Introductory Speech Reflection

While preparing for my speech, I was very confused about the approach that I wanted to take for this speech. This is because, like any other person, there are many things about me and I was having trouble deciding which facet I would like to focus on. In order to prepare for the speech, I thought about things that are unique to me and differentiate me from most other people. This, I thought, would be the best approach as I thought it would allow me to attract the attention of the class. Finally, I decided to talk about out the Buddhist influence in my life and how this prompts me to create content geared to social change. The speech however, did not go as perfectly as I had imagined. For future speeches, I plan to devote more time to preparation so that the ideas that I intend to communicate actually come across the way I plan in the final speech.

While I was giving the speech, I was really nervous. Hopefully, that didn't show much. This also impacted my body language and facial expression. I have often been told that a large part of the communication process revolves around factors beyond the actual words that you use. For this particular speech, I did not devote as much preparation as I would have liked to the non-verbal aspects of my speech delivery. However, I realized its importance by the end of the class, after having seen all the presentations. For future speeches, I hope to pay more attention to the non-verbal cues I communicate through body language and facial expressions. This also includes interacting with the audience and engaging with them in order to draw their attention towards the topic I am speaking about.

Overall, this was a highly educational experience and allowed me to gage my strengths and weaknesses as a public speaker going into this semester. As I learn more things and give more speeches during the course of the semester, I hope to emerge a better and more effective public speaker.