If feel like my speech overall went well and kept on improving as the days go closer. The preparation stage of the speech went through 3 main drafts. The first draft was like the final however more into a list format. I’m happy I didn’t because I feel it wouldn’t have given my speech a personal touch and made it seem more in the style of reading information then a conversation style I went with. My second speech focused more on people who have affected my way I speak as well as people I would like to speak like. An example talked about some experiences in my life and then mentioned some people I believe are amazing public speakers. Looking back, I wish I added some of this idea into my final speech. I would’ve added some people I would like to be like as a public speaker at the end of the speech when I talk about my future. During the speech itself, the main thing I want to improve on was to talk a little slower and trying to not worry about the time limit. I feel as I thought about that I needed to finish the speech because of time I would either skip some topics I wanted to mention or talk more about. Overall, I think my speech was great however there are some things I want to work on and wanted to add in the speech.
After delivering my first speech in this class I can proudly say that I’m glad that we did this because I believe that this sets us up to get more comfortable with public speaking in general. Before I had to get up to deliver my speech I had a lot of anxiety and I could not stop moving my legs I was so nervous. Once I got up there for some reason as soon as I said the first words on my outline I was fine and was not anxious anymore I am not sure what happened, but then I started getting a little more nervous realizing that I was talking to the class. Overall I think my first speech in this class went pretty well, I believe I made good eye content with my audience, not making it boring and connecting with them by using hand motions and a loud clear voice. I would say one of my flaws about this speech was just being fully prepared to deliver it, but I never am I just get too nervous. Also, I would just want to spend more time with the overall content that I am talking about so I don’t sound all over the place. Doing this speech though made me feel confident about the speeches that we have ahead in the class.
I believe that Speech One went fairly well for me. I found the topic easy to talk about. It’s always easy to think of things to come up with when you’re writing about yourself. I found the organization for the speech to be easy for me as well. I knew immediately the order that I wanted to talk about my ideas in. First I wanted to talk about the basics of public speaking, then my personal experiences with public speaking, why public speaking is important and why and how I plan to improve my public speaking abilities in the future. I thought my speech accurately depicted the ideas I was trying to convey and that my audience was able to grasp the main points of my speech. When we were going through the critiques the first thing that someone said that is they really liked the part of the speech were I said “I must learn to embrace imperfection” which is like the main takeaway I wanted people to pick up from from the speech so I think I did a good job getting that message across. When it came to preparation and delivery for this speech I would say that I was definitely prepared. I rehearsed and reread my speech as many times as I could to practice and had the whole thing memorized. When I was delivering the speech I got in my head and when I would doubt myself I would look down at my paper and this made me lose my train of thought and made the doubt worse. If I would have been more confident and trusted myself more I would have realized that I really didn’t even need the paper.
My first speech, I think went pretty well especially considering how anxious I was. Even when sick, I think that I talked loud and clearly enough that the whole room could hear me, as well as making the speech ‘not boring’. I think that I entertained the audience well with hand motions, or movement, or even my tone of voice. Things that always need improvement, is my eye contact, as well as how I pronounce my words. I end to mumble when I get nervous, this is something that I have always struggled with, even as a kid, and have been slowly getting better. However, a big reason on why I wanted to take this class was to help with this mumble.
I am proud of how this speech went, I think I did a good job with creating an open and comfortable environment when sharing my small stories of social anxiety, and my experiences of public speaking. The responses I got from the audience makes me excited to do speech’s in the future. The comfortable environment of the classroom makes me less anxious, and it’s comforting to know that majority of my classmates in there don’t like public speaking.
Some compliments that I got that made me very happy, and feel confident with at the end is how I; got “into” the speech like learning in and out when talking, how I got personal with the speech I gave, and also the confidence aspect. I as surprised that people were realizing these things when I was talking, as I do not see these things. I only see what I think went wrong, and not what I think went correct. This really opens my eyes to the positive aspects of public speaking.
Overall, I think I did pretty well during my speech. I was able to keep focus on the audience that whole time and I had good eye contact between different people. I remember one of the things that people complimented me on was my posture and body language, specifically how calm and natural it was. Which I am glad about, those hand motions and body language wasn’t something that I worked on and so I’m glad they turned out fine regardless. Another thing that I think I did fine on was word flow. I don’t think I stumbled over words all that much or used sounds like ums or uhs at all during my speech which I’m quite proud of. Something I wanna talk about is just to check how my volume was while giving my speech. As for the contents of my speech itself, I Also believe that went well. The main area where I think I could improve for next time is practice, I was only able to get one practice session in before I presented and I want to improve that ability. Although, true to what I talked about before about how practicing is a skill, I think I used that one session pretty well. Overall, I’m quite happy with my performance and am looking forward to the other speech sessions.
When I walked up to the lectern, my hands were shaky from the nerves, and going in the third group made the anxiety rise the longer I waited for my turn. I was worried that the content of my speech wasn’t close enough to the prompt since almost everyone shared a specific event and discussed public speaking specifically, while I focused on my speech mannerisms instead. Although my heart was racing as I stood by the lectern, I began to feel surprisingly relaxed and was quite comfortable while speaking to the audience after the introduction. I most definitely underestimate my ability to deliver that speech, but I think my voice was clear and articulate enough, and I didn’t stutter or stumble on my words either. I was satisfied with the logical organization of my speech content, but I could improve on the transition between my Past Influences and my speaking mannerisms. I attempted to keep eye contact/look at the audience and not stare at my paper to the best of my ability, so I’m unsure if it needs improvement or not. Once I got into a sort of rhythm and confidence while delivering my speech, the audience almost faded from my worries, which helped quite a bit. Next time, I want to add more personal examples to make my speech more relatable and engaging. Lastly, I want to better manage my nerves by rehearsing more thoroughly beforehand in front of others, such as parents or friends.
As you may know I was the lucky one to be chosen first to give my speech in front of the class. I was half glad and half worried to be picked first, although I have given similar speeches from a Public Speaking class I’ve taken in high school, it would still be my first time presenting in front of a new group of students. I think I did well overall considering the anxiety I had which I tried my best to push through, I did end up stuttering a few times but over all still was able to get my point across and was able to meet the time requirement at 1:51 if I remember correctly. There were a few cases of using unnecessary filler words such as um or uh which I tried my best to cut out, but some ended up slipping through out of habit. Overall it was still a great first experience, and doing some of the exercises to get to know other people in the first class we had definitely made it easier for me as I didn’t see the audience as all strangers and instead was able to see them as people I knew which made it easier for me to get up front in the first place. Everyone was very attentive and respectful and I appreciated everyone’s comments following my speech, they helped a lot to know where I succeeded in my speech.
I think I did better than I expected. I was extremely nervous when going up to the front of the room. I am glad I rehearsed my speech, even if it was just to my roommates. I practiced it to make sure I made it long enough, but not too long so I did not go over the 2-minute time limit. I was able to see what I needed to add to or what parts of my speech I needed to cut back on. I really focused on the speed I was speaking. I typically speak at a very fast pace when I get nervous so I wanted to make sure I spoke at a rate where people could understand me, but not so slow that I bored my classmates. I think that I could have improved on my eye contact. There were a few times where I noticed I had not looked up in a while. I got nervous when looking up because I was worried, I would lose my spot in my speech, so it made it harder for me to not keep my head down the whole time. I feel like I had my speech well organized and hit the topics I wanted to in the right amount of time.
I prepared several days in advance and kept being under the time that I needed. Since I was under the time I continued to add to my speech, only to be over the time that was allotted. I thought I prepared very well for the speech however I was slightly nervous. I think what put me over the time was that after listening to my peers I ended up adding tiny details throughout my speech. Being over the time was probably one of the only cons to this speech but I could have worked on my hand movements as well. After giving this speech, I felt very relieved and confident in my upcoming speeches and my abilities to do them. I felt as though our class did very well at our speeches but also lifted each other up after each speech to give them confidence. It was extremely nice to feel so welcomed during those speeches and in that class.
I was not happy with my delivery of speech 1. I was actually quite upset afterwards. I have never had a big issue presenting in class until last semester, when I literally passed out. Sure, I have always been nervous when delivering a presentation, but never that nervous. My hands would be a little shaky and I would talk fast, but I would know what I was saying. These past few times I’ve given presentations, I can’t even tell you what happened because I literally don’t remember. I remember some things from this presentation, like standing at the podium and signaling the thumbs up. Then, my vision went white and I couldn’t see anything or anyone. And then my hearing got really muffled and I couldn’t even hear myself talking, which is nerve wracking. I looked at my timer and saw I had 10 seconds left before I hit the threshold, but I knew if I stood up there any longer that I would go unconscious again, which would’ve been so embarrassing since I shared with the class that it has happened before. So then I was really upset when I didn’t meet the time requirement. And then I started thinking, I probably seemed so unprepared. I rehearsed this speech so many times and had in my head exactly what I wanted to say under each bullet point in my outline. I don’t know what I said in my speech but I know I didn’t say what I practiced. Sometimes I wonder if I would be okay reading from a script in front of people, instead of reading off flashcards or an outline. But, that wasn’t the assignment. Anyways, I thought my speech went terribly compared to other times I’ve presented. The only good thing was that I didn’t pass out like last time.
Going into speech 1, I felt extremely nervous. I have done many nerve-racking things in my life; however, I feel as if public speaking got my heart to be faster than all of them. However, I was quite proud of my speech. I take pride on three things on my speech, delivery, content, and audience reaction. I started my speech off with something I quite honestly did not rehearse prior, I thought of it day of. I opened my speech with a lighthearted joke about how I have been binge watching a show about lawyers, which not only engaged my audience into what I was soon going to talk about, but also let the audience know that although I am going to talk about something relatively personal, it is lighthearted. I also add that I think my content was solid, I spoke on how two individuals (Conner and Liam, both having down syndrome) changed my communication style, instead of going up there and reading off a list of who I am as a communicator. Not only did I think this was more entertaining for the audience, but it also gave a more personal, real feel to what I was saying. I believe my audience reaction was how I planned it, I wanted to get people engaged, possibly laugh, and to make them believe that I was confident as a public speaker, although truly I am not.
My Semi-Impromptu speech that I delivered had both strengths and flaws that came forth as I gave it. I talked about past occasions where I have spoken publicly about multiple topics. Then I transitioned to how by speaking I developed confidence by speaking in front of people but also still have weaknesses and habits that I want to break out of to become a better public speaker. During my speech delivery, I did not have the confidence I needed for this talk. I became very nervous by shaking, sweating and my heart began beating very quickly. I also kinda drifted into a zone where I felt like I wasn’t really thinking about what I was saying and I struggled to keep my pace and be on top of getting the content I wanted out. My speech also got very close to the time limit but I still managed to keep it under control. I also felt like I didn’t have a smooth ending and that I stopped abruptly. The positives that I took away from this was that I felt like I projected my voice very well and that everyone in the audience was able to hear me. The audience also gave me compliments that I felt natural in speaking and that the content of my speech was also very good while also getting personal with them at times. Overall, I need to get over my nervousness and be able to feel calm and confident while speaking.
After my speech, I took the time to reflect carefully on what went well and what needs improvement. I am proud of myself because I could stand in front of my peers and deliver the speech with confidence; I was anxious before the presentation. I also used good eye contact with the audience to feel their presence. My body language also conveyed my points, and I felt that I could display involvement and eagerness, which is what I have been practicing. However, one area I know I need to focus my attention on is the organization of my speech. Every time I practiced, I would reword and change the structure of parts, and at times, this made the delivery disorganized. I relied too much on having a script in the past instead of having a clear outline, and that really hurt my overall sense of flow. Now I know that preparation with an outline will help to ensure my speech is structured in such a way to flow from point to point. Having that structure will also give me more flexibility to avoid over-relying on the script and make my delivery feel more natural. The other thing I am a bit less certain of is my tempo in speech. There were many places that I just was not able to understand as too quick or too slow. I do recall several places feeling rushed, yet my audience did seem to look positive overall. I am being overly judgmental, so the other things that will need a lot of time are attentiveness. I am proud of the progress I have made on this one speech alone. The positive audience reactions were encouraging, but I am aware that one can always improve, especially regarding organization and pace.
After delivering my first speech for this class, I can say with full honesty that it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. Now, that’s not to say that it was all sunshine and rainbows, but in hindsight, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I expected it to be. That being said, I did have a couple of issues. First off, being there on stage in front of all those people felt quite daunting, especially considering I had never giving a proper speech before, and because of that I found myself forgetting I sizeable portion of my speech, making it impossible for me to look up from my paper for more than a couple of seconds without losing the spot I was on, despite rehearsing my speech multiple times before actually performing it. Secondly, for my speech I had planned on giving it lots of character with my voice to really show my personality, and the character of my being, however, I feel as if I was unable to fully convey the tone and message for my speech that I had originally set out to convey. I feel this way because I could tell that my voice sounded more nervous being there in front of all those people, versus the way it sounded when I was in my room, practicing to only myself. Overall, my speech performance could have been a whole lot worse, and I definitely learned from the mistakes that I made during this experience, and my second speech will be a whole lot better because of the mistakes I made during this one.
After delivering speech 1, I was pleasantly surprised with my performance. I went into it expecting the worst, and I was definitely super nervous the entire time I was in class waiting for my turn to go. However, partially thanks to the things I did well mentioned by classmates, I feel satisfied with my performance. While I partially blacked out while I was up there and I don’t remember the whole thing, I did recognize a few things I want to work on for the upcoming speeches. First of all, I want to practice more before giving the speech. I did rehearse beforehand, but I didn’t rehearse giving the speech to an actual audience, I think that is something that I think could really help with my nerves. When it comes to actually delivering the speech I think I really need to work on my pace. I feel like as my speech continued, I started talking faster and faster as I got more nervous realizing that I was actually up giving a speech. Another thing I think I could work on is my eye contact. As I said, I sort of black out up there, but I feel like I did a lot of looking up and down and never really held eye contact with the room for an extended period of time. This is also something that I think can partially be helped by practicing more. The more I practice, the better I know what I want to say, the more confidently I can do it without referring to my outline every other sentence.
After delivering speech 1, I felt my speech contained many of the requirements for the introduction speech. I felt a bit unconfident to deliver my speech considering I would have had to deliver it 2 weeks after the rest of my peers had. Though this felt like a setback, it did not discourage me from trying my hardest. I believe that I had good real-world experiences to times where my public speaking abilities were tested. For example; working in a restaurant as a hostess and giving presentations in high school. My tone and ability to keep a steady, confident pace is something I would like to work on while participating in this class, for it is one thing that I struggle with when speaking publicly. Overall, for my first speech given to my public speaking peers, I feel as though I did a good job.
Following my presentation of speech 1, I felt my speech contained many of the requirements for the introduction speech. I felt a bit unconfident to deliver my speech considering I would have had to deliver it 2 weeks after the rest of my peers had. Though this felt like a setback, it did not discourage me from trying my hardest. I believe that I had good real-world experiences to times where my public speaking abilities were tested. For example; working in a restaurant as a hostess and giving presentations in high school. My tone and ability to keep a steady, confident pace is something I would like to work on while participating in this class, for it is one thing that I struggle with when speaking publicly. Overall, for my first speech given to my public speaking peers, I feel as though I did a good job.
19 thoughts on “JOURNAL # 3”
If feel like my speech overall went well and kept on improving as the days go closer. The preparation stage of the speech went through 3 main drafts. The first draft was like the final however more into a list format. I’m happy I didn’t because I feel it wouldn’t have given my speech a personal touch and made it seem more in the style of reading information then a conversation style I went with. My second speech focused more on people who have affected my way I speak as well as people I would like to speak like. An example talked about some experiences in my life and then mentioned some people I believe are amazing public speakers. Looking back, I wish I added some of this idea into my final speech. I would’ve added some people I would like to be like as a public speaker at the end of the speech when I talk about my future. During the speech itself, the main thing I want to improve on was to talk a little slower and trying to not worry about the time limit. I feel as I thought about that I needed to finish the speech because of time I would either skip some topics I wanted to mention or talk more about. Overall, I think my speech was great however there are some things I want to work on and wanted to add in the speech.
After delivering my first speech in this class I can proudly say that I’m glad that we did this because I believe that this sets us up to get more comfortable with public speaking in general. Before I had to get up to deliver my speech I had a lot of anxiety and I could not stop moving my legs I was so nervous. Once I got up there for some reason as soon as I said the first words on my outline I was fine and was not anxious anymore I am not sure what happened, but then I started getting a little more nervous realizing that I was talking to the class. Overall I think my first speech in this class went pretty well, I believe I made good eye content with my audience, not making it boring and connecting with them by using hand motions and a loud clear voice. I would say one of my flaws about this speech was just being fully prepared to deliver it, but I never am I just get too nervous. Also, I would just want to spend more time with the overall content that I am talking about so I don’t sound all over the place. Doing this speech though made me feel confident about the speeches that we have ahead in the class.
https://une1-my.sharepoint.com/:w:/g/personal/ldunn7_une_edu/Ef8blu1FfB5LmJ4AU724vUQBaNE2xBTboZvppb9unbzZ4A?e=O9GcHa
I believe that Speech One went fairly well for me. I found the topic easy to talk about. It’s always easy to think of things to come up with when you’re writing about yourself. I found the organization for the speech to be easy for me as well. I knew immediately the order that I wanted to talk about my ideas in. First I wanted to talk about the basics of public speaking, then my personal experiences with public speaking, why public speaking is important and why and how I plan to improve my public speaking abilities in the future. I thought my speech accurately depicted the ideas I was trying to convey and that my audience was able to grasp the main points of my speech. When we were going through the critiques the first thing that someone said that is they really liked the part of the speech were I said “I must learn to embrace imperfection” which is like the main takeaway I wanted people to pick up from from the speech so I think I did a good job getting that message across. When it came to preparation and delivery for this speech I would say that I was definitely prepared. I rehearsed and reread my speech as many times as I could to practice and had the whole thing memorized. When I was delivering the speech I got in my head and when I would doubt myself I would look down at my paper and this made me lose my train of thought and made the doubt worse. If I would have been more confident and trusted myself more I would have realized that I really didn’t even need the paper.
Word Count: 292
My first speech, I think went pretty well especially considering how anxious I was. Even when sick, I think that I talked loud and clearly enough that the whole room could hear me, as well as making the speech ‘not boring’. I think that I entertained the audience well with hand motions, or movement, or even my tone of voice. Things that always need improvement, is my eye contact, as well as how I pronounce my words. I end to mumble when I get nervous, this is something that I have always struggled with, even as a kid, and have been slowly getting better. However, a big reason on why I wanted to take this class was to help with this mumble.
I am proud of how this speech went, I think I did a good job with creating an open and comfortable environment when sharing my small stories of social anxiety, and my experiences of public speaking. The responses I got from the audience makes me excited to do speech’s in the future. The comfortable environment of the classroom makes me less anxious, and it’s comforting to know that majority of my classmates in there don’t like public speaking.
Some compliments that I got that made me very happy, and feel confident with at the end is how I; got “into” the speech like learning in and out when talking, how I got personal with the speech I gave, and also the confidence aspect. I as surprised that people were realizing these things when I was talking, as I do not see these things. I only see what I think went wrong, and not what I think went correct. This really opens my eyes to the positive aspects of public speaking.
Overall, I think I did pretty well during my speech. I was able to keep focus on the audience that whole time and I had good eye contact between different people. I remember one of the things that people complimented me on was my posture and body language, specifically how calm and natural it was. Which I am glad about, those hand motions and body language wasn’t something that I worked on and so I’m glad they turned out fine regardless. Another thing that I think I did fine on was word flow. I don’t think I stumbled over words all that much or used sounds like ums or uhs at all during my speech which I’m quite proud of. Something I wanna talk about is just to check how my volume was while giving my speech. As for the contents of my speech itself, I Also believe that went well. The main area where I think I could improve for next time is practice, I was only able to get one practice session in before I presented and I want to improve that ability. Although, true to what I talked about before about how practicing is a skill, I think I used that one session pretty well. Overall, I’m quite happy with my performance and am looking forward to the other speech sessions.
When I walked up to the lectern, my hands were shaky from the nerves, and going in the third group made the anxiety rise the longer I waited for my turn. I was worried that the content of my speech wasn’t close enough to the prompt since almost everyone shared a specific event and discussed public speaking specifically, while I focused on my speech mannerisms instead. Although my heart was racing as I stood by the lectern, I began to feel surprisingly relaxed and was quite comfortable while speaking to the audience after the introduction. I most definitely underestimate my ability to deliver that speech, but I think my voice was clear and articulate enough, and I didn’t stutter or stumble on my words either. I was satisfied with the logical organization of my speech content, but I could improve on the transition between my Past Influences and my speaking mannerisms. I attempted to keep eye contact/look at the audience and not stare at my paper to the best of my ability, so I’m unsure if it needs improvement or not. Once I got into a sort of rhythm and confidence while delivering my speech, the audience almost faded from my worries, which helped quite a bit. Next time, I want to add more personal examples to make my speech more relatable and engaging. Lastly, I want to better manage my nerves by rehearsing more thoroughly beforehand in front of others, such as parents or friends.
As you may know I was the lucky one to be chosen first to give my speech in front of the class. I was half glad and half worried to be picked first, although I have given similar speeches from a Public Speaking class I’ve taken in high school, it would still be my first time presenting in front of a new group of students. I think I did well overall considering the anxiety I had which I tried my best to push through, I did end up stuttering a few times but over all still was able to get my point across and was able to meet the time requirement at 1:51 if I remember correctly. There were a few cases of using unnecessary filler words such as um or uh which I tried my best to cut out, but some ended up slipping through out of habit. Overall it was still a great first experience, and doing some of the exercises to get to know other people in the first class we had definitely made it easier for me as I didn’t see the audience as all strangers and instead was able to see them as people I knew which made it easier for me to get up front in the first place. Everyone was very attentive and respectful and I appreciated everyone’s comments following my speech, they helped a lot to know where I succeeded in my speech.
I think I did better than I expected. I was extremely nervous when going up to the front of the room. I am glad I rehearsed my speech, even if it was just to my roommates. I practiced it to make sure I made it long enough, but not too long so I did not go over the 2-minute time limit. I was able to see what I needed to add to or what parts of my speech I needed to cut back on. I really focused on the speed I was speaking. I typically speak at a very fast pace when I get nervous so I wanted to make sure I spoke at a rate where people could understand me, but not so slow that I bored my classmates. I think that I could have improved on my eye contact. There were a few times where I noticed I had not looked up in a while. I got nervous when looking up because I was worried, I would lose my spot in my speech, so it made it harder for me to not keep my head down the whole time. I feel like I had my speech well organized and hit the topics I wanted to in the right amount of time.
I prepared several days in advance and kept being under the time that I needed. Since I was under the time I continued to add to my speech, only to be over the time that was allotted. I thought I prepared very well for the speech however I was slightly nervous. I think what put me over the time was that after listening to my peers I ended up adding tiny details throughout my speech. Being over the time was probably one of the only cons to this speech but I could have worked on my hand movements as well. After giving this speech, I felt very relieved and confident in my upcoming speeches and my abilities to do them. I felt as though our class did very well at our speeches but also lifted each other up after each speech to give them confidence. It was extremely nice to feel so welcomed during those speeches and in that class.
I was not happy with my delivery of speech 1. I was actually quite upset afterwards. I have never had a big issue presenting in class until last semester, when I literally passed out. Sure, I have always been nervous when delivering a presentation, but never that nervous. My hands would be a little shaky and I would talk fast, but I would know what I was saying. These past few times I’ve given presentations, I can’t even tell you what happened because I literally don’t remember. I remember some things from this presentation, like standing at the podium and signaling the thumbs up. Then, my vision went white and I couldn’t see anything or anyone. And then my hearing got really muffled and I couldn’t even hear myself talking, which is nerve wracking. I looked at my timer and saw I had 10 seconds left before I hit the threshold, but I knew if I stood up there any longer that I would go unconscious again, which would’ve been so embarrassing since I shared with the class that it has happened before. So then I was really upset when I didn’t meet the time requirement. And then I started thinking, I probably seemed so unprepared. I rehearsed this speech so many times and had in my head exactly what I wanted to say under each bullet point in my outline. I don’t know what I said in my speech but I know I didn’t say what I practiced. Sometimes I wonder if I would be okay reading from a script in front of people, instead of reading off flashcards or an outline. But, that wasn’t the assignment. Anyways, I thought my speech went terribly compared to other times I’ve presented. The only good thing was that I didn’t pass out like last time.
Going into speech 1, I felt extremely nervous. I have done many nerve-racking things in my life; however, I feel as if public speaking got my heart to be faster than all of them. However, I was quite proud of my speech. I take pride on three things on my speech, delivery, content, and audience reaction. I started my speech off with something I quite honestly did not rehearse prior, I thought of it day of. I opened my speech with a lighthearted joke about how I have been binge watching a show about lawyers, which not only engaged my audience into what I was soon going to talk about, but also let the audience know that although I am going to talk about something relatively personal, it is lighthearted. I also add that I think my content was solid, I spoke on how two individuals (Conner and Liam, both having down syndrome) changed my communication style, instead of going up there and reading off a list of who I am as a communicator. Not only did I think this was more entertaining for the audience, but it also gave a more personal, real feel to what I was saying. I believe my audience reaction was how I planned it, I wanted to get people engaged, possibly laugh, and to make them believe that I was confident as a public speaker, although truly I am not.
https://kdrake4.uneportfolio.org/journal-3/
My Semi-Impromptu speech that I delivered had both strengths and flaws that came forth as I gave it. I talked about past occasions where I have spoken publicly about multiple topics. Then I transitioned to how by speaking I developed confidence by speaking in front of people but also still have weaknesses and habits that I want to break out of to become a better public speaker. During my speech delivery, I did not have the confidence I needed for this talk. I became very nervous by shaking, sweating and my heart began beating very quickly. I also kinda drifted into a zone where I felt like I wasn’t really thinking about what I was saying and I struggled to keep my pace and be on top of getting the content I wanted out. My speech also got very close to the time limit but I still managed to keep it under control. I also felt like I didn’t have a smooth ending and that I stopped abruptly. The positives that I took away from this was that I felt like I projected my voice very well and that everyone in the audience was able to hear me. The audience also gave me compliments that I felt natural in speaking and that the content of my speech was also very good while also getting personal with them at times. Overall, I need to get over my nervousness and be able to feel calm and confident while speaking.
After my speech, I took the time to reflect carefully on what went well and what needs improvement. I am proud of myself because I could stand in front of my peers and deliver the speech with confidence; I was anxious before the presentation. I also used good eye contact with the audience to feel their presence. My body language also conveyed my points, and I felt that I could display involvement and eagerness, which is what I have been practicing. However, one area I know I need to focus my attention on is the organization of my speech. Every time I practiced, I would reword and change the structure of parts, and at times, this made the delivery disorganized. I relied too much on having a script in the past instead of having a clear outline, and that really hurt my overall sense of flow. Now I know that preparation with an outline will help to ensure my speech is structured in such a way to flow from point to point. Having that structure will also give me more flexibility to avoid over-relying on the script and make my delivery feel more natural. The other thing I am a bit less certain of is my tempo in speech. There were many places that I just was not able to understand as too quick or too slow. I do recall several places feeling rushed, yet my audience did seem to look positive overall. I am being overly judgmental, so the other things that will need a lot of time are attentiveness. I am proud of the progress I have made on this one speech alone. The positive audience reactions were encouraging, but I am aware that one can always improve, especially regarding organization and pace.
After delivering my first speech for this class, I can say with full honesty that it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. Now, that’s not to say that it was all sunshine and rainbows, but in hindsight, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I expected it to be. That being said, I did have a couple of issues. First off, being there on stage in front of all those people felt quite daunting, especially considering I had never giving a proper speech before, and because of that I found myself forgetting I sizeable portion of my speech, making it impossible for me to look up from my paper for more than a couple of seconds without losing the spot I was on, despite rehearsing my speech multiple times before actually performing it. Secondly, for my speech I had planned on giving it lots of character with my voice to really show my personality, and the character of my being, however, I feel as if I was unable to fully convey the tone and message for my speech that I had originally set out to convey. I feel this way because I could tell that my voice sounded more nervous being there in front of all those people, versus the way it sounded when I was in my room, practicing to only myself. Overall, my speech performance could have been a whole lot worse, and I definitely learned from the mistakes that I made during this experience, and my second speech will be a whole lot better because of the mistakes I made during this one.
After delivering speech 1, I was pleasantly surprised with my performance. I went into it expecting the worst, and I was definitely super nervous the entire time I was in class waiting for my turn to go. However, partially thanks to the things I did well mentioned by classmates, I feel satisfied with my performance. While I partially blacked out while I was up there and I don’t remember the whole thing, I did recognize a few things I want to work on for the upcoming speeches. First of all, I want to practice more before giving the speech. I did rehearse beforehand, but I didn’t rehearse giving the speech to an actual audience, I think that is something that I think could really help with my nerves. When it comes to actually delivering the speech I think I really need to work on my pace. I feel like as my speech continued, I started talking faster and faster as I got more nervous realizing that I was actually up giving a speech. Another thing I think I could work on is my eye contact. As I said, I sort of black out up there, but I feel like I did a lot of looking up and down and never really held eye contact with the room for an extended period of time. This is also something that I think can partially be helped by practicing more. The more I practice, the better I know what I want to say, the more confidently I can do it without referring to my outline every other sentence.
After delivering speech 1, I felt my speech contained many of the requirements for the introduction speech. I felt a bit unconfident to deliver my speech considering I would have had to deliver it 2 weeks after the rest of my peers had. Though this felt like a setback, it did not discourage me from trying my hardest. I believe that I had good real-world experiences to times where my public speaking abilities were tested. For example; working in a restaurant as a hostess and giving presentations in high school. My tone and ability to keep a steady, confident pace is something I would like to work on while participating in this class, for it is one thing that I struggle with when speaking publicly. Overall, for my first speech given to my public speaking peers, I feel as though I did a good job.
Following my presentation of speech 1, I felt my speech contained many of the requirements for the introduction speech. I felt a bit unconfident to deliver my speech considering I would have had to deliver it 2 weeks after the rest of my peers had. Though this felt like a setback, it did not discourage me from trying my hardest. I believe that I had good real-world experiences to times where my public speaking abilities were tested. For example; working in a restaurant as a hostess and giving presentations in high school. My tone and ability to keep a steady, confident pace is something I would like to work on while participating in this class, for it is one thing that I struggle with when speaking publicly. Overall, for my first speech given to my public speaking peers, I feel as though I did a good job.