Blog #4
March 8, 2015
A) Describe your process of preparing your first formal speech for C&C.
The process of preparing for my first formal speech was admittedly a little difficult. I found it was pretty hard to take such a long essay and condense it into three minutes. It was even harder to try to make sure that those three minutes would be informative, worthwhile, and also entertaining. Having to adapt my essay into a speech that people should be able to easily understand was the hardest part of this formal speech. The easiest part, in my opinion, was creating the visual aid portion of my presentation. Since I worked extensively in high school with both Powerpoint and Prezi.
B) First re-read the 3M Formal Speech Feedback Form and then download and watch the video recording of your speech.
I feel like I could have done a better job with eye contact. Although I tried to make it a point to be as connected with the audience as possible, I feel like I could and should have done a better job. One thing I noticed that I liked about my presentation, though, was that I wasn’t as dependent on my notes/visual aids as I thought. Even though my Prezi went dark a few minutes in, I felt like I did a good job of recovering and moving forward without my visual aid. Overall, watching the video shows me that I perhaps did a better job than I gave myself credit for.
C) What were the most and least successful aspects of your speech?
The most successful aspect of my speech, in my opinion, was the fact that I felt well-prepared. I was organized enough to know what to do when things went wrong and although it’s impossible to be prepared for everything, I’m glad that I practiced and rehearsed my speech as much as I did. The least successful aspect of my speech was my time. I went over the time limit by almost 2 minutes. Since the purpose of this speech was to get us to think about how we could condense our information, I feel like I should have done a lot better at this.
D) What did you learn from viewing your classmates’ presentations?
I learned several things from watching my classmates’ presentations. For example, I witnessed several different presentation styles that seemed effective. Some people’s choice to wear the clothing or items that they discussed in their speeches was an effective idea. Also, some classmates’ interaction with the audience was also something that I may choose to imitate in the future.