feel judged and out of place don’t forget “It doesn’t Matter What Others Think”.

 

In today’s speech, I taught you how to take in others’ opinions,  how to take others’ opinions and establish a relatable personal brand, how to take opinions and change for the good, and most importantly how to be confident in yourself despite others opinions. Honestly, the way I came up with this speech is from thinking of the question constantly “What Do Others Think Of Me”. I also wonder if other people think of what other people think of them. All joking aside, in the world we live in today social media has become a part of life. To help students understand and navigate the psychology behind social media, one place to start would be for all of us to ask ourselves “What do others think of me?”

 

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Posted June 9, 2021 by harden3pt in category Grade 5

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