I don't have a witty title for this one.

I was really excited about this speech. I wrote my outline like a week before I had to do it, and I was working on it little by little all of last week. By biggest problem was having TOO much information. The first time I actually gave the speech to my roommate, I was at 9 minutes and talking fast.
But after I reluctantly cut out some things, I was ready. Soooo ready. Giving my speech memorized in the shower ready.


Watching the video, my first response was, of course, to cringe. I hate watching myself on video doing anything. But of course I can't help that.


So, I still liked that I started with that video. It was so sad, and very powerful (I thought). It is such a misconception that you're only going to need an organ transplant when you're old. However, I wish I had time to make another visual aid. I feel like that would have added to my speech a lot, because there were a lot of facts and numbers and that can get boring or confusing to listen to sometimes.


Watching myself give this speech, I noticed that I moved a lot. Crossing and uncrossing my legs, moving back and forth...it was a little distracting for me. I didn't have this problem with most of my other speeches, but fr some reason I just couldn't keep one planted stance.


I started out talking really fast. Reeeeally fast. I can remember getting a little more than halfway through my speech and realizing that I was talking really fast. I slowed down at that point (or at least I think I did), but I wish I had realized this sooner. When someone knows their speech as well as I did, talking fast the way I did can make it sound rehearsed, which is not what it was supposed to be. When a speech is so rehearsed, the speaker can get off track easily and it doesn't sound as conversational (or even convincing). You could tell that I had it almost entirely memorized, because I would stop in the middle of a sentence and then look down at my card because the next word wasn't coming to my mind. :/


As much as I didn't like watching myself in my video, I still feel that I did a good job. I was much more prepared for this speech than I was for any of my others, and I chose a really good topic. Organ Donation is one that is really important to me, and there is a surprisingly small amount of people who actually know a lot about it. I also really liked the fact that there was such a large amount of discussion within the class about it! I think that means I was doing it right. :)

First Post-Second Speech-Last Place.

As soon as I sat down after giving my speech, my first thought was: I sucked. I was not prepared like I should have been, and I was kicking myself for that. But after watching the video, I felt a little odd. My speech certainly wasn't good, but it really wasn't as bad as I thought it was. Let's break it down, shall we?

Positive: All of the points I laid out to make, I did. It wasn't my original draft, but I apparently did rehearse it enough that I remembered all of my points, in a general sense.
Positive: I didn't rock back and forth like a hula doll on a dashboard. I think that was mainly do to the fact that I had my computer to fiddle around with. Nonetheless, progress!
Positive: I spoke at a good volume. Even on the video, I could clearly hear what I was saying, even if what I was saying wasn't that clear. 

Negative: It was not well-delivered. Between the lands of Practiced-Enough-To-Sound-Normal and Pulling-Things-Out-Of-Your-Ass, there lies a valley where my speech resides. I stumbled over words, and you could clearly hear it in m voice that I was nervous.

Negative: I didn't have very good body language. I don't know how to describe it other than I just looked awkward and uncomfortable.

Negative: One point I made towards the end kinda sounded more like I forgot where I was going and was making up random philisophical points than an actual third topic.

Negative: It was hard to follow, and I apologize to the people who had to listen to it. I didn't have a clearly defined intro or conclusion, and I didn't lay out my points before I made them. 

I tried to find a positive point for every negative one, but hey-let's face it. I sucked. But on the bright side, this was a good learning experience. It's difficult to handle objects when you're giving speeches. It's an extra distraction for not only you, but he audience as well. Two fold for the audience when you're distracted by it or fumbling around with it. When practicing a speech, one should devote time to practicing JUST what he or she is going to do with their object.