Sunday, October 4, 2009
Informative Speech- Self Critique- Did You Ever Notice
Please post your self critique of your informative speech here. I want you to address three improvements and three strengths. Comment with details. Please do not focus solely on delivery criteria. You have put a lot of time into researching, organizing, audience adaptation, visual aids, etc. Much of your speech happened outside of class when you delivered, so examine the speech criteria and provide a detailed self examination of your first speech. Also, please include a course of action on how you will begin to address your needed improvements for the second speech in this critique.
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Firstly, I would like to improve my physical stance during my delivery. I was fidgeting and crossing my legs and completely unaware of it. Secondly, for my speech content I would like to be more thorough and really feel confident in my speech material. Thirdly, I feel that I could have paid closer attention to citing my sources on my power point. Essentially I feel that if I had put more work into my speech I would have been better off all around (although I did put quite a bit of work into this).
ReplyDeleteIn terms of my strengths, I spoke loudly and clearly. I chose a good topic that I feel the audience enjoyed. Lastly, I did find some good information and quotes to help explain my topic.
I thought my thesis was fairly clear but after presenting I was not that sure. Also, I thought my story of how I am a mother with a child that loves Elmo would stand as credibility. Next time I will just use a quote because I want it to be clear that what I am saying is to establish credibility. I think the body of my speech was good and I remembered all my transitions which was a plus. I should have written more in the conclusion and set it up in a way that the audience knew that was the end. My visual aid as a memorable statement really got dragged down by lack of verbal support on my part.
For me, I feel that all my weaknesses here are due to not enough preparation. I feel that if I am confident in my material then I will be good. My topic made it hard to find a lot of information though so next time I will choose a broader topic.
I was happy to know that I did not appear to be as nervous as I felt. Much of this is a result of negative self talk. I completely psyched myself out, prior to my presentation. I am always listening to people say, they hate speaking in front of crowds; as a result, I have allowed myself to be convinced that public speaking is a negative and intimidating task.
ReplyDeleteIn my speech, I lacked proper citation (written and verbal), as well as, transitional words and phrases. Lacking these important structural foundations, my speech lacked organization and flow. In not properly citing my source, I lost creditability in my content and subject matter.
There are three things that I hope to address in the preparation of my next speech. I am not stating that I only need to improve on three things; on the contrary, my intent is to narrow my focus for my next speech to three points of improvement. I first need to have clearer transition written in my outline. This will aid me in remembering to verbally present a clearer transition from one idea to the next. Secondly, I will properly cite my sources in the outline, so I can use the written information to create a clearly stated conversational style citation. And lastly, I need to convince myself that public speaking, although a sore point for many, can and will be, a strong point for me.
I would love to appear less nervous. My hands always shake and I can't seem to get them to stop. Secondly, I also understand that I need to smile more. I guess it's because I'm so nervous. I also speak really fast whenever I'm giving a speech. If I'm speaking too fast, I don't think my message gets across very well. Especially if it's hard to keep up with what i"m saying. I'd like to improve on all of these. I guess I would just need to calm myself down more because I'm probably making myself more nervous that I need to be.
ReplyDeleteAs far as my strengths I think I had a lot of good sources, visual aids, and a well organized thesis. I also hope to keep these standard when I do future presentations.
I feel that I definitely prepared myself for my speech. I was less nervous because of this. However, I still feel anxious (like everyone does) before I have to speak publicly.
In my speech I did not think i was nervous. As soon as i got up in front of everyone i defintely felt my nerves. I did to concentrate on keeping both my feet on the ground. Also i need to stick by the 6 by 6 rule on my powerpoint presentation and keep it simple. I should not have so many words on the powerpoint.
ReplyDeleteSome of my strong points in my presentation were that my powerpoint pictures were very strong and I did get my poinr across. I did make contact with my audience. I also spoke loudly and clearly ro everyione.
The first speech was really nerve racking but now i know what I need to improve on. The next speech I think if i practice just a little more to an audience i will do a lot better.
I knew my first informative speech was potentially in jeopardy from the start. I was indecisive while choosing a topic, and kept going back and forth on several various topics. I finally settled on a speech describing the value and power of nonverbal communication. One weakness right from the beginning stages was the lack of fully settling on a topic and running forward with it. As a result, I lost time that could have been spent getting to know my speech thoroughly and working on the delivery. This is an area I need to improve on and I will address it from now on by brainstorming about potential speech topics as soon as our future speeches are assigned.
ReplyDeleteThe second area in which I need to improve is in how much I write on the index cards I use to assist with my speech. In the prior public speaking course I took as a freshman, it was mandatory to write every word on the cards we held in front of us in just about every speech we delivered. Thus, this is all I have ever known in public speaking and assumed it was the same in this class. I now also know that the maximum limit is fifty words, instead of fifty words per card. I relied way too much on the cards while giving my speech due to nervousness and losing my train of thought from one idea to the next. Instead of as a jump-start, I used the index cards as a teleprompter. Next time, I will remember that the index cards are only to trigger thoughts and to write source/reference information. Although it may be tough to not have my entire speech written on the cards, I will train myself out of this habit.
A third improvement that I can make is in the outright delivery of my speech. According to the student who critiqued me, though I did speak loudly, not everything that was said during the entire speech was clear. I believe this was due to me looking down at and reading off the index cards at several points throughout the speech, therefore causing me to mumble at times. Cutting down and not having to rely so heavily on the cards should easily improve this fault. I believe that simply taking the time to practice my speech a few times by myself and a few times in front of a group of people will help me to speak in an understandable manner in front of the class.
In terms of strengths, I believe I exhibited at least three in this first speech. For one, when I finally did settle on a topic, it was one that was audience-centered: everyone uses nonverbal communication throughout their lives, whether they know it or not. Secondly, I had a strong, organized outline that consisted of a clear thesis, preview, and conclusion. In addition, my Attention Getter got some smirks from the audience and my Memorable Statement was relatable to the common student. A third strength was my use of a clear and easy to read PowerPoint slideshow as a visual aid to assist the presentation. Now if I can just figure out how to work the handheld clicker (used to advance the slides) on the first try, I'll be all set as far the visual aid side of the speech is concerned.
I was definitely way more nervous than i needed to be in my first informative speech, especially since i talked about a topic that i am so familiar with. I need to work on my eye contact and not looking down at my notecard or my power point. For the next speech, i will either use no notecard or write down my citations and main points only. I will be talking about a much more comfortable subject for our next speech so i should certainly feel more confident. Another problem i encountered with my speech was that i didn't "feel" ready to deliver my speech and i felt a little pressured to be the next person to go so i think that is what made me so nervous up there. I realized there really is nothing to fear, since i was well prepared with having my ideas and outline perfected, but mentally i wasn't prepared to deliver that day. I am confident that this next speech will be a great improvement as long as i can keep my mind right. I seriously just need to calm down and enjoy this next speech because i am excited about sharing my passion with everyone. Hopefully with a little confidence boost, it will help me deliver more effectively
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