Persuasive Speech

For my persuasive speech, I definitely did not feel the same level of nerves or anxiety, which I consider to be a large improvement. However, I still was not satisfied with how my speech went. I felt as if in my informative speech that I attempted to cover way too many points and I ran out of time, so when organizing this speech, I made sure to make less points and elaborate on two or three points fully. I don't know how great of a tactic this was because I felt like I ran out of points when I was up in front of the class speaking. I feel like perhaps I spoke too quickly out of nervousness or skipped over some transitional sentences/elaboration that I had practiced beforehand. I think the reason I was able to elaborate on the topic better last time was that I felt a genuine interest in the topic and this time I was just trying to pick a relevant topic. I am not extremely passionate about human euthanasia despite supporting the points that I made, but I am very passionate about health/nutrition. Next time I need to spend more time deciding on my speech topic and perhaps strike a balance between my informative speech and persuasive speech.
I felt I improved because I actually remembered to reference my cards and was able to cite sources during my speech, which I basically neglected last speech. I think that my strong points is that I style maintain a conversational style and do not have a problem connecting with my audience (eye contact, demeanor). I wish I would have used a powerpoint although there were not many visuals I could have referred to in my speech. On my next visual aid speech, I am going to make sure that the topic I pick has relevant images to go along with my speech and that the speech is within my realm of knowledge.

It was really hard for me to pick a speech that I disagree with, but I disagree with elements of the speech made about Iran. I feel hypocritical or judgmental as I know very little about Iran, but I identify with more conservative political views and many of the things she brought up in her speech just did not resonate with me as being good counter arguments to wide held views about Iran in the United States. I realize that not all Iranians are terrorists, but I do feel as if there is a select group that has bad intentions for US safety. I feel like she tried to stress that the typical Iranian does not fit the US stereotyping. I am sure that this is true. However, for me that was not a very good point because obviously no nation is made up entirely of violent people. I am not knowledgeable enough on the topic to make judgements about the rest of her speech.

I felt as if Emily Walper's speech was the most persuasive for me because it differed from her first speech (as an audience member). The first speech, from the information she provided, I did not see any problem with gender changing operations at young ages because I had been thinking about the young girl that was a focus of a news story. However, in her persuasive speech where she brought up points like mental retardation and other negative repercussions of the surgeries, I was swayed to think otherwise. I still am a supporter of LGBTQ/transgender surgeries, but I feel as if they should be done at a later date and more research should be done to ensure that the surgeries are done at an age that is safe. I also would feel more comfortable if all medications that go along with the surgery are FDA approved and my confidence in the medications would improve over time with no reports of harmful side effects.

My favorite speakers were Rafaella and Sunny. I thought that Rafaella's speech was very well prepared and that she was very clear in the points she made. I really enjoyed the way Sunny presented her speech, however I did not enjoy the topic simply because I used to work in non profits and am tired of the topic.