Self Evaluation #3

I chose to give my persuasive speech on why people should choose to participate in regular physical activity. This topic was important to me because it is something I feel strongly about, since I have been an athlete all my life. I think that I achieved the purpose of my speech because I do not think many people disagreed with me afterwards. I used different forms of logic to persuade the audience as well as inductive and deductive reasoning. I proved and backed up the points I made with relevant and surprising statistics. I also offered suggestions that the audience could take and use in order to participate in their daily or weekly physical activity. While I was presenting my speech I felt very calm and comfortable. This is because the topic was something that I knew well and felt strongly about. I felt that in a way it was my responsibility to convince my audience that they should participate more thoroughly in physical activity. Therefore, as I was reviewing my tape I could see the good points I made and how I sounded passionate about my topic. I was nervous at first, by as I got through my introduction my nerves went away and I was a fully confident speaker.
If I had to do it all over again I would make very few changes. When it comes to preparation I feel that I always could have done more. I could have practiced my speech a few more times. I felt that because I made adjustments to me speech on the day before I was a little shaky but in the end it all turned out alright. I felt that I was not underprepared at all, because I did practice my speech several times and edited it accordingly. However, what I didn’t do was practice it in front of different audiences and this is something that could have been fixed. When it comes to support I was lacking when I submitted my outline. However, I took advantage of the opportunity to improve my speech (and outline) and inserted the correct amount of sources, providing me with enough support when it came time to present. I included the minimal amount of sources, which was four, and I could have gone beyond that to make my speech more credible. On the topic of organization I thought that my speech was well organized and thought out. As I wrote earlier, I made changes at the last minute and this could have been avoided if I had gotten my organization right the first time. However, I made the necessary changes and therefore came out with a speech I was really happy with. The content of my speech was strong and accurate. I feel that I could have included more facts and statistics in order to give my audience a better idea of how drastically physical activity can benefit them, but it was not necessary. It would have helped but I didn’t include more because I was worried about going over when it came to time.
There were specific changes from my last speech to this speech. This speech has a much more powerful attention getter and I think I engaged the audience from the start. During my last speech my attention getter was a little duller and not as interesting. Also, during this speech I made much more eye contact and looked more calm and comfortable than I did during my informative speech. However during my informative speech I feel that the content of my speech was better. It sounded much better researched and well written. Although I like the performance I gave during my persuasive speech, I feel the overall content of my informative speech sounded more credible. During my persuasive speech I do not feel like I distracted the audience very much at all. My body language was good. This was not the case in my informative speech. I did not glance at my note cards or move my body as much during my persuasive speech, like I did in my informative speech. However, I did touch my hair twice during my persuasive speech and this could have been a slight distraction to the audience. However, overall I think that this speech, the persuasive speech, was better that my informative speech. I came off as a much more confident speaker and I provided the audience with the information and reasoning why they should participate in more physical activity.
I would give myself an A on the speech. This is because I carried out my topic and the information well. I supported what I was saying very strongly and I provided the audience of what they could do to take action. I followed the criteria set before me and did not allow my nerves to get to me. I also cited four sources throughout my speech, and this was the requirement. I fulfilled all the guidelines that I needed to complete and therefore I think I would have given myself and A.
Of all three speeches I gave I think that I performed the best in this one. During my other two previous speeches I felt I was very nervous and this affected my performance greatly. During this speech I was nervous during the introduction then I did not let my nerves get the best of me. I performed confidently and did a good job throughout my speech. I thought that this speech was well researched, as were the other two, but during this one I felt I was the most passionate because I was really trying to persuade my audience to follow what I was saying and take action.