Self Evaluation #1

After watching my video from our demonstration speech, I was taken back by some of the things that I did. While your actually presenting your speech, you sometimes feel as if your doing fine, or you don’t think some of the mistakes you do are as noticeable as they really are. I noticed that for myself in some cases. For instance, the amount of times I looked at my cards was a great amount of time. during the speech, I didn’t feel as if I did look at the note cards as much, but I can see that I did after watching the video. I believe when I know I have something to look at I feel like I have something that I can rely on. it’s a safety net. Usually when I make public speeches I don’t make long pauses simply because everything is coming from the top of my head and I’m not too busy relying or focusing my attention on something else. This is what I will try to tackle on improving in my next speech.

One thing I did notice that I did well with was keeping my voice loud enough so the whole audience could hear. I feel that since I was projecting my voice, I must have felt comfortable up in front of the class. Although, I seemed comfortable with myself, another thing I did poorly on was verbally citing all my sources. I was giving a decent speech but with nothing to support what I was saying meant nothing. I said one source throughout my speech. This is something I must fix on my next presentation. I’m planning on looked up many books and magazine articles about my topic.

If I were to rank my eye contact with audience as well from a one to a ten, it would have to be a 6. I believe I didn’t do totally horrible, but there is definitely area’s where I can improve on: eye contact being one of them. Another thing I wish I could have done instead was place myself in front of the table rather standing behind it. My speech was about setting a volleyball, I should have just stayed in front so I could effectively set the ball. I found myself going back and forth during the speech.

I also think that based on all that I stated just now and what I have though about personally, I would give myself a grade of a B- or C+. I believe sighting your sources are very important to establish credibility, and not having long pauses don’t deserve to be considered anything above B-. A person who does not look at their note cards constantly also deserves something above that grade. I think with better preparation (practicing more out loud) will solve my problem. In addition, I plan on practicing in front of a mirror to see what my body language is telling me. I want to look like I’m more interested in my speech. Hopefully I could get the audience more into my speech then I did last time.