Speech evaluation #3 -Final ONE!!

This speech is a culmination of four months of hard work and preparations. From the first vulnerable presentations to the nit picky details and fluidity shown in the final presentations, I did not see just another speech, but I saw an evolution from myself. Throughout this particular speech I tried to keep in mind what I was passionate about. I kept in my mind those people who grew up with a lack of social skills. I gave this speech for them. Overall, I think I did a fair job of presenting my case to our class. It definitely could have been more persuasive. As far as comfort goes, I think I was more nervous about this speech more than any other speech I have done in class. The reason was because there was so much more information that had to be presented and supported by evidence. I had some doubt that I could present my knowledge in a way that could persuade and at the same time was logical in organization. Having been in this situation in the past, I knew how to handle myself. I did go overtime, but I kept my focus on finishing up my points in a concise manner.

In retrospect, there were several aspects of my presentation that could have been clearer. I wish that I had devoted more time to preparing the information and its evidence in a more persuasive manner. For much of the time, I felt like I was just throwing out information that my colleagues had to gobble up. I know that the logic of my argument was clear to me but I’m not sure I conveyed it persuasively enough to my friends. I think that the differences between this speech and last speech were that in my last one, I had too many confusing and complex topics that people had to comprehend. So, I think I did a better job at simplifying my arguments as much as I could. In this speech, I had a bit more control of my body movements and the speed of my voice.

I will admit that the comment I keep on getting from my peers is the lack of control of my hands and arms. A lot of people said that my arms were a big distraction to what I was presenting. I can admit that the reason that I overact these gestures is because I’m nervous. Hopefully, people could see the improvement from speech to speech. I calmed myself down and allowed my arms to relax more than in months past. My eye contact was involuntary this time around. I’m sure I looked at many different people. On a scale from 1 to 10, I would rate my eye contact a 7 because I didn’t have as much control of it as I would have liked.

I think that I am deserving of a “B” because I think that my speech could have been more polished. I presented great arguments, such as “social skills should be taught in schools so we can limit violence and death due to ignorance and stereotypes.” However, the lack of persuasive value in my delivery, and the fact that my audience was more or less seemed to not be convinced seemed like a downer in my eyes. My presentation was solid, but it did not get people to really believe what I was saying. Each of my last two speeches had good and bad tastes, however I think that this one was a little bit worst because I had trouble keeping within the time frame, and I did a mediocre job of completing my objective which was to persuade the audience. In my informative speech, I was on point, and I really felt I did a great job of informing my audience about NLP.

In my show, I mentioned five sources that backed up my main points. I think the use of sources from a variety of types ranging from newspapers and journals, to the internet really benefited my credibility. Out of all of the speeches, I think I performed my best work on the second speech. I had a comprehensive and complete outline. I had a week to practice the delivery and critique the final product, and I felt like it was a walk in the park. I did not even realize that I had given the speech until the end. I practiced so much that it felt like I was a spectator watching my own performance from a TV.

As a final thought, I want to say that my first speech was the funniest, the second was the best, and the third really taught me a lot on what I can improve on in the future. I know that my biggest problem is to control my frame, my body movements, and delivery. I will continue to improve in those areas. It has been a thrill to hone my skills in front of 25-30 of my friends, and I hope we can all take what we learned and use it to our advantage in our lifetime. Thanks again Carol and my classmates for the criticism and the help.

I'm going to take...

I'm going to take from this class... the fun times, lessons we have learned from mistakes in our speeches, and the spirits of the people who strive to better themselves because of this experience. I am definitely going to miss this class because of all the wonderful people I met. Even though we did not see each other day in and day out, In each one of my classmates eyes I saw human beings. I saw strengths and weaknesses. I give a shout out to all the people that were able to stick around to the end and really commit their time and effort to this class. Through all my speeches and throughout this semester, I noticed a change in my attitude towards life. I feel more confident when I’m with other people. My words and messages that I give off to people are more concise and in sync with what I’m thinking. In my own life I think that the helpful thing that I will take from this class is the tremendous amount of learning, effort, pain, and pleasure of learning a skill. Before this class, I was skeptical about my ability to give a speech, and now I can say that I have definitely made big strides towards conquering my fears of public speaking. Thank you.

Favorite Speech

I think my favorite speech was the first one because I think I really set the tone for the whole class. I loved going up there and speaking what I was passionate about. I absolutely love to entertain people. The demonstrative speech definitely gave me a chance to show my personality, my preparation, and that I am capable of giving a good show. I loved that the audience was so responsive and loving of what I had to say. I sure felt the nerves during that speech, but once all the words came out of my mouth, I felt like I was flying. After, I looked at myself in the video, I saw a new person. I saw a person that was confidence, cocky, and fun to hang around. I saw a person that inspired people with his words, and allowed people to share in his joy.

Concepts helpful in preparing speeches

I thought that the most important concepts I think that I thought was the most helpful were in the initial couple of chapters that stressed the practice and outlining of speeches. By structuring and setting up my speech, I was able to feel a lot more comfortable speaking my presentations. I think what also helped was the tips for calming nerves and anxiety. I really learned how to reframe my thoughts, control my breathing, and calm myself before, during, and even after the show. Definitely, the book outlined many ways in order to make the process easier. I felt when I went up there and prepared myself, the actual presentation was easy. When I properly prepared I felt like I had an out of body experience in that I was actually watching myself speak instead.

Linking claims to evidence.

In your speech you will be using different arguements types in order to prove a solid an specific claim or thesis. In the different speeches presented in chapter 15, each of the speakers weigh on the pros and cons of institutionalized schooling and home schooling. In one of the videos, a girl named Dixie uses claims and reasoning made by other sources including some quotes from these authors to support her thesis that home school is better than regular. In contrast, Robert uses his personal experiences and valued sources to support his claim that home schooling is actually a burden on parents and actually less effective than school institution. He uses the reasoning of current issues and articles to prove that the quality of information cannot be matched by what the typical parent can give to children. Overall, both speakers use sound reasoning to support the main points that each person has set out. They both use a mix of inductive and deductive reasoning to support their thesis's. I would actually believe both of their arguments if they were presenting in front of me. They connected with their audience simply on a logos and ethos level. Their speeches are a prime example of what should be put forth in our final essay.

Discussing Reasoning

So, during a speech or actually any presentation that has to do with the English language, the audience will have to decipher the different types of arguments such as deductive, inductive, causal, and analogical. So, arguements have a basic format. They all have premises with sets the stage for a conclusion. A deductive argument uses logic to unlock arguments. It is often straightforward and doesn't need a lot of support to be valid. A inductive argument is based on personal experiences... it's an argument that cannot be completely fact. It can only use supported evidence in order to make the argument stronger or weaker. Then there is causal which uses events that trigger other events in order to get to a conclusion. Finally, there is analogical which compares and contrasts two scenario and draws similarities in each of them.

Persuading someone about my point of view...

So, I have recently tried to persuade my best friend that it is easier to get a movie recommendation from a stranger by calling someone at their workplace rather than calling a household number. I used a bunch in inductive arguments which tried to support the claim by making it stronger and more probable. So some of the premises that I used were that since night time was getting earlier and earlier, we had fewer chances to call unknown people. I say that more people are inclined to responding to a request from a unfamiliar person if there is sun out and the world is visible rather than at night where it is dark and anything can happen. I also added that when you call some person at a place where people work, he or she is more inclined to answer any question because most workers that answer the phone almost always ask, "how can I help you?". So, for the most part I was able to convince him that it is probably more likely that a person working will give an honest and sincere answer rather than someone in their private space.