Favorite Speech

My favorite speech was the first one. I know that might be a little strange but it really helped me not only get to know my self but my classmates as well. Because of the first speech, even though it was relatively short and sweet,  I got to see on what level of public speaking I was and the main things that I needed to work on. Of course in the beginning of the semester I did have a little trouble getting out in front of the class and presenting, and I can not say that it went away fully towards the end, but it got a lot better. I also like that from the first speech to the last, you can see the great improvement that everybody made and what peoples strengths and weaknesses are when it comes to getting in front of a classroom. All in all, it was a great semester and I really enjoyed it.

Self-Evaluation

Before I got up to do my speech I was much more confident in my head and I was prepared to deliver my speech fantastically and just have everything be so interesting and amazing, until I got up to present, it was not  an issue. As I got up there, it wasn’t the thought that I was scared of the people, it was more of a scared to disappoint and get a bad grade on this assignment. Well when I got there, my note cards that I had prepared blurred in my eyes and what seemed to be something I had very meticulously organized, seemed to be wrong or not in the right order.

1). How well do you think you achieved the purpose of your speech?

The purpose of my speech was to deliver it in a way that would interest people and even though it may not impact somebodies life, it was meant to inform about a current interesting subject that is part of our planet and where we live.

2). How comfortable and confident did you feel during the speech?

I did not feel comfortable or confident, I have an issue with that and it might take a while to get over it.

3). If you had to do it over again, what changes would you make in

preparation, support, organization or delivery?

I would have made my slides a little less and more info that would provide a better understanding of what is being presented. I would also try to practice more so that I can deliver a fast effective speech without talking too much.

4). What one goal do you have for improving the content in your next speech?

Do more extensive research to provide information that is brand new for most of the audience sitting and listening. Also I will try to be a bit more organized with my note cards.

5). What one goal do you have for improving the delivery in your next speech?

Since the next speech is a really short one, and not only that speech but the persuasive also, I will try to get more practice with presenting the speech.

6). What specifically was different from your last speech? BOTH good and

bad?

The good things are that I didn’t totally get lost and I tried to do a little more eye contact and the bad things are that I read a lot of the PowerPoint.

7). Did you do anything distracting? Was this an improvement from your last

speech?

The distracting thing I did was to use word fillers such as uhm. I used them so that I would not get lost at what I was talking about and it helped me get my things organized so that I could read the information correctly on the cards.

8). How would you rate your eye contact on a scale from 1-10?

About a 4. I have a hard time making eye contact with people and even though I am still learning how to make eye contact, I try not to look really long at a person. So it was hard for me to kind of focus.

9). On a scale from A to F, what grade would you give yourself based on your

performance? Why? Use specific examples.

I think I got what I deserved. A b-. I got that grade because of a lot of the word fillers and the huge pause I made to find what song we were about to sing.

10). How many source citations did you mention during the course of your

speech? (Please watch the video and count how many times you

mentioned your sources).

I mentioned my sources at least three different times. I either gave the name of the person or stated the website I found it on.

11). Was this speech better than your last speech? Why or why not?

I think that it was much better than out last one because on the other speech I gave I was not prepared at all and with the jokes I made kind of messed up my train of thought and the first one was just a chaos.

Presentation Media

I don’t ever remember going to a public event that had speakers come out and present their information with a presentation. Actually now, thinking about it, I have but it was all based on high school things. I was in Business Academy and we had many speakers and city councilmen come to talk about business and such things. I would say that most speeches should be accompanied by a visual aid because not only does it give the person who is listening an idea of what the speaker is talking about, it keeps the speaker a chance not to totally sway off topic. Since I don’t have a story to talk about with a speaker that was using presentation media, I will use a popular one that is on the internet. Many people know the show Ted. In these videos where they are talking about very interesting stuff, they use presentation media. It keeps the speaker on track, makes the speech very interesting, and gives visual examples of what is being talked about. Personally I do not think that presentation media is something that distracts unless it is very obnoxious. I really like the Ted presentations, I think if speeches were given in that style, it would probably always be an event that everyone looks forward to.

Altered Images

There are many ways and opportunities that the internet and many programs that are available almost anywhere that give us a chance or possibility to alter how no only how we or someone else looks  like, but information that could benefit us as well, such as audio tapings, videos, and songs. What I mean is that it is possible to take trusted information and alter it so that it fits our needs and presents something that could persuade someone to think that what is presented is true. There are so many cases in which there is a lot of “evidence” brought against a person and it could ruin the person socially, mentally, financially, morally, etc. As an ethical person, even if there are a million ways you can alter the truth of the presentation, you shouldn't.  Not only because it is unethical but it could obviously come back around and bite you in the you know what. As it is said, what goes around, comes around. Also, when you are preparing for a speech, make sure that the information you are presenting is positively right and comes from a trusted source so that something altered and untrue does not get spread around.

Speech Buddy!!!

The first video explained how to get an introduction ready. The main thing is the attention getter. According to the video it should be a surprising fact or statistic, an interesting story, or some humor. The other things you need to do in order to have a good introduction is to establish a purpose and the thesis, and the third thing is to preview the main points.

The second video went over how to set up a good conclusion. The conclusion is as important as the introduction and has to be solid. There are three main parts to a great conclusion. It is review of the main points, reinforcement of purpose, and providing closure.

The rest of the videos were examples of speeches and as I was paying attention to the speeches introduction and conclusions I really liked it, I can take a lot of information and learn because I have to admit that my intros and conclusions are not that great and these videos are helping me a lot.

Happy Intro and conclusion to you!!

The main points that were outlined which help get the introduction  written out was to get your audience’s attention, consider the purpose of your speech, watch out for the time, be creative, use common attention getters, get a thesis together, establish credibility, preview main points. The conclusion consists of reviewing main points, reinforcing the purpose, providing closure. It does branch out and go into a lot of detail of what exactly sits behind each topic. I will be able to use this for my informative speech because I usually get either stuck when I am writing out the intro and conclusion or I go way off subject and get off track because I am not really sure of the outline.

                My intro will probably be something like this. Have you ever seen a picture that looked so weird but fascinating at the same time? When I saw pictures of unusual deep sea creatures, I was captivated by the weirdness of how they look. Etc. Of course it will be much better when I actually work it all out.

My Conclusion is definitely not worked out yet but it would probably go like this. Unusual sea creatures are very interesting and are definitely unique to this world. Who they are, what they do and what they eat are part of their remarkable selves. Etc. 

Giving the Facts and Statistics!!

I think the best times to give facts and statistics are when you are either trying to prove a point, or make somebody aware of something. The only way that it works is if you can find information that will back up your speech. It is also a good idea to use facts and statistics is when you want to present an idea. Even though you may not be able to give facts and statistics about the “idea” itself, you may use facts and statistics to give the audience an idea of what could be. Thinking about it, most speeches would benefit from facts and statistics.

Giving facts and statistics would not be a good idea if you were presenting your opinion. But then thinking about it, you would need to find facts and statistics to back your opinion up. Maybe you would not need facts and statistics in your speech if what you were talking about is general knowledge, other than that, I can’t think of anything.