I am really proud of how my speech went today. I feel like I have made great strides since I first started this class in January. One big change I have noticed is my nerves going into the speech, I feel much more like I can breathe before, during, and after. I feel less of the severe anxiety in my chest for the entire day all the way to the moments before giving the speech. I also think I have gotten a good handle on maintaining eye contact and not looking down at my notes too often, this is in part because I also have found a good balance between practicing and not over practicing to the point that I overthink it and second guess my abilities. I also think I have just gotten a lot more confident overall when it comes to presenting, I know now that I am fully capable as long as I have faith in myself and put in the time to prepare. I think I could still work on breathing a bit more and pausing throughout the speech but this will come with practice and getting more comfortable just as a presenter. I could also use to fidget a bit less and not move as much as I am speaking, I think this is just hard for me because I love to talk with my hands in all parts of my life so it feels limiting. I’m not sure exactly how much I should and shouldn’t do this so I will definitely learn more about that on my own self reflection. I think my process for this speech went really well, I did lots of edits and actually had to get rid of big pieces so that I could fit within the time frame which is something I hadn’t had to do yet. I spent a good amount of time practicing and rehearsing not only in front of a mirror but in front of other people which I think helped me get a good grasp on not only the content but also my emotions. This allowed me to prepare myself for how I would respond as I was presenting so that I could find the balance between feeling what I was feeling authentically and not completely breaking down during the speech.
As a whole, I am thrilled with the outcome of my speech. It came out better than I thought it would in the big picture. In the big picture, I think this speech was a great improvement compared to the last speech that I did alone. I think it flowed better, the transitions were stronger, my nerves were not there as much, and overall I feel better about this one. One big thing I noticed, is the importance of having a proper outline. Yes, I still have some improvement that needs to occur, but I think this outline helped my speech become more successful than the one I had for my first speech. In my first speech, the outline was wordy and it was more shaped in a paragraph form. I was lost often and this led to a not amazing outcome. In this speech, however, my outline was bullet points and a lot less wordy. It was still long and it seemed like a lot but in reality, I just had a lot of bullet points and I had to make the text larger so I could see it without wearing my glasses. Furthermore, the thing I need to work on most is not fidgeting with my hands while I am speaking. I found myself playing with my fingers and not focusing as much on the speech because I was playing with my hands. This has always been an issue for me when I am anxious or doing something I feel uneasy about, but I have made progress with it as I have gotten older. As a whole, I think this speech was very successful and I am happy with the outcome.
Oh my god I am so relieved and proud of how my speech ended up going. In my head, I had at least a thousand hypothetical scenarios that I was petrified would happen. This was a very personal and emotional piece of literature to present in front of people I don’t entirely know yet, and I usually am not someone who gets too personal with people like that. I was worried that I would lose my train of thought and composure during the speech due to becoming overcome with emotion. I was terrified that I would start bawling in the middle of it, and I was worried that I would be seen as weak and everything. I kept my composure and was confident throughout, and I was very good about not looking down and maintaining as much eye contact as possible. Having an outline with key words and phrases is definitely helping me get more practice and remember everything to the point where I don’t need to look down a million times. Everyone seemed to love my idea of combining comedy and passion together because it let everyone know that I have a strong relationship with my selected individual. Overall, I am someone that has been extremely consistent with my speeches. I have maintained a great composure, I have been strong vocally and conceptually, and I think as long as I stay still more, there is no stopping me because I am definitely on the way.
Overall I can truly see the development of my 3rd speech throughout the weeks we worked on it, I can also see the growth from my 1st speech to my 3rd speech. I think throughout this whole process I was engaged well and offered good feedback to my fellow classmates during the dry runs as well as the first day of deliveries of speech 3. One of my biggest struggles was the stress I felt before this speech. It was much more stressful than the previous speeches to me because it felt like more was at stake and I didn’t want to mess up. I was also nervous to open up and share so much about my personal life through stories about my mom, however I quickly realized everyone was doing the same sort of thing and I wasn’t alone. I took comfort in the fact that other people who gave their speeches were using the same emotional vulnerability that I felt like I was. I also enjoyed that there was a good variety in the speeches and not everyone did their speech about the same person. I think it was cool to be able to see everyones inspiration and why they chose the person they did. One major success I had along the way was adding to my speech until I reached 5 minutes while practicing alone, because I know that I talk much faster when I’m in front of people so that extra minute I added while practicing ensured I wasn’t below 4 minutes for my delivery.
I’m overall happy with how my speech turned out but there are plenty of things I would like to keep improving on to be more skilled at giving speeches. One of the things I still need to focus on is eye contact which I have struggled with forever. I had gotten better at it but regressed when I was being vulnerable to the crowd, because it made it much harder to make eye contact while talking about myself. I also started speeding up my pacing when I started feeling uncomfortable and vulnerable. The uncomfortable feelings came at me harder than I expected because I had practiced Infront of small groups and people I know well but that doesn’t compare to a larger crowd. To fix this I can rehearse even more so I don’t have to look down at my paper as much because then it’s harder to make meaningful eye contact with the crowd. I’m thankful for the responses from my classmates Aswell because it gave me a list of things to improve on in the future. Overall, this speech was a great learning experience, and I am proud of my efforts.
Now that I’ve finished the project, I’ve learned a lot about the process that goes into developing a speech on my own. Compared to the first solo speech we did, I felt much more prepared and comfortable giving this presentation. Our first speech was impromptu, so there wasn’t a very lengthy or drawn out process that I went through. However, with Speech #3, I was able to incorporate a lot of what I learned from our previous partner project into the development of this one. Going through some dry runs ahead of the final presentation helped ease me into the feeling of presenting in front of the class. The recording of my dry run was also really helpful, as I was able to pick up on some of the things I was doing subconsciously, like swaying back and forth or looking at my paper. Because this was a very emotional speech, the stakes definitely felt higher, and I think it showed during my preparation. I found that I had to practice a lot more to help memorize the points I wanted to make and polish the final presentation. Overall, I learned that the delivery of a speech can vary depending on the content, and it is most helpful to adjust my preparation to reflect that.
I am fairly happy with how speech three went for me. I know now what I need to isolate and work on, fidgeting and organization. Since January though, I realized that I get less nervous for speeches. This speech I was not nervous to give this speech but rather really excited which translated to what felt like nervousness. I actually really enjoy giving speeches to this class and hearing all of their stories or whatever they are giving speeches about. I will be devoting this next class to organization and calmness, as well as working with a partner since I never have actually given one with one before. The dry runs are the most beneficial part for me personally because I do not practice in front of anyone apart from the dry runs. I got a lot of really great feedback during my dry run and was told after class that my actual speech went much better than that which made me really excited and happy. I am pretty confident about the next speech. I am not worried about who I will get as a partner at all. It will be a good speech.
After my speech I would say it went pretty well. I was super nervous about it because when I talk about my brother and what we’ve been through I tend to choke up a lot. It’s also hard showing my vunerable side because I don’t like to show it a lot and only certain people have seen it. I think the speech went better than I thought but not as good as I could have done. I wish I slowed down my speech and didn’t fidget as much. I also have no clue if I even hit the time limit because I felt like I was talking so fast. When I get uncomfortable I tend to talk super fast and I tried to catch myself but I think it was a little too late. I feel way better now that it’s done though. I felt like I did a good job with eye contact and with not looking at my paper a whole lot. I think there are things I still need to work on but that’s normal. I’m hoping the next speech goes better since I won’t be as vunerable and uncomfortable. I think this speech took the most effort out of all of them because I wanted to make it perfect for my brother. I spent a lot of time rephrasing it and rearranging it. Overall I loved the speech but I wish I had delivered it better than I did.
After giving my speech, I am very relieved it is over. I feel that I presented it well and I think it was an improvement from my last solo speech. Comparing it to a duo speech I feel I was a lot more comfortable with someone else up there with me but then again compared to the first solo speech I think I was a little less nervous. Some positives I think I had were the projection of my voice and the organization of my speech. I wish that I looked at my paper less and possibly brought a little bit more energy to my speech. I also noticed that I enjoyed giving this speech than previous ones. I felt more passionate about this topic than the previous ones which helped a lot with the delivery aspect. Overall I am pretty happy with how it went but I still think there is a lot that I can improve on for my next speech.
9 thoughts on “JOURNAL: Reflection as a Whole”
I am really proud of how my speech went today. I feel like I have made great strides since I first started this class in January. One big change I have noticed is my nerves going into the speech, I feel much more like I can breathe before, during, and after. I feel less of the severe anxiety in my chest for the entire day all the way to the moments before giving the speech. I also think I have gotten a good handle on maintaining eye contact and not looking down at my notes too often, this is in part because I also have found a good balance between practicing and not over practicing to the point that I overthink it and second guess my abilities. I also think I have just gotten a lot more confident overall when it comes to presenting, I know now that I am fully capable as long as I have faith in myself and put in the time to prepare. I think I could still work on breathing a bit more and pausing throughout the speech but this will come with practice and getting more comfortable just as a presenter. I could also use to fidget a bit less and not move as much as I am speaking, I think this is just hard for me because I love to talk with my hands in all parts of my life so it feels limiting. I’m not sure exactly how much I should and shouldn’t do this so I will definitely learn more about that on my own self reflection. I think my process for this speech went really well, I did lots of edits and actually had to get rid of big pieces so that I could fit within the time frame which is something I hadn’t had to do yet. I spent a good amount of time practicing and rehearsing not only in front of a mirror but in front of other people which I think helped me get a good grasp on not only the content but also my emotions. This allowed me to prepare myself for how I would respond as I was presenting so that I could find the balance between feeling what I was feeling authentically and not completely breaking down during the speech.
As a whole, I am thrilled with the outcome of my speech. It came out better than I thought it would in the big picture. In the big picture, I think this speech was a great improvement compared to the last speech that I did alone. I think it flowed better, the transitions were stronger, my nerves were not there as much, and overall I feel better about this one. One big thing I noticed, is the importance of having a proper outline. Yes, I still have some improvement that needs to occur, but I think this outline helped my speech become more successful than the one I had for my first speech. In my first speech, the outline was wordy and it was more shaped in a paragraph form. I was lost often and this led to a not amazing outcome. In this speech, however, my outline was bullet points and a lot less wordy. It was still long and it seemed like a lot but in reality, I just had a lot of bullet points and I had to make the text larger so I could see it without wearing my glasses. Furthermore, the thing I need to work on most is not fidgeting with my hands while I am speaking. I found myself playing with my fingers and not focusing as much on the speech because I was playing with my hands. This has always been an issue for me when I am anxious or doing something I feel uneasy about, but I have made progress with it as I have gotten older. As a whole, I think this speech was very successful and I am happy with the outcome.
Oh my god I am so relieved and proud of how my speech ended up going. In my head, I had at least a thousand hypothetical scenarios that I was petrified would happen. This was a very personal and emotional piece of literature to present in front of people I don’t entirely know yet, and I usually am not someone who gets too personal with people like that. I was worried that I would lose my train of thought and composure during the speech due to becoming overcome with emotion. I was terrified that I would start bawling in the middle of it, and I was worried that I would be seen as weak and everything. I kept my composure and was confident throughout, and I was very good about not looking down and maintaining as much eye contact as possible. Having an outline with key words and phrases is definitely helping me get more practice and remember everything to the point where I don’t need to look down a million times. Everyone seemed to love my idea of combining comedy and passion together because it let everyone know that I have a strong relationship with my selected individual. Overall, I am someone that has been extremely consistent with my speeches. I have maintained a great composure, I have been strong vocally and conceptually, and I think as long as I stay still more, there is no stopping me because I am definitely on the way.
Overall I can truly see the development of my 3rd speech throughout the weeks we worked on it, I can also see the growth from my 1st speech to my 3rd speech. I think throughout this whole process I was engaged well and offered good feedback to my fellow classmates during the dry runs as well as the first day of deliveries of speech 3. One of my biggest struggles was the stress I felt before this speech. It was much more stressful than the previous speeches to me because it felt like more was at stake and I didn’t want to mess up. I was also nervous to open up and share so much about my personal life through stories about my mom, however I quickly realized everyone was doing the same sort of thing and I wasn’t alone. I took comfort in the fact that other people who gave their speeches were using the same emotional vulnerability that I felt like I was. I also enjoyed that there was a good variety in the speeches and not everyone did their speech about the same person. I think it was cool to be able to see everyones inspiration and why they chose the person they did. One major success I had along the way was adding to my speech until I reached 5 minutes while practicing alone, because I know that I talk much faster when I’m in front of people so that extra minute I added while practicing ensured I wasn’t below 4 minutes for my delivery.
I’m overall happy with how my speech turned out but there are plenty of things I would like to keep improving on to be more skilled at giving speeches. One of the things I still need to focus on is eye contact which I have struggled with forever. I had gotten better at it but regressed when I was being vulnerable to the crowd, because it made it much harder to make eye contact while talking about myself. I also started speeding up my pacing when I started feeling uncomfortable and vulnerable. The uncomfortable feelings came at me harder than I expected because I had practiced Infront of small groups and people I know well but that doesn’t compare to a larger crowd. To fix this I can rehearse even more so I don’t have to look down at my paper as much because then it’s harder to make meaningful eye contact with the crowd. I’m thankful for the responses from my classmates Aswell because it gave me a list of things to improve on in the future. Overall, this speech was a great learning experience, and I am proud of my efforts.
Now that I’ve finished the project, I’ve learned a lot about the process that goes into developing a speech on my own. Compared to the first solo speech we did, I felt much more prepared and comfortable giving this presentation. Our first speech was impromptu, so there wasn’t a very lengthy or drawn out process that I went through. However, with Speech #3, I was able to incorporate a lot of what I learned from our previous partner project into the development of this one. Going through some dry runs ahead of the final presentation helped ease me into the feeling of presenting in front of the class. The recording of my dry run was also really helpful, as I was able to pick up on some of the things I was doing subconsciously, like swaying back and forth or looking at my paper. Because this was a very emotional speech, the stakes definitely felt higher, and I think it showed during my preparation. I found that I had to practice a lot more to help memorize the points I wanted to make and polish the final presentation. Overall, I learned that the delivery of a speech can vary depending on the content, and it is most helpful to adjust my preparation to reflect that.
I am fairly happy with how speech three went for me. I know now what I need to isolate and work on, fidgeting and organization. Since January though, I realized that I get less nervous for speeches. This speech I was not nervous to give this speech but rather really excited which translated to what felt like nervousness. I actually really enjoy giving speeches to this class and hearing all of their stories or whatever they are giving speeches about. I will be devoting this next class to organization and calmness, as well as working with a partner since I never have actually given one with one before. The dry runs are the most beneficial part for me personally because I do not practice in front of anyone apart from the dry runs. I got a lot of really great feedback during my dry run and was told after class that my actual speech went much better than that which made me really excited and happy. I am pretty confident about the next speech. I am not worried about who I will get as a partner at all. It will be a good speech.
After my speech I would say it went pretty well. I was super nervous about it because when I talk about my brother and what we’ve been through I tend to choke up a lot. It’s also hard showing my vunerable side because I don’t like to show it a lot and only certain people have seen it. I think the speech went better than I thought but not as good as I could have done. I wish I slowed down my speech and didn’t fidget as much. I also have no clue if I even hit the time limit because I felt like I was talking so fast. When I get uncomfortable I tend to talk super fast and I tried to catch myself but I think it was a little too late. I feel way better now that it’s done though. I felt like I did a good job with eye contact and with not looking at my paper a whole lot. I think there are things I still need to work on but that’s normal. I’m hoping the next speech goes better since I won’t be as vunerable and uncomfortable. I think this speech took the most effort out of all of them because I wanted to make it perfect for my brother. I spent a lot of time rephrasing it and rearranging it. Overall I loved the speech but I wish I had delivered it better than I did.
After giving my speech, I am very relieved it is over. I feel that I presented it well and I think it was an improvement from my last solo speech. Comparing it to a duo speech I feel I was a lot more comfortable with someone else up there with me but then again compared to the first solo speech I think I was a little less nervous. Some positives I think I had were the projection of my voice and the organization of my speech. I wish that I looked at my paper less and possibly brought a little bit more energy to my speech. I also noticed that I enjoyed giving this speech than previous ones. I felt more passionate about this topic than the previous ones which helped a lot with the delivery aspect. Overall I am pretty happy with how it went but I still think there is a lot that I can improve on for my next speech.