Joanna Guo - Info speech

In preparing for the speech, I realized how reliant I was on writing out the entire speech--I'm used to doing that, and it's quite difficult to change the habit. It's hard for me to practice a speech without completely writing it out, and I am always worried about whether the phrasings are understandable, since no phrasing is planned. It was frustrating not having the handy-dandy help of a script.

Another thing I learned is that 5-7 minutes is actually a very short time for a speech. I had to cut down my speech extensively and remove some of the more scientific concepts because they took too long to explain. I feel that my speech ended up becoming very basic, and even then, I was almost maxing out on timing.

For the speech, I did better than I expected. Usually whenever I speak for longer than a couple sentences, my voice starts to quiver and I try to fit as many words into one breath as possible and end up running out of air. This causes awkward stops. However, this time, I didn't do it.

Additionally, I realized I tend to say a lot of "umm," "so," and "like." During the speech, I also realized that sometimes I kept on wanting to say "and," even though I didn't have anything else to say, causing me to have to end the sentence awkwardly with a "and...yumm, yeah." Another problem I noticed was that I moved my feet around too much. When I get nervous (and I don't know why), I unconsciously start trying to balance on the heals of my shoes. Overall, I need to be more aware of my movements and gestures.

Introduction Reflection Blog

I know many people find public speaking very intimidating but I am very comfortable speaking in front of groups. However, when I went up to speak, I found myself more nervous that I anticipated. I think part of the reason that I am more nervous in front of this group in particular is that there are plenty of familiar faces for me in the class and I am used to speaking/performing in front of complete strangers.  Because I was more nervous than I anticipated, I think I talked much faster and finished my speech too quickly. The content of this speech was much easier than any other speech I've given considering it was just telling the class a little about myself which obviously involves no memorization.
On my next speech, I think I will practice in my room with a timer beforehand. I think another thing I have to work on is my body language because I feel like I either forget to use my hands at all or I wave them around too much. I think a good idea would be to practice in front of a mirror to make sure my body language looks natural. Also, I think I will have more direction on what to talk about in my next speech rather than having to think about what the class would find interesting about me.

Introductory Speech Reflection

Naturally, I get very nervous and anxious when speaking in front of others, so taking this class was a big jump for me. While writing my introduction speech, I felt my nerves reacting when thinking about soon presenting it in front of the whole class. I was pleasantly surprised, however, as it felt more comfortable than expected. Luckily, I had quite an eventful summer so I was able to tell the class about that, in hopes of giving them something to associate myself with.
While this speech was very short, it was interesting to hear individuals in the class share their own reflections and introductions of themselves. I feel as though I was able to learn a little something about everyone in the class. I look forward to the future speeches in this course, and hope to conquer my speaking fears one speech at a time!

Introduction Speech

I really enjoyed creating and delivering my introduction speech. Through this process I learned how little time one minute is to introduce yourself. When I was creating my speech and deciding what I had time to talk about, I realized that I was going to have to an extreme abridged version of my life story and what I felt was important for the class to really get to know me. I really like giving this introduction speech because I felt it was a good speech to start off with considering the thing you know best in this world is yourself. This made it very easy to know what to talk about because even if you forgot exactly what you wanted to say, there are so many things that you know that you can talk about. My speech topic was important to me because in order to know me I felt that the class needed to know a little bit about my life and what is important to me with in my life like my family and friends.

I felt that I did a decent job on the delivery of my speech but I also feel like I have a lot of improvements that can be made. I did know what I was saying and thought by going in chronological order it kept my speech organized, which were both positive things. But I felt like I should have started with an introduction of what I was going to touch on and also had a conclusion that would wrap everything up and tie everything together. Another thing I felt like I could have improved on was the speed that I was talking at. I felt like I did get a little nervous so I did speed up my talking rate. But all and all this was a good way to start off my experience with this public speaking class.

Introduction Speech Reflection

Reflection

When it comes to public speaking I’ve always found that there is something specific about standing in front of a group of people and talking that brings me comfort. I can’t lie and say that I get extremely nervous and/or I have stage fright. What is important to note however is that I also can’t lie and say that I am extremely calm, cool, and relaxed. The introductory speech that I gave in class was one of the first times in a while that I stood in front of an audience and had to give a speech. Although the speech was extremely short and it was in regards to myself, something I’m comfortable talking about, I found myself feeling a bit nervous and rushing through my words a bit.

Standing in front of an audience at times you might feel like you’re doing a great job when in reality the audience might feel the opposite. In order for me to be able to fully evaluate myself, I had one of my classmates record me while I was giving my speech so that I can improve better. One thing that I do feel as if I did right was the fact that I made great eye contact with the class and tried to engage them into what I was saying. A habit that I usually have when speaking is that I speak a lot with my hands and at times hold my hands in an awkward position, which translates over to the audience as me not being confident.  I need to definitely work on my posture because these are all things that will either increase or decrease audience’s engagement with my speech.

I must say that this was one of the easier speeches for me not only because it was about myself but also because I’ve had such a busy year that I had a lot of information to pick from in regards to my speech. With that being said, however I need to be careful to not ramble and transition from idea to idea smoothly. Overall I am well aware that I have a lot to learn from this course but as of where I currently stand I must say it’s a good starting point.

Introductory Speech Reflection

I really enjoyed the introductory speech for many different reasons. First, I thought it was interesting to learn about all of my fellow classmates and their passions and backgrounds. Seeing everyone speak and learning a little bit more about who is in my class has made me feel more comfortable in the classroom. In addition, I liked the introductory speech because it gave me a taste of what to expect for the rest of the year. I wasn't sure how I would feel being in a public speaking class, but now have realized that I am excited for this opportunity to grow and be more comfortable in front of an audience.

This topic was actually challenging for me. It was hard to decide what aspects of myself I wanted to share with the rest of the class. After some debate, I decided to discuss my summer. I think one of the most challenging aspects of this course will be to pick a topic I'm passionate about. Once I figure out my topics I think the rest will be easier.

Intro Speech Reflection

I enjoyed the introduction speech very much. I found writing the speech easier than most speeches I have written before because the topic was speaking about myself and there was no research necessary. With not many friends in the class, I saw it as an opportunity to introduce myself to everyone for the first time and to allow them to get to know who I am. I tried to include the most important things about my life including my background and goals, while keeping it interesting and engaging for the audience.

Delivering the speech was different from how I imagined. Going later than most students, I began to get anxious to deliver it and felt that my content wasn't as good as some of the prior students. I told myself to speak slowly and maintain focus while giving my speech. I realized about halfway through my speech that I hadn't been using my hands and that I had consistently began to speak faster and faster. Being wary of these things will definitely help me going forward to be a better speaker and know how to cater to my audience.

Introduction Speech - Reflection

Overall I believe that my first speech went well. It was not very difficult to prepare for, since I think I know myself pretty well. I did not practice very much, but did write down a few notes for myself incase I got stuck on anything. I think that for a first assignment, it was not as scary as I thought it would be. Speaking in front of the class was a little nerve wrecking, but the environment is very safe and helped calm my nerves. When I realized that everyone was feeling the same way as me, it definitely brought things into perspective.

The hardest part was trying to decide what I thought would be the most interesting things to share with the class about myself in such a short amount of time. I did not want my speech to be too generic, but also felt that I had to include some of the generic/basic points about myself that everyone else was mentioning. In terms of delivery, I think that I was pretty confident in my speech. I tried not to fidget too much, and made a conscious effort to maintain eye-contact with the class. I think the hardest part of delivering the speech was trying to stay in the proper time frame. Self-timing is tricky, and it is something I hope to get better at throught the semester.

intro speech

I felt relieved that our very first speech assignment was on the topic that we know the best - ourselves. 

I was brainstorming ideas on what exactly I wanted to talk about and a lot of the approach I took in preparation was from what I learned in COMM 375. My professor, Paula Woodley taught the class about how to put together a successful and coherent presentation and I derived a lot from the techniques that she taught the class. 

Since this speech was only one minute long (90 seconds max), it did not require a lot of content; in fact I needed to keep it very concise and simple as possible. Because of the short length, it was easier for me to quickly recall the things that I wanted to touch on. I was also less nervous about leaving things out because there was not a whole lot of detail. 

Overall, I thought that my speech went pretty well. I touched on everything I wanted to share with the class. I felt that I could have been more concise and to the point; there was a bit of rambling but that may be because I lacked practice. 

Introductory Speech - Jeffrey Cox

The introductory speech was rather short, so it is difficult to go into an in-depth analysis concerning the strengths and weaknesses of the speech.  To be quite honest, I do not believe I learned much from the speech.  It was extremely short and based on my own life, so no research was required.  I have made several speeches in the past and this speech would rank as the easiest speech I have ever made.  I think it took me about as long to prepare for the speech as it took me to deliver the speech.  I simply thought of 3 or 4 things about myself and my life I thought my classmates would be interested in.  There was no need to practice, other than a couple of runs through to gauge what I could say about each bullet point on my list and still come in under the time limit.  For example, one item on my list was "family."  I did not need to practice speaking about my family, I know I have a wife, two daughters, and a son.  I also obviously know their ages.  Judging from past conversation with others about my current profession, I knew people are often fascinated when I tell them I work as a private investigator, so I assumed my classmates would be interested in that as well.  I decided to think of a single case that my audience would enjoy hearing about, and judging from the reaction when I spoke about the wrongfully convicted man in Colorado I assisted a team of investigators and attorneys with in obtaining his freedom, I picked the right story to tell.

I thought I did a few things well in addition to choosing the right work-related case to bring up.  When speaking about my family I thought I made good use of a couple of pauses.  I spoke of my two daughters and gave their ages ... one at a time.  I have a 27-year-old daughter, a 20-year-old daughter (pause), and a 4-year-old son.  Then I paused again, and said something about him obviously not being planned (just two more years and we would've had the house to ourselves ... instead, we hit the reset button ... ugh).  But going back to the pauses, they helped interject some humor into my speech.  I also think I spoke clearly and loud enough to where everybody could easily hear me.

I do think I could've improved in a couple of areas as well.  While I did scan around the room attempting to make eye contact with the audience, I think it was somewhat superficial.  I do not recall ever making direct eye contact with anybody.  It was more about simply moving my head to give the impression I was making eye contact, but I do not believe I ever did make eye contact with anybody.

Intro Speech

      In the introductory speech I learned that it was much easier to prepare for this speech because all I had to do was to talk about myself. I did not have to go to any other sources other than myself. I also chose to speak about my journey of doing very nontraditional sports to paint a picture of who I am. I felt that it was an appropriate topic because it taught so much about myself. It is also a very big part of my life, so I chose to talk about that in this speech.

     I felt like the bullet points for my speech were good. I kept the phrases short and concise. I didn't write long sentences which I wanted to do in the beginning. I felt pretty good about my speech the night before. However, when it was time for me to actually speak in front of my class, I froze up. I felt that I did not take my time with each topic, and I also felt like I just sped through most of my points. I definitely need to work on slowing down and not rushing through the topics. I also need to work on being more relaxed. I felt very tense while I was up there. I also felt like I was under one minute which was not what I wanted.

     Overall, I enjoyed this speech, but I wish I wasn't so nervous. I also really enjoyed hearing everyone's speech. I liked learning about my classmates and how they chose to talk about themselves. I hope to learn more about everyone as the semester goes on.

Julia Tseng

Reflection on Intro Speech

Preparing for the introductory speech was easy because all I had to do was pick a hobby or an interesting fact about me and talk about it. It was also easy because it didn't require any research or memorization for that matter since it was something that came from inside as opposed to a current event or something like that. But actually doing it was harder than expected because one minute is much less than I thought.
I chose to talk about the cultural differences between USA and Brazil because that is something that affected me a lot when I came here and it also made me grow as a person as I was faced with cultural challenges.  This speech taught me that breathing is very important during the speech and something I need to work on next time.
First, I couldn't seem to get rid of irrelevant or not-so-important details about what I was talking about to get it down to one minute. It was hard to choose which information was more important for the audience that didn't know me at all. Therefore this is definitely something I need to work on so I don't loose points for going over the time limit due to details that sometimes make the speech too complicated or long. I need to understand that its better to choose one or two key points and inform only the necessary details about them.
I don't have a problem asking questions or saying stuff in class but I get nervous when I have to go to the front of the class to talk. For a second I blanked and forgot what I was talking about and I also tend to speak faster, so I need to learn how to pace myself. Therefore I need to work on my nervousness  jitters for the next speech since its gonna be much longer and on a topic that needs much more preparation.
Overall the speech went well but here's some stuff I need to work on for the next one to be even better. 

Intro Speech - Robin Hansel

Picking out items from my life to talk about was harder than I expected. Obviously I know myself pretty well, and summarizing 21-years of life in 60 seconds seems inadequate. However, there isn't a lot of information that is really that interesting to those who don't know me. I tried to relate it to the class and talk about USC and how I ended up there, but I am looking forward to other speeches as a chance to discuss a more interesting topic.

My speech ended up being less than a minute. I believe this is for two reasons. The first is simply that I talk fast when I'm nervous. The second reason, however, is that I believe I actually became more clear and concise. This may mean I need to practice more to get to that point before I give the speech in class, but it may also mean that a little pressure helps me to perform and stay focused.

            Our first in-class speech was an introductory speech about ourselves, a topic that I am happy to say that I didn’t have to do much research on. In preparation for the speech, I read over the guidelines, made a note of the directions and any suggestions that I should consider. I especially liked that Cynthia put down certain questions that we should think of when preparing for our speech, because it helped me construct the things I wanted to talk about. I thought it was especially important to keep in mind that I didn’t know anyone in the class, give or take a few people, and that we were only given a minute to speak, so it was vital that I introduce key points about myself that would give everyone a better idea of who I am. Obviously my name would be the most important and then where I’m from since I do strongly identify with being a Californian and I think that says a lot about me. I wanted to announce my major, minor, and what I was aspiring to be since being a senior means that I’m graduating and entering the real world. I then thought it would be nice to mention that I just turned 21 because my birthday was a huge part of my summer and it would be a nice introduction into my study abroad semester. My semester in Amsterdam is very important to me and is something I think other college students can relate to especially if they traveled abroad as well, plan to do so in the future, or know people who have.

            There were a few challenges I had to overcome which was mostly the time limit. Not that I’m saying I have a lot to talk about, but trying to keep within the time limit proved to be a little difficult since I had no idea how much time was passing. Also since I had already thought about what I wanted to say, I found myself trying to recite my words in the exact way that I practiced it and when I forgot, I stumbled a bit. I think to overcome these challenges in the future I will remind myself that I don’t have to recite the notecard exactly the way I practice it, as long as I mention what I want to say it will be fine. I will also practice more, and give myself time in order to fit within the time range.

            On the other hand, I think I did well to memorize as many big ideas as I could about the things I wanted to talk about without reciting off of a piece of paper. For some reason I wasn’t as nervous presenting as I was when we did the pop speech probably because I had time to think about the subject, the speech didn’t come as a surprise to me, the subject was something I was very knowledgeable about, and I was about to recite it many times in my head.

Introduction Speech

The Introduction Speech did not take too much preparation because it was a short minute informative speech about myself. Since the speech was about myself, I did not have to do any additional research which made preparation easy. During the process of preparing my speech, I learned that it was very important to only include vital and interesting information order to keep it within the time limit and to keep the audience engaged at the same time. I realized that including “fluff” information only distracts the audience and can sometimes even bore and disengage them from the speaker.

I thought that that this speech was somewhat fun in that it was a fun way of getting to know my classmates. Also, a lot of people shared their activities during the summer (which consisted of a lot of traveling) which was also very interesting to listen to. This introductory speech was important to me because this was my classmates “first impression” of me. It was also a chance for me my classmates to get to know me better being that I did not know any of them. 

As for my speech, I was able to make eye contact with my peers instead of reading off my notes. However, for my next speech I hope to slow down when I talk and use less “um’s” and “likes.” I was initially nervous but as I continued my speech, I found it comforting when the audience interacted with me by making eye contact, nodding, and smiling. Overall, I thought that audience engagement was very important to me in that it helped me feel less nervous.  

Intro Speech Reflection - Jo

Overall, the introduction speech was pretty fun to prepare. It's an easy and fun topic. The speech was meaningful to me, because it allowed me to share with others what I wanted them to know about me. Since I had to write an introduction paper for another class, I based my speech off of that. However, I needed to shorten the length greatly for the speech to be under 90 seconds. 

One challenge that I faced while practicing for the speech was fitting it under 90 seconds but over one minute. It's pretty easy for me either be just above 90 seconds or just below a minute. 

During the actual speech, I got pretty nervous. I tried to calm down before the starting the speech, but I got nervous anyways. Next time, I need to remind myself to take breaths before moving on to the next sentence and to slow down. I could have also worked a bit more on the organization of my speech. I liked how Summer used a hook to draw in her listeners and then stated the three main points she wanted to focus on. 

As for what I did well, I think I was able to make pretty good eye contact and not look down on my notecard too much. I was also glad that I didn't memorize my speech word for word--which is what I normally do.

Intro Speech Reflection

I think that, overall, today's speeches all went very well. Everyone was very enthusiastic and engaging while speaking.

For me personally, preparation for this speech was fairly easy. It took a little bit of time to think about which details of my life would seem most interesting to my peers, but because I've been playing so many fun fact games lately it was pretty quick. I felt that the facts I ended up including were unique and told my life story in a fun way.

Because I volunteered to go first, I wasn't as nervous as I would have been had I been waiting in the audience first. I usually prefer to go first and get my presentation over-with with any class/project. I especially wanted to go first for this speech because I am sick and don't feel my best, so I was a little more nervous to present in front of a classroom of people.

I feel that I did very well with even eye contact and timing. Because I practiced my speech beforehand with a timer, I knew that I was within the 60-90 second timeframe.

One thing that I could definitely work on is saying "um" less while speaking. Getting rid of those filler words will make me come across as more confident, which is something that I hope to improve on during this course.  

Introduction Speech

Preparing my Introduction Speech was not very difficult, if I'm being honest. It was a great topic to talk about because it was something I was completely knowledgeable about. That's half the battle in preparing a speech so it was easy to brainstorm what I would be sharing with my classmates. In preparing, I also made sure to pay attention to how soft or loud I was speaking. I didn't want to put people to sleep so I made sure to make my speech as energetic sounding as possible. Repeating the speech over and over again while I prepared made it easy to determine when I should raise my voice to catch my classmate's attention.

I think I could have worked on the organization of my speech a little more but overall I'm happy with how it turned out and I think the audience learned a great deal about me and definitely what is most important about me (that I love animals and my job). I learned that it's important to make a connection with the audience in one way or another, in order to keep them interested in the topic. This speech topic was important to me because it was the first time I was telling my classmates about what's most valuable to me and why.

I think I delivered well and that I was within the 60-90 second time frame that we had to stay within. I also think I did a good job keeping the audience's attention the entire time and refrained from using "um" and "like". Overall, my one suggestion I'd have for myself is to make more eye contact with the audience. I found myself wanting to look at the professor most of the time and tried to remind myself to scan the room instead. I really liked this assignment and I'm looking forward to seeing how I adapt to some of the longer speeches we get to do later on in the semester!