Speech Eval

If I were to grade myself on how well I achieved the purpose of my speech, I would give myself a 7 out of ten. My purpose was clear but I didn’t feel persuasive enough. This could be because I didn’t give that powerful of a plan of action at the end of my speech. But from practice I was able to have a tone that was persuasive and enthusiastic. Practicing took a lot of work but paid off because I fell between the 6 and 7 minute mark as well as having great eye contact with the audience. I did well, but if I had to do it over again, I would practice more so I wouldn’t have to use my note cards. I would love to give a speech that I know so well that I don’t have to worry about note cards because I feel that they help guide but are also my back up if I forget what I am talking about. I would hope to also change my speech to be more persuasive as I feel it was my only down fall in my delivery.
This speech was different from my last speech because I did better over all. My last speech had a poor attention getter which didn’t apply the majority of the audience. My intro was organized with a good structure and there was a preview of main points but it wasn’t very clear. I researched but didn’t have enough research to back up all my points. The topic related to the audience because college drinking is normal for us. Organization over all was good and the transitions were clear and effective for the information following. Throughout the speech I clearly stated my sources to help support my points. My visual aid was effective but I sent the wrong power point which threw off my speech a bit because I felt unorganized and embarrassed because of my lack of preparation. Eye contact in the second speech would have been better if I was more prepared. I felt nervous during the speech and read more from my note cards then I had wanted. This is something that I want to overcome and it comes down to just practicing more so I feel comfortable with the presentation of information.
In the persuasive speech delivery, I remember moving a bit when speaking. This may be distracting for some audience members as I know I was thinking it was distracting for myself as well. I improved from the second speech because I knew the material better and had great eye contact with the audience, but I feel my eye contact was speedy and I would look all over the room. When watching the video, it looked as if I was making eye contact but it was too brief. Over all, the persuasive speech and outline was a huge improvement from the last speech. I received a better grade on the outline which helped feed into getting a better speech grade. My introduction was more powerful with a great attention getter which was a sound clip that the audience could connect with. I loved this topic because I have credibility by being Greek for 3 years now. My main points were very clear and this was made easy by using the problem solution organization pattern. My conclusion was an improvement from the last speech, but it was not as good as I had hoped for it to be. I did review the points but did not have a solid plan of action which in turn made my speech less persuasive. Two other improvements were my tone and eye contact. I believe my tone was better because I knew the material as well as being passionate about being Greek. Eye contact simply came from being prepared and I would rate myself an 8 out of 10 because I did read a little from my cards and I would rather not have cards at all. According to the audience, my volume, voice projection and variety was an improvement from my last speech.
Based on my performance, reviewing the video and teacher evaluation, and the student evaluations, I would give myself an A. Well, I was hoping for an A, 95%. I was not perfect, but I believe I should have gotten this grade because I was well prepared, my power point was a great visual aid, and my delivery was a great improvement from the two previous speeches. I would also give myself an A because I have improved a lot from the beginning of the semester and I should be partially graded on that. Besides the positive things I have already mentioned, I had some great sources which I researched and even applied 4 of them in my speech. My persuasive speech by far was the best. I put the most effort into it to ensure I would get the best grade on it. I was more interested in this topic and put the time and energy into for a good grade as well as combating my fear of public speaking.

Concept

I liked the outlines because it has helped me write better speeches and keep my points and sub points on track. It was very helpful for me to get feedback on my outlines to see if I was correctly getting the information across. For my first speech, I had written it like an essay and had no idea that I had to format it another way. But, having my grade on the line for each outline, it made me perfect outlining an essay the third time around. I didn’t do well on the first two outlines and got bad feedback. So, on the third time around I put a lot more effort into it so I could get an A. These outlines will help me later in life when I present information to groups as well as in my career. They will organize my information clearly and get across the correct information.

I am taking away..

This semester was helpful for me because I have finally taken this class after being here in san jose for 5 semesters. I have finally faced my fear full on and have taken every opportunity to speak in public. This class has helped me to write a speech and create great outlines. For other presentations in class, I have made outlines and created speeches to be as professional as possible. In my extra curricular activites I have many opportunities where I have to speak in front of groups and present different information. Whether forced or not, I am becoming more comfortable with public speaking. I can take away the format of speeches and being able to properly present information clearly to different audiences.

favorite speech

My favorite speech was the persuasive speech because I got to write on something that is such a big part of my life. I am passionate about going Greek because it is meant to enhance your college career. Also, I got a better grade on this speech because of my passion for it. I spent a ton of time on the outline because I wanted to perfect this speech as best as I could. Using the Problem Solution format was helpful because it is very straight forward. It kept me on track with my ideas and points. My speech performance overall was better because I have become more comfortable with speaking in public. I was also prepared the most for this speech having a smooth flowing power point and using my note cards as little as possible.

Chapter 15 and 16

Chapter 15 helped but it was also very hard to implement the reasoning into my speech. Appeals were easy to use and actually helped me organize arguments and persuasion of my topic. I used logical appeals and appeals to speaker credibility in my speech. I hope the audience can pick these out because I had a hard time picking some out in the speech videos. Other reasoning like deductive, inductive, casual, and analogical were hard to label in my outline and I might not have done so properly. Chapter 16 will be helpful eventually when I have a certain speech to make. I will be able to reference this book for anything dealing with speaking. I feel that this chapter can help me take different directions in speeches and help create different speech messages. Overall, chapter 15 was most helpful because there was a lot of information that helped me identify certain items in my outline. When you start your outline, you will use this chapter a lot and make sure your properly identify your reasoning and appeals.

Personal experience

One particular incident where I had to persuade others to accept my point of view was just a few days ago when I had to persuade my chapter executive members to accept a new policy. I used an emotional appeal to persuade them to understand and accept my way of thinking. It was difficult but I finally got through to them. They understood the seriousness of the policy and how it would take a toll on all of us. Examples of an emotional appeal was bringing up friends and how we could not be a group of close friends if we could not stand for the same things. This pulled on their emotional strings and got them to agree that the policy would put us all on the same page and eventually creating a better friendship. The difficulties were when I had to defend my position as well as tell them I felt one way to keep them satisfied. I had to bite my own tongue and stand for one thing when I believed another. In the end, it all turned out ok and I can still have my opinion but keep it to myself. I used deductive reasoning and used specific events to help my argument for the new policy. I also used a syllogism becuase my argument had a major premise, minor premise and a conclusion. And last, I did use inductive reasoning by stating my claim and supporting it with specific examples of why we could have prevented certain sitautions in the past by having this policy.

Speech videos

15.1
Making a good argument helps you to persuade your audience. They have four basic points. The first is your thesis which is supported with claims, evidence and reasoning. You try to get your audience to believe your claim and use reasoning to back up her claim. 15.1 use it shows how you can apply the parts of a good argument and thesis. These two videos have shown me how to properly use arguments in my speech and how to use the a thesis. The last vide on sugar was put together well. He had great post boards which were clear, concise, and simple. Schooling Pro video was a very effective speech. She did a great job getting her points across as well as using her note cards effectively. Watching her makes this look easy! Her conclusion was good because she properly stated her points again and had a great closing statement. She used a logical appeal because she used facts to support her argument that people could be home schooled. This example is also an emotional appeal because she used columbine's shooting to appeal to your emotions to try and persuade towards home schooling. She connected with the audience by using examples that we all know about. Columbine was a huge deal and it effected many schools and lives of many students. Schooling con was also a good speach. His intro was strong with a great thesis and preview of points. He uses inductive reasoning by using certain instances to support his position. I also feel he used appeal to emotion by connecting the audience by thinking about their parents teaching them at home. He also had great transitions between his main points.