After watching our video I feel like the main thing we need to work on is the length of our speech. It was definitely way under the timeframe that it is supposed to be and although this is in part because Adria missed a portion of what she had planned to say, there is certainly still room to add more detail. For one, I have decided I would like to expand on why it is important and necessary to tie your shoes in a strong manner. I am adding details about what could happen if you don’t tie your shoes strongly such as including situations that could happen if your shoe came untied at inconvenient times (on a run like a marathon or during a game). I want to talk about how you can apply this as an athlete so that your cleats don’t come undone during a game and lead to you having to stop to tie them or lead to a pause in game play. I also think we can work on our timing (ie: back and forth banter) a bit more so that it flows more naturally and easily. Other than that I think we could minimize our use of filler words such as umm and like to also make it flow more like a conversation and make it more clear that we rehearsed together.
When watching the video of our dry run, something that I had noticed right away was that I had started saying “um” and other filler words such as “like.” I also noticed that when I am speaking but not demonstrating something with our props, my hands would move around a lot. I am going to practice holding my hands together so I do not do that during the final delivery of the speech. One of the suggestions that we were given in class was to have a picture of the way our beds are oriented in our dorm rooms. For the final delivery I want to put up a picture of one of our dorm rooms to present when Maddy begins saying the first step of making the bed. That will give the audience a better idea of what we are saying and help to make it more clear. When I was doing the demonstration of the quilt I could tell that I was nervous and I did not sound confident in what I was saying even though I have made my bed here at school many times. I know it would benefit me to practice that part more with the prop to make sure that I sound clear and confident. I also really want to work on barely having to look at the outline and practice memorizing what I want to say so I stay engaged and do not look down at the outline.
After watching the video from Taryn and my dry run speech it is very clear what we have to work on. We both need to work on using more descriptive words when describing what corner of the bed we are working with, such as using “left back corner” or “bottom right corner”. We also need to avoid the words “um” and “like”. However once we rehearse our speech more and become more comfortable with the speech we won’t use those filler words as much since we will have memorized the speech completely. We also need to work on not constantly peeking over at our outline, however again this will be fixed by rehearsing and being more comfortable with the speech. Another thing I noticed from the video that we need to work on is our hand and body placement. We need to work on keeping our hands at our sides and not moving them around so much since it was a little distracting. We also need to figure out where to stand while incorporating our prop since we looked a little lost in the video on where to stand, but it was the first time rehearsing the speech with our prop in the room instead of in the commons so we have to get used to the space we have and use it the best we can. Overall I think we just need to work on looking more organized and less scattered.
When looking back at our dry run speech I noticed many things that we need to work on. These things aren’t so much things associated with the speech itself but things such as confidence and things revolving around our video. When we were talking I noticed if we weren’t using our hands for props we were moving our hands around a lot which could have been distracting for our audiences. In some places we tend to get a little quiet and talk faster which was probably from all the nerves built up worrying if our speech was going to be long enough or even interesting enough to keep our audience interested in what we had to say. When it came to the video it was just small clips without any noise such as music or talking which we realized could be boring and people might not know what to do at the moment. We think we’re gonna get rid of our paper props and just do the video but stopping periodically and talking about what step we are doing or we are going to include the clips as we are going through our speech. I think there are a couple more things to add to our speech but other than that I think we will have a very good final draft.
Overall, I think that the dry run went very well. Yes, there were a few flaws and things to work on, but in the big picture, it went well. To start, Kassidy and I have to work on transition words. Even though we practiced a lot and are both pretty familiar with our speech, we must remove terms such as “like” or “um”. Additionally, we had to determine our props and how much we wanted to show in person vs. doing a video. Our skills are not ideal for showing in person, so deciding these things is essential to a good product. The last things we have to work on are pretty little. Just going over the speech a few more times, having a concrete understanding of who is going to say what, not questioning our thoughts or our confidence in ourselves, etc. I think Kassidy and I work very well together and as a whole, I am very proud of us and our speech.
After watching our dry run I would say we did pretty well! There are definitely some things we can still improve on for our final speech but I do feel that we excelled in some aspects of this dry run. Our voices were very well projected, and I feel that we kept a steady pace throughout the speech. I also think we had our props prepared very well the spreadsheet and the notebook gave our listeners a more complex as well as an easier option for tracking their spending. Our time was met we were over 4 minutes and under 7 at about 6 minutes and 51 seconds. For some areas of improvement, I think I was stuck finding ways to same some of the things I was trying to say and I often filled this space with filler words. I also think rehearsing a bit more I will be able to go off of the outline a little bit and focus more on talking to the audience instead of looking down. The main thing that would help improve all of these issues would be to just keep practicing! I think if we become more comfortable with our speech by rehearsing we will have an awesome final run this Wednesday!
Journal 11
Over the past week my partner and I have been finishing up our speech to get it to be the best place that it can be. We have also been working on the video for the speech. We have been editing and shortening it because it was too long at first. So we have found ways to cut that down. We have also added suggestions to our speech that we received from the audience during our dry run. We have been communicating in person so we could come up with more ideas on what we could tweak to make it better. We also needed to be together so one of us could film the video and then we could edit that together. The only challenge that we really had was that part of our video was done in the wrong format so we need to recreate that part. We have most of it done and we feel really confident in what we have been doing. I feel we have worked really well together. We listen to each other’s ideas and really communicate. I think the successes that we have had are that we have no problems communicating with each other, we take the time to listen to each others ideas and we give constructive criticism.
After watching the video and reflecting on how we did, I found that there was an area for us to improve. I think that we could go a little bit longer by going into more detail about how to perform the skill. I also need to work on limiting the use of filler words as it did not sound as professional. However, I feel as though we did a good job explaining why this skill is important and all of its benefits. I also believe that we projected our voice to the audience very well, but it would help if we made more eye contact and really focused on the audience. I also think that when I go to demonstrate the skill to perform it from both the front and the side view so the audience can see the angles that I am talking about. By demonstrating from both sides, the audience will not only be able to understand verbally but also see it visually. I think this will also help with making our speech a little bit longer.
Journal 10
After watching the video I feel we did good but not the best that we could. I feel as if we looked nervous but I know I wasn’t. I think I looked nervous because I was moving a lot. I would keep putting my hands in and out of my sweatshirt pocket or I would keep moving side to side and I would just keep doing little things. I also didn’t have a good tone in my voice. I felt like I was speaking very softly. So for the final draft I would like to work on trying not to do those things. I think we also need to improve on the video because our video was too long and it had parts where I was talking but then I was not. So next time I think we should have the video but pause it at times and then talk so people can follow with what is going on in the video. Some things I feel I did well in is energy. I think I brought good energy. I also think I made a couple jokes here and there and connected with the crowd because I saw most of them smiling or laughing at some of the things I said. I also think we kept the crowd interested the whole time with our props and our video.
When watching the video of the dry run, there are things I want to work on before the next class when we deliver the speech. I had a lot of filler words like “um” and “like” and I want to change a few things so that it flows better. Another thing I noticed was that I kept glancing at the outline because I was worried that I was going to forget what I was saying, but I think after giving the speech once and with more practice, the outline will be more of a guide to glance at, not read off of. This will allow for more eye contact with the audience. We also need to work on making it longer so there are some things we can add and I hope to talk slower during my parts. We are bringing weights as one of our props, but we decided to put up pictures of the other two types of weights that can be used so that everyone in the audience can visualize them. I think we did a good job talking about the benefits but, overall, I want to work to make it flow better and I think with some practice it will.
After watching the recording of our dry run this past class, there were a few things that I picked up on that may need improvement. Personally, I felt that I was using a lot of filler words to break the silence. I think it would be helpful to practice trying not to use these words when preparing for our speech next class. It won’t be easy, as it is something that I am doing subconsciously rather than intentionally, but it will be worth it to try and train myself to not say “uh” or “um” as much. Another thing I could work on is fidgeting during our presentation. I noticed that I was messing around with my hand a lot, which is something that happens when I get nervous. The more practice I can get in this week, the less nervous I will be, which will help me cut down on the fidgeting. Overall, I think we did well as a group. We definitely did tons of research and practiced enough to be confident in what we were talking about. This dry run will hopefully help us for the next class when we present our final version of this speech.
After watching my and Josephine dry run speech I realized that I looked more anxious than I was feeling it that time which makes me look like I am distracting from my speech. I wasn’t able to make eye contact too much and also I was speaking filler words like “um” “like” because of it. Which shows that I have more than what I am doing right now, which can help me to do better in my next speech. Another thing I noticed was that our position for presenting our speech was wrong because we didn’t notice that we were not clear to the left side of the audience so they weren’t able to understand what we were trying to explain. Also, we were giving speech on card games so we were trying to show them our cards but not all audiences were able to see that so we are going to present them with bigger cards than usual. And the last thing I noticed is that we speak overtime at that time limit which we both have to work on . To solve this problem we try to make our speech shorter and better than before which helps us to maintain a time limit and also we will be able to make our speech easy to understand for the audiences. Overall, I think we need to work on our time restriction and our presentation of cards.
After watching our dry run recording I am very happy with how our speech turned out. Some things to celebrate were that we showed up very prepared, and neither of us even had to look at the outline once the whole time. I also believe we matched each other’s energy well during the speech. I think we had good pacing throughout the speech but if anything it could be slowed down just a little bit. With that said there is also lots to work on, our main critique was that Eadie and I were not positioned the best way in order to show the audience our steps. To fix this we are going to switch places during the speech. Our second main area of improvement was that we came up about fifteen seconds short of the four minute minimum. Combined with slowing down our pacing and adding in more history/ lengthening our conclusion we should have no problem meeting the minimum time length. The last point of improvement that I would like to make personally is having better body language. I noticed my hand placements seemed awkward and uncomfortable at times. To fix this I’m going to stand up straighter and have stronger hand positioning to look more comfortable while speaking.
After watching the dry run of Casey and me giving our speech on how to catch and throw a football I think the main thing we need to work on is definitely the length of our speech, or lack thereof. Our video was 3 minutes and 46 seconds long so we need to add at least 14 seconds to hit 4 minutes. I think this shouldn’t be hard to do especially if we add a little more detail and make sure to talk slowly. I think we did a great job working together and making our speech feel like anyone could throw or catch a football. I think that our voices carried pretty well, there were a few moments where I went a little quieter but that’s okay. I also noticed I had a few pauses where I was trying to catch my words but they weren’t for very long. After watching the video Casey and I talked and came up with some ideas to add to our speech to make it a little longer. We also talked about what could make it better so people could see me throw and clearly see the movements. I think now that the nerves of the dry run are out of the way and we have been able to watch it we should be more comfortable and ready to give the actual speech. Overall, I think Casey and I did a good job on the dry run and that what we need to work on is doable.
After reviewing our dry run, I personally believe that we did really well, and despite many difficulties over the past week, progress has been made. I think some of the biggest things that I personally could work on is not rambling on something too much and trying not to speak too fast. I think I was also looking down at my outline too many times. I wanted to do the best I could to speak with clarity and precision, but I think because I was also super energized and putting in a lot of effort in that area, that caused me to lose focus on talking, so then I wasn’t able to deliver the speech to the best of my ability. We were able to time it super well because I thought the flow of our presentation was good. We were able to maneuver through the speech without hitting any real roadblocks, but I would like to work on my transitions to make the speech fully connected. I also think that I need to be less literal and more showing in how I present because everyone else had many props and photos to back up everything, and we didn’t really have any of that. I think if I just shut my mouth a bit more and do more show don’t tell, it could come off as a successful lecture. If I just remember this advice, I think I should be good to go. I also believe that my partner did a lot better than me and should be given as much credit as possible. We are a team, not individuals. We either both succeed, or both fail, it shouldn’t be one or the other.
The dry run of my speech was just that—a dry run. My partner and I had a good plan coming into it, (I think we should’ve moved the lectern out of our way for everyone to see everything) I also think that there are just so many rules and we should’ve focused on an aspect or two. I suppose since I (and literally ALL of my friends and family) know how to play, I assumed at most if just a few students would have known how to play. And since I know how to play it didn’t immediately occur to me that it was, in fact, a lot of information. I think we did do a good job being clear and confident, and our speech was organized. I think our idea to demonstrate a round was really good in theory but not as great in practice as we have no easy way of predicting what cards would come out of the deck and what examples we would have to use during our speech. So I think that the unknown made it difficult to really demonstrate how to score. Overall I think we did okay and have a good plan for our final speech.
After watching our video I think the main thing was our practice has helped, but we could use some more. We need to expand on describing how we are tying our shoes more descriptively. Also extending the length of our speech to meet the 4-7 minute time window. We got suggestions such as adding a PowerPoint so people in the back could visually see the steps of tying your shoe better. Being more clear with my words is something that needs to be worked on but I think me and Sarah did a good job feeding off each other. I think our introduction is important in getting people interested especially because everyone in the class already knows our names so it catches people off guard a little. I think it was a bit awkward when I was just standing there while Sarah was showing how to tie the shoe, for next time we will add a power point with slides showing the steps that the other person will click through, while the other person demonstrates. I think we also could have done it with one person describing the steps as the other person ties the shoe, but we didn’t get the chance to discuss that as I am just thinking of that now. Overall, I think the topic we choose is intriguing and we are going to be able to build off our dry run nicely.
When looking back out or dry run, as a whole we did fairly well. I think that we could clean up our delivery a little bit and focus on who is saying what. If I had to critique myself and listen to the feedback that I got I would say to stop using filler words although I didn’t use them a lot they were still used and I need to find a way to minimize using them. I also need to make sure I do not put my hands in my pocket and keep them in a neutral and more inviting position. I think overall our dry run went pretty well after we practiced how we were going to include props because we didn’t bring them to our dry run.
I am severely disappointed with my performance on this dry run, not because of my partner, but because of me. The energy levels were not as high as they could have and should have been and I did not do a good job of complementing Jack’s energy. The feedback from our audience let me know what I needed to work on for my future speeches, especially speech four when we work with partners again. For future speeches I plan on increasing my energy level and not fidgeting as much, which I noticed I did badly in the video. Aside from that, Jack and I chose to do our speeches separately and I feel as though they both went much better than had we done one together. The class feedback was more positive about my energy as it was something I liked a bit more than writing. I am excited about the topic for speech three but very nervous about the delivery. I definitely plan on taking the majority of their feedback and hopefully it can help make my speech more appealing to the audience as well as to myself. Overall, the dry run for speech two went very poorly and I hopeful that nothing such as that will happen again.
19 thoughts on “JOURNAL # 10”
After watching our video I feel like the main thing we need to work on is the length of our speech. It was definitely way under the timeframe that it is supposed to be and although this is in part because Adria missed a portion of what she had planned to say, there is certainly still room to add more detail. For one, I have decided I would like to expand on why it is important and necessary to tie your shoes in a strong manner. I am adding details about what could happen if you don’t tie your shoes strongly such as including situations that could happen if your shoe came untied at inconvenient times (on a run like a marathon or during a game). I want to talk about how you can apply this as an athlete so that your cleats don’t come undone during a game and lead to you having to stop to tie them or lead to a pause in game play. I also think we can work on our timing (ie: back and forth banter) a bit more so that it flows more naturally and easily. Other than that I think we could minimize our use of filler words such as umm and like to also make it flow more like a conversation and make it more clear that we rehearsed together.
When watching the video of our dry run, something that I had noticed right away was that I had started saying “um” and other filler words such as “like.” I also noticed that when I am speaking but not demonstrating something with our props, my hands would move around a lot. I am going to practice holding my hands together so I do not do that during the final delivery of the speech. One of the suggestions that we were given in class was to have a picture of the way our beds are oriented in our dorm rooms. For the final delivery I want to put up a picture of one of our dorm rooms to present when Maddy begins saying the first step of making the bed. That will give the audience a better idea of what we are saying and help to make it more clear. When I was doing the demonstration of the quilt I could tell that I was nervous and I did not sound confident in what I was saying even though I have made my bed here at school many times. I know it would benefit me to practice that part more with the prop to make sure that I sound clear and confident. I also really want to work on barely having to look at the outline and practice memorizing what I want to say so I stay engaged and do not look down at the outline.
After watching the video from Taryn and my dry run speech it is very clear what we have to work on. We both need to work on using more descriptive words when describing what corner of the bed we are working with, such as using “left back corner” or “bottom right corner”. We also need to avoid the words “um” and “like”. However once we rehearse our speech more and become more comfortable with the speech we won’t use those filler words as much since we will have memorized the speech completely. We also need to work on not constantly peeking over at our outline, however again this will be fixed by rehearsing and being more comfortable with the speech. Another thing I noticed from the video that we need to work on is our hand and body placement. We need to work on keeping our hands at our sides and not moving them around so much since it was a little distracting. We also need to figure out where to stand while incorporating our prop since we looked a little lost in the video on where to stand, but it was the first time rehearsing the speech with our prop in the room instead of in the commons so we have to get used to the space we have and use it the best we can. Overall I think we just need to work on looking more organized and less scattered.
When looking back at our dry run speech I noticed many things that we need to work on. These things aren’t so much things associated with the speech itself but things such as confidence and things revolving around our video. When we were talking I noticed if we weren’t using our hands for props we were moving our hands around a lot which could have been distracting for our audiences. In some places we tend to get a little quiet and talk faster which was probably from all the nerves built up worrying if our speech was going to be long enough or even interesting enough to keep our audience interested in what we had to say. When it came to the video it was just small clips without any noise such as music or talking which we realized could be boring and people might not know what to do at the moment. We think we’re gonna get rid of our paper props and just do the video but stopping periodically and talking about what step we are doing or we are going to include the clips as we are going through our speech. I think there are a couple more things to add to our speech but other than that I think we will have a very good final draft.
Overall, I think that the dry run went very well. Yes, there were a few flaws and things to work on, but in the big picture, it went well. To start, Kassidy and I have to work on transition words. Even though we practiced a lot and are both pretty familiar with our speech, we must remove terms such as “like” or “um”. Additionally, we had to determine our props and how much we wanted to show in person vs. doing a video. Our skills are not ideal for showing in person, so deciding these things is essential to a good product. The last things we have to work on are pretty little. Just going over the speech a few more times, having a concrete understanding of who is going to say what, not questioning our thoughts or our confidence in ourselves, etc. I think Kassidy and I work very well together and as a whole, I am very proud of us and our speech.
After watching our dry run I would say we did pretty well! There are definitely some things we can still improve on for our final speech but I do feel that we excelled in some aspects of this dry run. Our voices were very well projected, and I feel that we kept a steady pace throughout the speech. I also think we had our props prepared very well the spreadsheet and the notebook gave our listeners a more complex as well as an easier option for tracking their spending. Our time was met we were over 4 minutes and under 7 at about 6 minutes and 51 seconds. For some areas of improvement, I think I was stuck finding ways to same some of the things I was trying to say and I often filled this space with filler words. I also think rehearsing a bit more I will be able to go off of the outline a little bit and focus more on talking to the audience instead of looking down. The main thing that would help improve all of these issues would be to just keep practicing! I think if we become more comfortable with our speech by rehearsing we will have an awesome final run this Wednesday!
Journal 11
Over the past week my partner and I have been finishing up our speech to get it to be the best place that it can be. We have also been working on the video for the speech. We have been editing and shortening it because it was too long at first. So we have found ways to cut that down. We have also added suggestions to our speech that we received from the audience during our dry run. We have been communicating in person so we could come up with more ideas on what we could tweak to make it better. We also needed to be together so one of us could film the video and then we could edit that together. The only challenge that we really had was that part of our video was done in the wrong format so we need to recreate that part. We have most of it done and we feel really confident in what we have been doing. I feel we have worked really well together. We listen to each other’s ideas and really communicate. I think the successes that we have had are that we have no problems communicating with each other, we take the time to listen to each others ideas and we give constructive criticism.
After watching the video and reflecting on how we did, I found that there was an area for us to improve. I think that we could go a little bit longer by going into more detail about how to perform the skill. I also need to work on limiting the use of filler words as it did not sound as professional. However, I feel as though we did a good job explaining why this skill is important and all of its benefits. I also believe that we projected our voice to the audience very well, but it would help if we made more eye contact and really focused on the audience. I also think that when I go to demonstrate the skill to perform it from both the front and the side view so the audience can see the angles that I am talking about. By demonstrating from both sides, the audience will not only be able to understand verbally but also see it visually. I think this will also help with making our speech a little bit longer.
Journal 10
After watching the video I feel we did good but not the best that we could. I feel as if we looked nervous but I know I wasn’t. I think I looked nervous because I was moving a lot. I would keep putting my hands in and out of my sweatshirt pocket or I would keep moving side to side and I would just keep doing little things. I also didn’t have a good tone in my voice. I felt like I was speaking very softly. So for the final draft I would like to work on trying not to do those things. I think we also need to improve on the video because our video was too long and it had parts where I was talking but then I was not. So next time I think we should have the video but pause it at times and then talk so people can follow with what is going on in the video. Some things I feel I did well in is energy. I think I brought good energy. I also think I made a couple jokes here and there and connected with the crowd because I saw most of them smiling or laughing at some of the things I said. I also think we kept the crowd interested the whole time with our props and our video.
When watching the video of the dry run, there are things I want to work on before the next class when we deliver the speech. I had a lot of filler words like “um” and “like” and I want to change a few things so that it flows better. Another thing I noticed was that I kept glancing at the outline because I was worried that I was going to forget what I was saying, but I think after giving the speech once and with more practice, the outline will be more of a guide to glance at, not read off of. This will allow for more eye contact with the audience. We also need to work on making it longer so there are some things we can add and I hope to talk slower during my parts. We are bringing weights as one of our props, but we decided to put up pictures of the other two types of weights that can be used so that everyone in the audience can visualize them. I think we did a good job talking about the benefits but, overall, I want to work to make it flow better and I think with some practice it will.
After watching the recording of our dry run this past class, there were a few things that I picked up on that may need improvement. Personally, I felt that I was using a lot of filler words to break the silence. I think it would be helpful to practice trying not to use these words when preparing for our speech next class. It won’t be easy, as it is something that I am doing subconsciously rather than intentionally, but it will be worth it to try and train myself to not say “uh” or “um” as much. Another thing I could work on is fidgeting during our presentation. I noticed that I was messing around with my hand a lot, which is something that happens when I get nervous. The more practice I can get in this week, the less nervous I will be, which will help me cut down on the fidgeting. Overall, I think we did well as a group. We definitely did tons of research and practiced enough to be confident in what we were talking about. This dry run will hopefully help us for the next class when we present our final version of this speech.
After watching my and Josephine dry run speech I realized that I looked more anxious than I was feeling it that time which makes me look like I am distracting from my speech. I wasn’t able to make eye contact too much and also I was speaking filler words like “um” “like” because of it. Which shows that I have more than what I am doing right now, which can help me to do better in my next speech. Another thing I noticed was that our position for presenting our speech was wrong because we didn’t notice that we were not clear to the left side of the audience so they weren’t able to understand what we were trying to explain. Also, we were giving speech on card games so we were trying to show them our cards but not all audiences were able to see that so we are going to present them with bigger cards than usual. And the last thing I noticed is that we speak overtime at that time limit which we both have to work on . To solve this problem we try to make our speech shorter and better than before which helps us to maintain a time limit and also we will be able to make our speech easy to understand for the audiences. Overall, I think we need to work on our time restriction and our presentation of cards.
Journal 10
Casey Jordan
After watching our dry run recording I am very happy with how our speech turned out. Some things to celebrate were that we showed up very prepared, and neither of us even had to look at the outline once the whole time. I also believe we matched each other’s energy well during the speech. I think we had good pacing throughout the speech but if anything it could be slowed down just a little bit. With that said there is also lots to work on, our main critique was that Eadie and I were not positioned the best way in order to show the audience our steps. To fix this we are going to switch places during the speech. Our second main area of improvement was that we came up about fifteen seconds short of the four minute minimum. Combined with slowing down our pacing and adding in more history/ lengthening our conclusion we should have no problem meeting the minimum time length. The last point of improvement that I would like to make personally is having better body language. I noticed my hand placements seemed awkward and uncomfortable at times. To fix this I’m going to stand up straighter and have stronger hand positioning to look more comfortable while speaking.
After watching the dry run of Casey and me giving our speech on how to catch and throw a football I think the main thing we need to work on is definitely the length of our speech, or lack thereof. Our video was 3 minutes and 46 seconds long so we need to add at least 14 seconds to hit 4 minutes. I think this shouldn’t be hard to do especially if we add a little more detail and make sure to talk slowly. I think we did a great job working together and making our speech feel like anyone could throw or catch a football. I think that our voices carried pretty well, there were a few moments where I went a little quieter but that’s okay. I also noticed I had a few pauses where I was trying to catch my words but they weren’t for very long. After watching the video Casey and I talked and came up with some ideas to add to our speech to make it a little longer. We also talked about what could make it better so people could see me throw and clearly see the movements. I think now that the nerves of the dry run are out of the way and we have been able to watch it we should be more comfortable and ready to give the actual speech. Overall, I think Casey and I did a good job on the dry run and that what we need to work on is doable.
After reviewing our dry run, I personally believe that we did really well, and despite many difficulties over the past week, progress has been made. I think some of the biggest things that I personally could work on is not rambling on something too much and trying not to speak too fast. I think I was also looking down at my outline too many times. I wanted to do the best I could to speak with clarity and precision, but I think because I was also super energized and putting in a lot of effort in that area, that caused me to lose focus on talking, so then I wasn’t able to deliver the speech to the best of my ability. We were able to time it super well because I thought the flow of our presentation was good. We were able to maneuver through the speech without hitting any real roadblocks, but I would like to work on my transitions to make the speech fully connected. I also think that I need to be less literal and more showing in how I present because everyone else had many props and photos to back up everything, and we didn’t really have any of that. I think if I just shut my mouth a bit more and do more show don’t tell, it could come off as a successful lecture. If I just remember this advice, I think I should be good to go. I also believe that my partner did a lot better than me and should be given as much credit as possible. We are a team, not individuals. We either both succeed, or both fail, it shouldn’t be one or the other.
The dry run of my speech was just that—a dry run. My partner and I had a good plan coming into it, (I think we should’ve moved the lectern out of our way for everyone to see everything) I also think that there are just so many rules and we should’ve focused on an aspect or two. I suppose since I (and literally ALL of my friends and family) know how to play, I assumed at most if just a few students would have known how to play. And since I know how to play it didn’t immediately occur to me that it was, in fact, a lot of information. I think we did do a good job being clear and confident, and our speech was organized. I think our idea to demonstrate a round was really good in theory but not as great in practice as we have no easy way of predicting what cards would come out of the deck and what examples we would have to use during our speech. So I think that the unknown made it difficult to really demonstrate how to score. Overall I think we did okay and have a good plan for our final speech.
After watching our video I think the main thing was our practice has helped, but we could use some more. We need to expand on describing how we are tying our shoes more descriptively. Also extending the length of our speech to meet the 4-7 minute time window. We got suggestions such as adding a PowerPoint so people in the back could visually see the steps of tying your shoe better. Being more clear with my words is something that needs to be worked on but I think me and Sarah did a good job feeding off each other. I think our introduction is important in getting people interested especially because everyone in the class already knows our names so it catches people off guard a little. I think it was a bit awkward when I was just standing there while Sarah was showing how to tie the shoe, for next time we will add a power point with slides showing the steps that the other person will click through, while the other person demonstrates. I think we also could have done it with one person describing the steps as the other person ties the shoe, but we didn’t get the chance to discuss that as I am just thinking of that now. Overall, I think the topic we choose is intriguing and we are going to be able to build off our dry run nicely.
When looking back out or dry run, as a whole we did fairly well. I think that we could clean up our delivery a little bit and focus on who is saying what. If I had to critique myself and listen to the feedback that I got I would say to stop using filler words although I didn’t use them a lot they were still used and I need to find a way to minimize using them. I also need to make sure I do not put my hands in my pocket and keep them in a neutral and more inviting position. I think overall our dry run went pretty well after we practiced how we were going to include props because we didn’t bring them to our dry run.
I am severely disappointed with my performance on this dry run, not because of my partner, but because of me. The energy levels were not as high as they could have and should have been and I did not do a good job of complementing Jack’s energy. The feedback from our audience let me know what I needed to work on for my future speeches, especially speech four when we work with partners again. For future speeches I plan on increasing my energy level and not fidgeting as much, which I noticed I did badly in the video. Aside from that, Jack and I chose to do our speeches separately and I feel as though they both went much better than had we done one together. The class feedback was more positive about my energy as it was something I liked a bit more than writing. I am excited about the topic for speech three but very nervous about the delivery. I definitely plan on taking the majority of their feedback and hopefully it can help make my speech more appealing to the audience as well as to myself. Overall, the dry run for speech two went very poorly and I hopeful that nothing such as that will happen again.