Speech evaluation

Speech One Evaluation

I felt like a complete mess when I delivered my speech. My overall purpose was to show a different aspect of cooking and marinating steaks. I felt that I did deliver the message but my speech was shaky. My nervousness took over me but I did know my speech which helped me because I didn’t have to fumble around with my note cards. After the speech I felt confident because I received a B. If I got another chance, I would practice another 7 time. The only way I can improve my public speaking is to practice and do it so much that I become comfortable. The outline was very technical and I should have followed it a bit more. For the next speech, I will have the outline done earlier and fix all the small things before my speech instead of improvising during the speech. My one goal overall, is to lower my anxiety so I can have a better delivery. I feel that I fumble with my words, gestures, and demonstration when I am nervous. It is hard to look at the audience because I feel that they are judging me. It is a lot easier for me to just read my speech but I know I will never grow by doing that. After watching my video, I felt embarrassed to see myself because I looked like a mess. It is embarrassing enough to give the speech and to watch was even worse. But it does help to see myself because I can pick at all the small stuff. At first, I looked down at the table too much trying to avoid everyone’s eyes. I was also playing with the props because I was nervous and needed to do something with my hands. This actually took away from my speech because it made it seem that I didn’t know what I was doing. Towards the middle, my speech enthusiasm slowed down a bit as my nervousness took the best of me. I finished strong in the end but I cannot be satisfied with my speech until I earn and A. I think the most distracting thing was the time cards. They are very helpful but for myself and others, it seemed to distract and sometimes cause them to lose train of thought. When the 5 minute mark was held up, it completely threw me off and I even said out loud that it distracted me. This I will definitely not do again. Many people mentioned that it was a bad point in my speech. My eye contact wasn’t great but I would give myself a 6 because I did have a good amount of eye contact. The beginning of my speech was afraid to look at the audience but soon got a bit more comfortable as the speech went on. Next time I hope to give myself an honest 10 out of 10 for eye contact. I have improved because the last speech I gave was 2 years ago and I read straight from my note cards. Not prepared at all! This next speech will be longer and I will prevent myself from having visual aids that could potentially distract me. I mentioned 3 source citations in the speech which helped me gain credibility with the information I was giving. It seemed weird at first when writing the speech to add citations, but it proved helpful in the end. I would give myself a B based on the video. My introduction was odd and not too strong because it didn’t catch the attention of the audience as I had hoped. My points were not clear and I just dove into the speech. My conclusion wasn’t strong either because I didn’t clearly sum up the ideas of my speech. During my speech, I could improve distracting movements and gestures. The visual aids proved to be great but also distracting for myself. When finished, I was 19 seconds over the 5 minute mark. My grade was deserved and I have a lot to improve on for my next speech. Looking forward to it!

-Nick W