Before I dig down into my self-critique, how about we get a collective PHEW! Our first speech is over!
So on to the nitty-gritty.
After watching myself on video, (which is incredibly odd I must admit) I noticed that there are a few things I did decently well on, but there is also some stuff I need to improve on.
First of all, the one thing I’ve always known I do. I tend to gesticulate a lot when I’m speaking! It’s a subconscious habit, that no matter how much I try to change it its still there. I’ve never noticed how bad can get until now however. I watched my video once with a very low volume in order to focus on what I was doing and at some points in my speech it looked a bit like I was flailing about.
Another thing that added to my flailing was the fact that I was not standing strong. I was standing with one foot propped out so when I would move, I looked like I was doing an odd sort of dance.
Secondly, the one thing that I noticed was rather distracting was the fact that I had the image of the Elliot Minor CD on the screen the whole time I was speaking. After watching my video back I realized I should have at least waited to turn it on until I mentioned it in my introduction. Throughout my speech I kept looking back at the picture. Even as I was speaking I noticed I kept looking at it, in my head I kept saying Stop turning! Look at the audience. But I think it was kind of like a comfort and looking at it made me feel safe. I’m not sure if that makes sense, but it’s the truth. However I can see how if I was an audience member it would have been very distracting, especially because the album art is rather intriguing. (At least in my opinion…)
Another thing that added to my flailing was the fact that I was not standing strong. I was standing with one foot propped out so when I would move, I looked like I was doing an odd sort of dance.
Secondly, the one thing that I noticed was rather distracting was the fact that I had the image of the Elliot Minor CD on the screen the whole time I was speaking. After watching my video back I realized I should have at least waited to turn it on until I mentioned it in my introduction. Throughout my speech I kept looking back at the picture. Even as I was speaking I noticed I kept looking at it, in my head I kept saying Stop turning! Look at the audience. But I think it was kind of like a comfort and looking at it made me feel safe. I’m not sure if that makes sense, but it’s the truth. However I can see how if I was an audience member it would have been very distracting, especially because the album art is rather intriguing. (At least in my opinion…)
The last few things I noticed were small things but should still be noted. I was a bit nervous so I did speed up as I was talking, in fact when I was practicing with my roommate it was about 3 minutes 20 seconds. When I got up in front of the class it ended up around 2 minutes 30 seconds. That’s almost an entire minute of speaking! I also noticed that my nerves made me cut out a few thoughts from my speech and I was fidgeting with my note cards. Lastly, the rate at which I was speaking made the majority of the structure go out the window. In the second half of my speech, where I was talking about Elliot Minor USA, I seemed almost over rehearsed; it felt like I was watching a sales pitch, and not a very good sales pitch.
All in all, I would say my speech went okay. All the things I mentioned can be worked on and improved! If I were to rate my speech I would probably give myself 7 out of 10. But hey, it can only get better from here right? =D
What did you all think
