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.
You point out something really interesting, Emma - that you included some "basic" points about yourself that everyone else was including. That is a good way to find common ground with your audience, especially since you heard others speak before you!
ReplyDeleteAs for the timing, it's ALWAYS tricky. Speakers often will take off their watch and put it on the podium to keep track of time. Sometimes there will be other mechanisms of timekeeping during the speech (like, as we said in class, someone holding up one finger to indicate one minute left, or a sign or something).