Lillian Magda
9/10/2025
Public speaking
Professor Miller
Journal 3 – Reflection
During my speech I felt as if I did not deliver as well as I could have. After reflecting I realized one thing to do better is to practice even more and in front of a mirror so I don’t get as nervous. One thing that went well is I did feel as I got my main point across and gave good examples such as what distracts me and something that I learned from before. Some things I did not do as well is the timing. I think I can practice more of my timing skills to develop. Another thing I struggle with is for some reason as I was speaking I forgot some of my points that I wanted to speak about that also made my time shorter.
During my speech, I felt that my delivery could have been stronger. After reflecting on my performance, I realized that one way I can improve is by practicing more in front of a mirror. This could help me feel more confident and reduce my nervousness during future speeches.
One thing that went well was that I was able to get my main point across effectively. I feel as if I completed the task of speaking out about how I am communicating as I don’t like to speak to us more. I also supported my message with solid examples, such as things that distract me and something I learned from a past experience. I feel as I prepared myself with good things I wanted to talk about.
However, there were a few areas I struggled with. One was my timing, as I didn’t manage my time as well as I had hoped. A way I can work on this is by just doing better at timing myself and knowing I speak kinda short when in front of everyone. Another challenge was that I forgot some of the points I had planned to say, which also affected my timing and overall flow. To improve, I plan to practice more intentionally, focusing on both timing and memorization of key points.
Journal 3
My speech definitely didn’t go as I had expected it to. I expected to be way less nervous even after I had practiced. Normally I don’t have much of an issue with public speaking. I have done it many times before but I have never taken a class about it. It seemed that the pressure of my speech being graded and timed really caused me a lot of stress. Normally when I have to do a speech such as a presentation. I’m not being graded on my speaking but graded on my actual presentation. Which seems to stress me out way less.
Even though my speech didn’t go according to plan I have much higher hopes for my second speech. I think I will spend more time practicing and I believe I now know how the speeches will go and that is also a less stressful factor. I think I will also try to talk less with my hands and make more eye contact with the audience. My outline could have been improved as well and had more information so I could have had more to go off of.
The positive feedback at the end made me a lot less stressed out and made me feel like my speech wasn’t completely terrible. As much as I don’t like public speaking, I know that taking this class and practicing public speaking will help me improve and give me more opportunities.
Self-reflection analyzing speech. What went well? How could I improve? Consider delivery, content, organization, and audience reaction.
I feel as though my speech did not go awful. I definitely believe that I did a good job writing my speech. I had good content, and made my content interesting using rhetoric, humor, and stories relating to the topic, which made my speech more personal and engaging. Throughout my speech I answered all the questions we were assigned to answer. As far as organization I believe I did a good job organizing my content in a way that made sense and flowed easily. I do wish I included better transitions between topics, that has always been a weakness of mine, so I do plan to improve with that when it comes to writing.
As far as delivery of my speech, I was a little nervous which is normal for me especially since I am not super close with all my classmates yet, and this is a graded speech. I do not recall using many filler words (like, um, so, etc.) which I am proud of myself for, because it always bugs me when other people do this. If I could go back, I would rehearse and practice more to get myself used to the pattern of my words and have a better verbal flow without referencing my paper as much. My audience said good things about my speech and laughed during my humorous bits. I stuttered and got nervous, which I could feel as I gave my speech, which made me feel unconfident about my work.
Abigail Chapman
Prof. Miller
SPC-100-A
10 September 2025
After I delivered my semi-impromptu speech, I took some time to honestly evaluate how it went and what things I didn’t do so well on. I also took into consideration the positive feedback that was given from my classmates directly after my speech because some of the things they noticed I did well on were things I didn’t even notice or thought didn’t go well. Overall I think my speech had many strengths and was pretty good but it did also have some things I need to improve on.
Some of the things that went well was the fact I was able to calm my nerves and stay calm and composed. I was told my delivery and tone were very “mature” meaning I was clear and to the point. I maintained pretty good eye contact with multiple people in the audience, which definitely helped keep their attention. I feel I organized my thoughts in a good way and I had a strong leading sentence and created a natural flow of my following speech points. The audiences seemed engaged from the eye contact, nods, and even a couple laughs.
An area I think I need improvement is the speed I go through my points and the depth I explain them to. Since the speech was timed I felt I had to rush through to be able to fit all my points in the timeframe, this however caused me to not explain my points as much as I would have liked. Even though I had practiced my speech many times, I think going over it more times and making sure I knew for sure my speech would fit into the time frame.
On Wednesday, September 3, I delivered my speech in front of the whole class. Honestly, I can’t remember the time when I had to speak publicly like this before. I have done class slide show presentations, but never just speaking about a topic. This experience was totally new to me and because of the lack of standards I had I would say I did well. I was obviously very nervous, and I do truly think that was my downfall. I couldn’t see what I looked like presenting to the class, but I am worried I was too fidgety and shaken. I was wondering if people could even hear it in my voice that I was anxious? For future speeches I definitely want to work on my confidence and to talk a bit slower. I did make the requirement for the time crunch, which when I was proacting was a struggle. I would say that it went well. I do believe the audience liked my response; I often used my personal experiences to explain why I felt a certain way of public speaking. Wither that was working in the office or talking to a softball crowd. I felt that describing these would also make it feel more relatable to my classmates.
After delivering my first speech to the class, I allowed myself time to reflect on my overall performance. I felt I did well with projecting my voice to the class and appearing very confident as I spoke. I struggled to pace myself and did not slow down as much as I wanted to. Still, the delivery itself felt less like giving a speech and more like I was just talking to a lot of people at once. I felt as though I could have been a little more serious instead of making lots of jokes, but I found that being super animated made me feel less nervous. I also did well staying on track and did not forget my train of thought or get distracted while speaking. As for what I could improve, I thought I spoke too fast. I did not spend enough time slowing down and elaborating on why I like notecards or my example of my scientific presentation. Additionally, I felt that I was too close to being under time and I should have been more cognizant of that. I think I could’ve added more content overall since mine was very short compared to some other speeches. Overall, my speech went very well for being short notice and so informal.
What went well during the speech is I had good points and I think I answered the questions well, I also sounded calm. But what I thought I didn’t do well with is the structure of my speech, I didn’t improvise and just go off points. Another thing I didn’t really do well was my tone of voice, I think it was very informative sounding and that sound boring to some of the audience and I might not connect with them as much. I think the overall organization was good and the audience reaction was positive.
I feel like my first speech went as planned. I tried my best to avoid stuttering, and made the time mark on the dot. I preached in my speech how I tend to rush through presentations when I’m nervous, but I realized how everybody else was in the same exact boat as me which helped ease my nerves. I enjoy the flow of the 3 hour class and how it’s broken up which gives students time to really prepare themselves to speak and collect their thoughts. A way I can improve for next time is to time myself more before I read my speech to the class. I hit 2 minutes which was the absolute max and I’d prefer to be within the 1:30 range because I feel like once you hit the 1:45 range it gets to be a bit too long and drawn out. The easiest way to help would be presenting to a small group of people before class to help get rid of the nerves and it will feel more natural when I’m presenting to the class.
Journal # 3 It’s interesting to consider how my speech was clocked at 2:30; I conducted multiple practice rounds of practice, in the form of reciting it in my room with a stopwatch, this usually yielded a time of 1:50 to two minutes. When I would practice with my roommate, the first time I only made it to 1:20. After awhile my range expanded from 1:40 to two minutes. I’ve concluded a few things on why my speech went over. When I practiced with my roommate, I felt comfortable, there was no need to rush or drag. When I got up there on Wednesday; I started to add unnecessary things, unrelated to what I had previously practiced, I think this was due to a sense of nervousness that I wasn’t going to meet my time. Although I went over, I felt like my delivery was on point, I was loud enough made eye contact and hardly looked at my outline, I also felt that it was well organized and transitioned well between points. The audience seemed to react well, and I was provided with adequate feedback.
When I think back on my impromptu speech, I realize that some things that went well were my voice tone. I felt like everyone could hear me clearly because I projected my voice and spoke at a steady pace. This gave me confidence and helped the audience stay engaged. I also think that the organization of my speech was a strength because I was able to move from one point to another in an organised way so everyone could understand what I was trying to say. Something I can improve is the constant reading out of my paper and engaging more with the audience. I notice that I look down at my paper quite a lot which makes me lose connection with the audience and it makes everything look more scripted and less natural. Next time I want to try to rely less on my notes and focus on speaking more freely. One way I can do this is by practicing by putting just bullet points in a paper instead of full sentences.
While giving my speech, I was feeling very anxious and nervous at first, but after a while I got the hang of it. Once I felt relaxed and confident, I could hear myself speaking clearly and taking my time. I was giving myself a steady pace, and this helped me deliver an organized speech. I also think that my closing remarks were good as well. Ending a nerve wracking concept on a positive note made me feel better, but it could also make others feel better about themselves too, especially if they are new to public speaking. This made my emotions turn right around. Since I rehearsed my speech many times, it made me feel better overall. Although I had highlights in my speech, I do think there are some things to work on. I think that I can improve on making better eye contact with the audience. Instead of looking up, it is important to make eye contact with the audience so they understand what I am saying, and it shows that I want to connect with them as well. Overall, I feel that my speech was good for my first one, and after many more I think that I will grow as a public speaker.
Journal 3
Today we had our first presentation and from the moment I finished presenting I was already reflecting back on myself, as I’m sure many others were too. We had to do an outline of how we are as a public speaker and I can’t tell if I liked having an outline better than having to present using a general speech and reading off of that. What I found is I think I am leaning more towards the outline, and my reasoning is because it helped me keep my eyes up and off of my paper which was one of my struggles as a public speaker. Which I am so grateful for because I have already seen some type of difference in myself alone even if it’s something as small as that. One struggle that has been running through my mind was the fact that I didn’t speak on all the topics I wanted to touch up on because there was just so much going through my mind and trying to expect so much out of myself. I also found I was scrambling about things I didn’t need to touch base on but did because I felt my heart beating and beating that I just said whatever popped into my head. Although there are many more things I need to work on I think I did better than I thought I would have done, because I have noticed I have been gaining more confidence in myself which I have never had in the past. I also remind myself nothing is permanent and it is all how you put it into perspective and how you let it control your life.
After delivering speech 1, I was fairly happy with how it went; I spoke clearly, I received good feedback, and I (almost) made it through the entire speech without saying “um”. However, after seeing other people’s speeches, I realized that there were some things that I could have done better.
For example, most of the people presenting their speeches seemed to improvise the whole time, making it feel almost as if we were having a conversation. This kept me very engaged and interested in what they were saying. Some people even incorporated humor into their speeches, which I also admired. When I presented my speech, I pretty much just read what I had written, making it sound almost “robotic”. My goal for my next speech is to incorporate things into my speech that will make it more engaging for the audience.
Apart from that, I am very happy with how my speech went. When you (Mr. Miller) said that it was obvious that I’ve been involved in theater and other things that require public speaking, that was truly a huge compliment that I was so grateful to hear. I’m glad that I projected well and was clear about my experience in public speaking.
Although some of my speech didn’t go as well as I wish it would have, I still think that I did well and am proud of myself (along with the rest of the class) for gaining the confidence to say their speeches in front of the class.
Journal #3
Overall I think my speech went pretty well, I was expecting for it to go worse. I despise public speaking so I was very nervous to go in front of the class to do my first speech of the semester. During the speech I think I did good with eye contact. I was trying my best to look at everyone in the room and not look down at my paper for too long. I could definitely improve more on taking deep breaths before starting to feel nervous and calming down my body. During this speech I felt shaky and sick to my stomach. I was feeling this way because I was scared of the outcome of the speech and what others would think if I messed up or if I stuttered. I would also like to practice more, I feel like I didn’t practice as much as I should have. I did really like having the outline to use so I could use that which helped me a lot to not lose my train of thoughts and just to organize my thoughts. I really liked how everyone gave positive comments to all of the speeches, I appreciated the comments that others gave to me which made me feel better about my speech. The audience told me I seemed confident and made good eye contact which I really appreciated. I am proud of myself for doing a good job on the first speech but definitely have more improving to do this semester.
14 thoughts on “JOURNAL # 3”
Lillian Magda
9/10/2025
Public speaking
Professor Miller
Journal 3 – Reflection
During my speech I felt as if I did not deliver as well as I could have. After reflecting I realized one thing to do better is to practice even more and in front of a mirror so I don’t get as nervous. One thing that went well is I did feel as I got my main point across and gave good examples such as what distracts me and something that I learned from before. Some things I did not do as well is the timing. I think I can practice more of my timing skills to develop. Another thing I struggle with is for some reason as I was speaking I forgot some of my points that I wanted to speak about that also made my time shorter.
During my speech, I felt that my delivery could have been stronger. After reflecting on my performance, I realized that one way I can improve is by practicing more in front of a mirror. This could help me feel more confident and reduce my nervousness during future speeches.
One thing that went well was that I was able to get my main point across effectively. I feel as if I completed the task of speaking out about how I am communicating as I don’t like to speak to us more. I also supported my message with solid examples, such as things that distract me and something I learned from a past experience. I feel as I prepared myself with good things I wanted to talk about.
However, there were a few areas I struggled with. One was my timing, as I didn’t manage my time as well as I had hoped. A way I can work on this is by just doing better at timing myself and knowing I speak kinda short when in front of everyone. Another challenge was that I forgot some of the points I had planned to say, which also affected my timing and overall flow. To improve, I plan to practice more intentionally, focusing on both timing and memorization of key points.
Journal 3
My speech definitely didn’t go as I had expected it to. I expected to be way less nervous even after I had practiced. Normally I don’t have much of an issue with public speaking. I have done it many times before but I have never taken a class about it. It seemed that the pressure of my speech being graded and timed really caused me a lot of stress. Normally when I have to do a speech such as a presentation. I’m not being graded on my speaking but graded on my actual presentation. Which seems to stress me out way less.
Even though my speech didn’t go according to plan I have much higher hopes for my second speech. I think I will spend more time practicing and I believe I now know how the speeches will go and that is also a less stressful factor. I think I will also try to talk less with my hands and make more eye contact with the audience. My outline could have been improved as well and had more information so I could have had more to go off of.
The positive feedback at the end made me a lot less stressed out and made me feel like my speech wasn’t completely terrible. As much as I don’t like public speaking, I know that taking this class and practicing public speaking will help me improve and give me more opportunities.
Journal #3
Self-reflection analyzing speech. What went well? How could I improve? Consider delivery, content, organization, and audience reaction.
I feel as though my speech did not go awful. I definitely believe that I did a good job writing my speech. I had good content, and made my content interesting using rhetoric, humor, and stories relating to the topic, which made my speech more personal and engaging. Throughout my speech I answered all the questions we were assigned to answer. As far as organization I believe I did a good job organizing my content in a way that made sense and flowed easily. I do wish I included better transitions between topics, that has always been a weakness of mine, so I do plan to improve with that when it comes to writing.
As far as delivery of my speech, I was a little nervous which is normal for me especially since I am not super close with all my classmates yet, and this is a graded speech. I do not recall using many filler words (like, um, so, etc.) which I am proud of myself for, because it always bugs me when other people do this. If I could go back, I would rehearse and practice more to get myself used to the pattern of my words and have a better verbal flow without referencing my paper as much. My audience said good things about my speech and laughed during my humorous bits. I stuttered and got nervous, which I could feel as I gave my speech, which made me feel unconfident about my work.
Abigail Chapman
Prof. Miller
SPC-100-A
10 September 2025
After I delivered my semi-impromptu speech, I took some time to honestly evaluate how it went and what things I didn’t do so well on. I also took into consideration the positive feedback that was given from my classmates directly after my speech because some of the things they noticed I did well on were things I didn’t even notice or thought didn’t go well. Overall I think my speech had many strengths and was pretty good but it did also have some things I need to improve on.
Some of the things that went well was the fact I was able to calm my nerves and stay calm and composed. I was told my delivery and tone were very “mature” meaning I was clear and to the point. I maintained pretty good eye contact with multiple people in the audience, which definitely helped keep their attention. I feel I organized my thoughts in a good way and I had a strong leading sentence and created a natural flow of my following speech points. The audiences seemed engaged from the eye contact, nods, and even a couple laughs.
An area I think I need improvement is the speed I go through my points and the depth I explain them to. Since the speech was timed I felt I had to rush through to be able to fit all my points in the timeframe, this however caused me to not explain my points as much as I would have liked. Even though I had practiced my speech many times, I think going over it more times and making sure I knew for sure my speech would fit into the time frame.
On Wednesday, September 3, I delivered my speech in front of the whole class. Honestly, I can’t remember the time when I had to speak publicly like this before. I have done class slide show presentations, but never just speaking about a topic. This experience was totally new to me and because of the lack of standards I had I would say I did well. I was obviously very nervous, and I do truly think that was my downfall. I couldn’t see what I looked like presenting to the class, but I am worried I was too fidgety and shaken. I was wondering if people could even hear it in my voice that I was anxious? For future speeches I definitely want to work on my confidence and to talk a bit slower. I did make the requirement for the time crunch, which when I was proacting was a struggle. I would say that it went well. I do believe the audience liked my response; I often used my personal experiences to explain why I felt a certain way of public speaking. Wither that was working in the office or talking to a softball crowd. I felt that describing these would also make it feel more relatable to my classmates.
After delivering my first speech to the class, I allowed myself time to reflect on my overall performance. I felt I did well with projecting my voice to the class and appearing very confident as I spoke. I struggled to pace myself and did not slow down as much as I wanted to. Still, the delivery itself felt less like giving a speech and more like I was just talking to a lot of people at once. I felt as though I could have been a little more serious instead of making lots of jokes, but I found that being super animated made me feel less nervous. I also did well staying on track and did not forget my train of thought or get distracted while speaking. As for what I could improve, I thought I spoke too fast. I did not spend enough time slowing down and elaborating on why I like notecards or my example of my scientific presentation. Additionally, I felt that I was too close to being under time and I should have been more cognizant of that. I think I could’ve added more content overall since mine was very short compared to some other speeches. Overall, my speech went very well for being short notice and so informal.
What went well during the speech is I had good points and I think I answered the questions well, I also sounded calm. But what I thought I didn’t do well with is the structure of my speech, I didn’t improvise and just go off points. Another thing I didn’t really do well was my tone of voice, I think it was very informative sounding and that sound boring to some of the audience and I might not connect with them as much. I think the overall organization was good and the audience reaction was positive.
I feel like my first speech went as planned. I tried my best to avoid stuttering, and made the time mark on the dot. I preached in my speech how I tend to rush through presentations when I’m nervous, but I realized how everybody else was in the same exact boat as me which helped ease my nerves. I enjoy the flow of the 3 hour class and how it’s broken up which gives students time to really prepare themselves to speak and collect their thoughts. A way I can improve for next time is to time myself more before I read my speech to the class. I hit 2 minutes which was the absolute max and I’d prefer to be within the 1:30 range because I feel like once you hit the 1:45 range it gets to be a bit too long and drawn out. The easiest way to help would be presenting to a small group of people before class to help get rid of the nerves and it will feel more natural when I’m presenting to the class.
Journal # 3 It’s interesting to consider how my speech was clocked at 2:30; I conducted multiple practice rounds of practice, in the form of reciting it in my room with a stopwatch, this usually yielded a time of 1:50 to two minutes. When I would practice with my roommate, the first time I only made it to 1:20. After awhile my range expanded from 1:40 to two minutes. I’ve concluded a few things on why my speech went over. When I practiced with my roommate, I felt comfortable, there was no need to rush or drag. When I got up there on Wednesday; I started to add unnecessary things, unrelated to what I had previously practiced, I think this was due to a sense of nervousness that I wasn’t going to meet my time. Although I went over, I felt like my delivery was on point, I was loud enough made eye contact and hardly looked at my outline, I also felt that it was well organized and transitioned well between points. The audience seemed to react well, and I was provided with adequate feedback.
When I think back on my impromptu speech, I realize that some things that went well were my voice tone. I felt like everyone could hear me clearly because I projected my voice and spoke at a steady pace. This gave me confidence and helped the audience stay engaged. I also think that the organization of my speech was a strength because I was able to move from one point to another in an organised way so everyone could understand what I was trying to say. Something I can improve is the constant reading out of my paper and engaging more with the audience. I notice that I look down at my paper quite a lot which makes me lose connection with the audience and it makes everything look more scripted and less natural. Next time I want to try to rely less on my notes and focus on speaking more freely. One way I can do this is by practicing by putting just bullet points in a paper instead of full sentences.
While giving my speech, I was feeling very anxious and nervous at first, but after a while I got the hang of it. Once I felt relaxed and confident, I could hear myself speaking clearly and taking my time. I was giving myself a steady pace, and this helped me deliver an organized speech. I also think that my closing remarks were good as well. Ending a nerve wracking concept on a positive note made me feel better, but it could also make others feel better about themselves too, especially if they are new to public speaking. This made my emotions turn right around. Since I rehearsed my speech many times, it made me feel better overall. Although I had highlights in my speech, I do think there are some things to work on. I think that I can improve on making better eye contact with the audience. Instead of looking up, it is important to make eye contact with the audience so they understand what I am saying, and it shows that I want to connect with them as well. Overall, I feel that my speech was good for my first one, and after many more I think that I will grow as a public speaker.
Journal 3
Today we had our first presentation and from the moment I finished presenting I was already reflecting back on myself, as I’m sure many others were too. We had to do an outline of how we are as a public speaker and I can’t tell if I liked having an outline better than having to present using a general speech and reading off of that. What I found is I think I am leaning more towards the outline, and my reasoning is because it helped me keep my eyes up and off of my paper which was one of my struggles as a public speaker. Which I am so grateful for because I have already seen some type of difference in myself alone even if it’s something as small as that. One struggle that has been running through my mind was the fact that I didn’t speak on all the topics I wanted to touch up on because there was just so much going through my mind and trying to expect so much out of myself. I also found I was scrambling about things I didn’t need to touch base on but did because I felt my heart beating and beating that I just said whatever popped into my head. Although there are many more things I need to work on I think I did better than I thought I would have done, because I have noticed I have been gaining more confidence in myself which I have never had in the past. I also remind myself nothing is permanent and it is all how you put it into perspective and how you let it control your life.
After delivering speech 1, I was fairly happy with how it went; I spoke clearly, I received good feedback, and I (almost) made it through the entire speech without saying “um”. However, after seeing other people’s speeches, I realized that there were some things that I could have done better.
For example, most of the people presenting their speeches seemed to improvise the whole time, making it feel almost as if we were having a conversation. This kept me very engaged and interested in what they were saying. Some people even incorporated humor into their speeches, which I also admired. When I presented my speech, I pretty much just read what I had written, making it sound almost “robotic”. My goal for my next speech is to incorporate things into my speech that will make it more engaging for the audience.
Apart from that, I am very happy with how my speech went. When you (Mr. Miller) said that it was obvious that I’ve been involved in theater and other things that require public speaking, that was truly a huge compliment that I was so grateful to hear. I’m glad that I projected well and was clear about my experience in public speaking.
Although some of my speech didn’t go as well as I wish it would have, I still think that I did well and am proud of myself (along with the rest of the class) for gaining the confidence to say their speeches in front of the class.
Journal #3
Overall I think my speech went pretty well, I was expecting for it to go worse. I despise public speaking so I was very nervous to go in front of the class to do my first speech of the semester. During the speech I think I did good with eye contact. I was trying my best to look at everyone in the room and not look down at my paper for too long. I could definitely improve more on taking deep breaths before starting to feel nervous and calming down my body. During this speech I felt shaky and sick to my stomach. I was feeling this way because I was scared of the outcome of the speech and what others would think if I messed up or if I stuttered. I would also like to practice more, I feel like I didn’t practice as much as I should have. I did really like having the outline to use so I could use that which helped me a lot to not lose my train of thoughts and just to organize my thoughts. I really liked how everyone gave positive comments to all of the speeches, I appreciated the comments that others gave to me which made me feel better about my speech. The audience told me I seemed confident and made good eye contact which I really appreciated. I am proud of myself for doing a good job on the first speech but definitely have more improving to do this semester.