Reflections

Group Reflection

I felt that the group presentation went really well. There were a few things that could have gone better, like the video clips loading faster, but that was out of our control. I also felt like I could have memorized my material better because I felt like I was looking at my note cards and the computer more than I should have. I am not happy with the grade we received because I think our presentation was good. Next time I will have my speech memorized better and I think when I do that I will feel more comfortable in front of the class. This speech I was a little bit nervous but that was more because I was still unsure of all the material I was speaking about. On the next speech I also plan to practice it a few times so it helps with the memorization and the ideas don’t feel so new to me.

Persuasive Speech Reflection

I think my persuasive speech went really well. It was hard for me to think of something to talk about, but I do think that talking about getting out and voting was a good idea after I did it. I think that the class reacted to my opener because there was a feeling of ‘oh man what is she going to say next’. I think that it was a great opener because I did get a reaction out of people and they were interested by that. I felt that I was the best prepared for this speech out of all of my speeches. I was not nervous and it was a good thing that I forgot who I was going after because then I didn’t think about when I had to present. When I was in front of the class I also walked around a little bit which I thought was good because it took the stress off standing in the same place the whole time, plus then I presented to the whole class and not just the people in the middle.

Next time I will have my speech even better memorized and my nervousness will be even less. It’s crazy how having your speech memorized takes a lot of pressure off of you. Also, for my next speech I will make better eye contact than I did with this speech. Other than that I enjoyed this speech and I felt that it went well and it was interesting learning all the statistics that are involved with voting.

Reflection Paper on Speech 2

I think my second speech went well. I was a little bit nervous, but the topic was unfamiliar so I was not as confident as I should have been. I noticed that I had to look at my note cards more than I had to on the first speech. I think it was a good topic to speak about because it is something that happens to a lot of college students and they need to be informed about it. I need to work on standing still in front of the class, I caught myself standing on my tiptoes a few times which is distracting to an audience. Next time I am going to work on being able to stand still. I am also going to memorize my material better so that I will not have to use my note cards as often. With that, I do not want to put as much information on my note cards so I will have to memorize the material more. I did have a few slip ups in my speech and I need to take more time to speak slowly and enunciate so that my words do not sound like a mess. Other than those few changes I plan to make for my next speech I feel that I gave a good speech over something that is very relevant in college life.

Reflection on Speech 1

I felt my speech went very well. It seemed that I kept the class’ attention because the eye contact was great when I would look up at different people. The class was very responsive to what I was saying. My projection was good and I think I did a good job of not saying ‘um’. I think the process I used to deliver my speech worked well and it was well organized. I was not terribly nervous; I was more worried about going over my time limit than anything. I did have one person say that they think my way of being nervous is by getting excessively bubbly. I try to keep a happy face to engage the audience, if you are not excited about your subject no one else will be, that’s how I see it. If I could do it over I would stand away from the podium because using the podium is a crutch for many people. I think I did do well not leaning on the podium though.

My goal for the next speech is to be a little bit calmer because being overly excited about a subject could be distracting to some people. I just need to tell myself to breath and relax a little bit and just speak to the class. I think if I psych myself up I will be calmer and more relaxed.

I also need to not rely on my note cards so much. My goal for the next speech is to have the majority of it memorized so I don’t have to look down so often. The only thing I want to have to worry about putting on my note cards is the introductory and conclusion so I can get that right.

I think the organization of this speech was great. I want to keep concentrating on good organization so that people will be able to follow what I’m saying and talking about.

What Do I Want?!

Part of why I am taking this course is to fulfill one of my general education requirements. But I also am taking this class so I can improve many things about my public speaking. I am a very confident person and I love speaking in front of people and I feel that I speak well in front of them. I do think that this class will help me to better both of these skills that are required to be a good speaker. One day I would like to be a lobbyist or politician in Washington D.C. and I know that if I am not a good speaker that will never happen and I will not be taken seriously if I cannot speak well. So those are some skills that I am hoping that I can improve and take away from this class.

Aristotle

As an orator, the material I am going to speak about must be well prepared. I also must be confident in what I am speaking about and know the material. Another thing an orator must have in order for the audience to believe what is being said is confidence in one's self. Without confidence I believe that the audience can sense the lack of it and will in turn not be responsive to the oration. Along with confidence comes eye contact with the audience. Eye contact creates a powerful impact on the audience member making them more vulnerable to the words coming from the speakers mouth so eye contact is a must. Passion is something that makes an audience care about what is being said also. If the orator is passionate about the speech she is giving the audience is more likely to care about the speech.