I chose the course Public Speaking (Comm_111_666_W2021) and the professor is Mr. Matthew Rosenberg. The questions I had prepared for the officer hour were how to deliver a quality speech, how to overcome stage fright, how to boost your confidence, and how to make the audience take a particular step. I wanted to know how can become an effective public speaker even without having to prepare sufficiently for a speech.
The most surprising thing about the office hour visit was being able to meet the professor at the time. I thought that the professor would not have time to meet. However, he was able to meet me and answer my questions. The professor was committed to answering the questions that anyone would ask. I was also surprised by the fact that he answered questions without referring to books or online materials.

Some of the challenges during the office hour visit was scheduling the meeting and asking the intended questions. To ask the right questions, I ensured that I had a list of questions with me. I had a notebook where I could read out the questions. However, there was a challenge in noting everything that the professor said. I think he said some important points that I probably missed.

Another challenge was distractions during the meeting. I was distracted by various things such as phone calls and had to switch off my phone. There was background noise that made it difficult to hear the professor. Negotiating the date and time for the meeting was a challenge. I had to adjust my schedule to ensure that I could attend the meeting when the professor would be available. However, I also had my schedule that was distracted by the meeting.

I also faced the challenge of deciding the questions to ask the professor. I had not developed a criterion that would prove the importance of activities. I had developed various questions and it was quite difficult to prioritize one question over the other. I realized that some important questions had not been asked when the meeting was over.

I will ensure that I schedule the meeting early enough when I will be having an office hour appointment again. I will also ensure that I record the meeting using my laptop to ensure that I can listen to the answers during my free time. I will also be more attentive to the professor. Being attentive helps one hear and understand what the speaker is talking about. I will also ensure that there are minimal distractions during the meeting. Distractions lower one’s level of concentration.

When I list questions to be asked during the next meeting, I will rank them based on their level of importance. The most important questions will be prioritized and asked the professor first. That would make the meeting more productive by ensuring that the most useful questions are asked first. Urgency would also be considered while ranking the questions to be asked.