Self Evaluation #2

Self-Evaluation Assignment #2

The purpose of my speech was to inform the audience about the Titanic. I thought I did a very good job of achieving my purpose because I let them know about the exterior of the ship, interior of the ship and two of the main possible theories of why the ship sank. During my speech I was very nervous. However, while I was watching my tape, and as I was presenting, I knew that I projected my voice very well. I was a little shaky but overall I felt confident because I really knew my topic. Although I did refer to my note cards a lot, I think that was only because I was so nervous. I knew my speech well so I felt very comfortable while presenting; I was just extremely nervous about talking in front of everyone.
If I had to “do it all over again” I would make changes to all four categories: preparation, support, organization and delivery. When it comes to preparation I feel that there is always room for improvement. I could have practiced a few more times and in front of more people. I went through my speech over ten times, but I still feel that more practice would have made me feel more at ease. A major mistake I made, that I will definitely fix for next time, is that I only got feedback from two people. When it comes to support, I would only make one minor change and that is to find my sources earlier. I felt that I had great support in my speech but I put off my research until the last minute and this caused a lot of unneeded stress. The organization of my speech turned out well, however I had to tweak my speech tons of times to get it just right. This was also stressful because I was making changes up until the night before we delivered our speeches. So, again, fixing my time management would be my only issue. I used the spatial organization format and my speech was in good order and I felt that it flowed well. When it comes to the delivery of my speech I would have made several changes. This is because at times I was talking too fast, and I’m not sure if the audience heard all of the information I was trying to get across. Also, I made good eye contact with the audience but it could have been better. I said “oh” and “um” more than I did in my first speech, but I blame a lot of that on the nervousness as well.
One goal I have for improving the content of my next speech is that I was there to incorporate a better attention getter to capture the audience’s attention and hold it. I thought that overall, the topic I chose was interesting and the facts I presented were interesting as well but I did not have a good attention getter. I felt the audience was interested but not from the very start. One goal I have for the delivery of my next speech is to deliver completely confidently and comfortable without showing I am too nervous. I also do not want to look like I am relying on my note cards too heavily. Finally, I would like to cut out all of the “um’s” and “oh’s” and try to present without any awkward pauses.
There were a few different things I did, good and bad, from my last speech to this one. Good improvements were that I made much more eye contact with the audience this time. Although I saw that I looked at my note cards more in my second speech, the glances were much shorter and I think this looked better when I took less frequent, longer glances in my first speech. Also, I made a huge mistake in my first speech when I turned my back on the audience while using my visuals. I didn’t make this mistake during my second speech. However, this time I did have a technical difficulty with my PowerPoint (I forgot to click one of the slides, while I was talking about it) but I easily corrected it and didn’t let it mess me up while I was presenting. Bad thing I did during this speech, different from my first speech, were that I paused a lot more and I said “um” and “oh” a lot. These were the only really bad things I noticed while reviewing my tape.
Some distracting things I did were frequently glancing at my note cards and again, saying “um” and “oh” unnecessarily. I feel that this was an improvement from my last speech because during my last speech I used my hands a lot when I didn’t need to. I felt my hand gestures, and turning my back during my first speech were much more distracting that what I did during my second speech. So, yes I feel I did improve when it comes to distractions.
On a scale from 1-10 would give myself an 8 because as I said, I looked at my note cards and although it was not too distracting it was unnecessary some of the time. On the grading scale, I would give myself and A- because I thought I delivered a strong, effective speech. I thought that there were some improvements that should have been made but overall I achieved my purpose. For example, I let the audience know a lot about the passengers on the ship, the exterior of the ship and in the interior of the ship. I thought that my PowerPoint was a great tool for my speech. The pictures enforced the descriptions I was telling the audience about. Seeing my PowerPoint allowed my audience to get a much better idea of what I was talking about and it made my speech all the more successful.
Over the course of my speech I mentioned 4 citations. This was the required amount and the amount that I planned one presenting to my audience. Yes, I feel my speech was better than my last speech. This is because I feel that I included more interesting facts and captured the audience’s attention more thoroughly. I was more nervous during this speech but I feel like I was able to control my nervousness better than I did during my first speech. I made mistakes in both speeches however, I feel that gradually I am becoming a stronger and more confident public speaker. This speech was also a lot stronger than my last one because my citations were much clearer and I incorporated them better than I did in my previous speech. I felt that the audience saw me as a more credible speaker. Hopefully, my final speech will be my most successful delivery yet!!