Trial and Error

Preparation:

         I found the formal preparation outlines to be incredibly useful. At first, I found them to be a hassle, but later realized that by creating such an in depth overview, I did not need to use filler to meet the 5-7 minute requirement. This outline also made it easy to edit my thesis and focus my ideas as I soon realized that many of the topics I wanted to discuss may not be pertinent. When writing my formal outline, I began to notice there was a lack of available research related to one of my arguments. I searched multiple databases, Google Scholar, and searched various University websites, but later found that many schools did not publish statistics about their students’ health. While this caused me to question their reluctance, I was forced to abandon this topic and redirected my research to the mental health of college students nationally as opposed to comparing the mental health of students at USC to other schools. I did not really use my speech outline and found that because so many of my quotes were incredibly lengthy, it was difficult to condense them into these notecards. Overall, I have learned how effective the formal outline is and have also understood that I need to learn to use the research to support my arguments and elaborate upon these quotes.

Delivery:

I have given many speeches in my life, yet I think this one may have been one of my worst. In this speech, I focused too much attention on providing the audience with a large evidence pool, which ultimately hindered my delivery. Rather than allowing myself to speak freely, I felt very constrained by the overwhelming amount of statistics I had used and I feel as though my speech ended up being approximately 60% findings and only 40% elaboration and personal knowledge. In the past, I have considered one of my strengths to be public speaking; I feel confident articulating my thoughts and beliefs, but I felt that my informative speech turned into a recitation. In terms of body language, I tried very hard to avoid my past mistakes including, swaying side to side, touching my hair, and crossing my legs. I also did not have as much time to rehearse my speech as I would have liked due to an overwhelming amount of other work. However, this experience has taught me that regardless of how many other factors are influencing my preparation, it is important to set aside time to practice speaking. I have learned from my mistakes and look forward to correcting them in the next assignment.

Listening:

         As an audience member, I have found that the best speeches may not have been the “best delivered” or “best researched,” but they all had something in common: the speaker’s passion for the topic was very evident. When the speaker exuded a sense of excitement, the audience felt it as well. In addition, the visual presentations used by a few speakers were very effective. After seeing the power of these visual aids, I would like to use one in my next speech. I though everyone in the class was very respectful of one another. No one was distracting or interrupting the speaker. The audience seemed engaged and genuinely interested in what the speaker had to say. My experience as an audience member was just as educational as my experience as a speaker. Both roles left me with room to build on my strengths and weaknesses and I hope to work toward improvement in my next speech.