Self Evaluation #3

I watched two of my videos, not three since the second speech of mine was not taped, due to make-ups.  I will be comparing these two, was well as evaluating the persuasive speech.  The first speech is the cultural Artifact speech, which was on the Barbie Doll, and her being an icon in America.  The second speech was the persuasive speech where I persuaded my audience to believe that home schooling was not the best option for a child’s education. 

            For my persuasive speech I think I persuaded my audience very well.  Their feedback was good, and it seemed as thought they got my message and I persuaded them.  I think I felt fairly comfortable during my final presentation.  Taking the three deep breaths right before presenting really helped.  I also felt more comfortable presenting because I felt as though I grasped the Monroe’s motivational sequence. 

            There are a few changes I would make if I had to present again.  One thing I would change in preparation would be to practice in front of an audience, more than I did.  I would also change in the delivery of my speech, to make sure I did not skip any slides, like I did during my presentation.  I would also write less on my note cards, that way I would rely less on them, and more on memorization. 

            Compared to my last speech there were differences, that was both good and bad.  One difference was that I spoke louder, and with more confidence in my persuasive speech, than I did in my cultural artifact speech.  I said “umm” a lot and sounded less sure of myself during the very first speech, compared to the last one.  The bad thing I did this time, that I didn’t do last was that I skipped slides this time around, which I didn’t on the Cultural Artifact.  I also met the minimum time requirement during the informative speech.  I did do a few distracting things during the persuasive speech.  I scratched my back, which was very noticeable, and made me have awkward body language.  This was only in the beginning of the speech however.  This was an improvement form last time.  During the cultural artifact speech my legs were crossed the entire time, and I was not standing up straight.

            If I had to rate my eye contact on a scale of 1-10 I would rate myself a 7.  I tried to think to myself to constantly make eye contact during the presentation.  But sometimes I glanced at my note cards too long.  I did try to only read off the note cards when needed, such as reading direct quotes.  On a scale of A to F I would give myself a C+ because I was short on time, and read off the cards too much.  I also skipped slides, showing a poor organization.  This speech was not better than my last.  I felt they were pretty much the same except that, they minimum time was not met on the persuasive speech, but it was on the cultural artifact speech. 

            During the course of my speech I mentioned three citations.  Based on all three speeches, I think I did my best on the first one.  I was most prepared and felt the most confident.   I also met majority of the requirements for this speech.  Although I don’t have a video for my second speech I know I didn’t do well on it.  I was too confident o the topic; therefore, I did poorly during the presentation.  On the persuasive speech, I was just a little weaker in some areas as in attention getter, and preview of main points, which is why I think I did better on the very first speech; which is the cultural artifact speech, on Barbie.

What I will take from this class

This class taught me quite a few things that I will take with me for my next classes, and future work presentations.  I will remember tips that were given for each type of speeches there are, especially for the after dinner speeches, this is because it the most relevant to me.  I will also remember to always plan out what I will say, especially with the power points, and to practice it all together.  I am sure I will have to do other presentations with PowerPoint sometime in my future career.  I will also take the different ways to do outlines, and keep in mind if I do an outline, it will be easier in the long run when it comes to completing the presentation.

most favorite speech

 Looking back at the three speeches we did in this class, I think that the first speech we did was my favorite.  This was the informative speech, where we could pretty much talk about everything.  I chose Barbie since she has a huge background, and the audience was fairly familiar with her.  Although they were familiar with her, I think I still taught them things they didn’t know.  I feel as though this speech was a favorite because I was really into it, and was the most prepared for this presentation.  I also felt the most confident during this speech, which I think showed as well.  

What helped me prepare the most

 I think that the concept from class that helped me best prepare for the speeches were the outlines.  After the first one I realized how important it is to have an outline because it really did plan your speech, you didn’t have much left to do after writing the outline, except for practicing it.  I also felt that practicing the speech in front of others and getting their feed back, after you have already presented did help me for my next speech too.  This helped because I could add in what I forgot to when I originally did it.  It also reinforces that you do need to practice in front of an audience prior to the presentation, and get their feed backs for improvement for the next speech.

persuaded conversation

 I recently had a discussion about whether or not a person should or should  not get a piercing.  They wanted their dimples pierced and I believe it is not the safest thing to do, But they are very persistent about it.  I told them to do extensive research on it.  They are uninformed audience because they do not know the risk factors of the piercing.  I basically scared them into not doing it.  That was the reasoning I used for them, basically scaring the crap out of them.  The results are that they listened to what I had to say about the negatives of it, and they decided not to do it after all.

Chapter 16 interests

I found chapter sixteen interesting, this chapter is about speaking in special occasions.  It gives different tips for each type of speeches.  Some of these speeches include; after-dinner speeches, award presentations, tributes and eulogies.  The tips for  after-dinner speeches are to be entertaining and light hearted.  These speeches usually include jokes or humor.  It also says to focus on a theme.  They should have some type of point to them.  For acceptance speeches the speaker should be thankful and humble.  Thank the people who helped you succeed.  I hate it when people on award shows go on and on about it though.. I mean sum it up!  The next tip is to be succinct; get to the point.  According to the text, in the Webby awards, accepting speakers are only allowed five words.  I think all accepting speakers should have a limit on how much they can talk for.

Chapter 15 videos

Both of the speech buddy videos were helpful to me.  It was even more helpful that one of them is on my topic.  I found this useful because I could see how he intrigued the audience, making them want to listen more although the topic may not directly affect them.  In the pro video, she had a good pitch to her voice.  She announced her authority, her positions and solutions.  She told the audience she was going to prove something to them.  Her visual was what if we went into public school and didn't know if we would come out alive.  This gave me a clear visual to what her position was on pro home schooling.  She gave quotes, and you could tell she was very knowledgeable on her topic.  In the con video, he gives a good introduction. He told the audience that all came from different backgrounds of schooling, which was a reason for them to want to listen.  He is very interested in his topic, making me want to listen even more.  He asked questions to his audience which I really liked.  I learned a lot from these videos for my persuasive speech.   And I learned many new ways to organize the speech as well.