Self-Evaluation #2

After performing this informative speech, I feel like I am finally becoming more used to the whole idea of public speaking. I think that I achieved the purpose of my speech very well. I was aiming to inform the audience about a specific disease and I think I was able to get my points across well. I am definitely gaining confidence the more speeches that we perform, so this speech was the one I felt the most comfortable and confident with. This was the first one so far that I have not been so nervous for. If I had to do the whole speech over again, I would gather myself more during my speech. At a few different places I started to stumble over my words and I felt like I could not get myself together for a few seconds. I would also put my powerpoint presentation together a little better. It could have been more neat and I could have put more work and detail into it. My goal for improving the content of my next speech will be to find a more diverse set of resources. Many of my resources had a lot of the same information repeated. My goal for improving my delivery for the next speech would be to slow down and just pause when I start to stumble over my words. Something I did differently from my last speech was to practice more times, which made me feel much more comfortable. From what I can remember, I do not think that I did anything distracting. I made sure to pull my hair back before my speech because last time I kept pushing it back out of my face, which was probably very distracting. I think this was definitely a big improvement from my last speech. I would rate my eye contact an 8/10. I made sure to practice my speech enough times that I did not need my note cards as much as I normally do. Based on my performance, I would give myself an A because I felt that I met all of the requirements and I was able to exceed some of them. I spoke fairly extemporaneously and I also orally cited all of my resources throughout my speech. I mentioned six citations during my speech, which was definitely an improvement because in my last speech I forgot some and ended up only mentioning about half. I believe that this speech was better than my last speech because I was able to use my visual aid (my powerpoint) along with my speech very well and I think this really improved the quality. Even though I was prepared for my last speech, I think that I was much even more prepared for this one. This may have been because I was a lot more interested in my topic for this one. It is easier to remember what you were going to say next when you are not bored by your topic. Overall, I was very happy with the turnout of my speech and I was satisfied with the grade I received. 

Digital Slides

The topic I would like to discuss from the reading this week is the “do’s and don’ts of digital slides”. I chose this topic because it directly relates to the speech we will be giving next week. According to our book, when you use digital slides well audiences pay better attention to the speaker, understand all of your main points better, and hold onto the information you give them better. The first thing you need to do is consider how you are going to support the oral information you will be giving with slides. You should not focus too much on your slides and ignore the oral part of your presentation. Next, you need to not over-do your digital slides. You should not have too many because it can be overwhelming to the audience. Last, you must remember to “balance creativity with clarity and predictability with spontaneity”. It’s a fine line between each of these that you have to be careful with. You want your slides to be attractive, but you don’t want that to take away from the information you are trying to present. Too much can be distracting.

Public Speaking Event

A couple of years ago I attended a public speaking event at Sac State given by the head of the nursing department. I recall this particular event so well because I thought she did such a good job on it. The purpose of her speech was to be informative and I thought she did a great job of giving us all of the information that was so important to us while doing it in a way that was not overwhelming. Part of what made her so great at what she was doing was her use of presentation media. The way she presented her visual images was very effective because she knew how to not put too much information on her slides. Just the most important points were in bullets and each bullet was not too wordy. It added to the speech because there was a lot of information and it was easy to forget, so she showed you the most important points. I don’t think that there was any way that her powerpoint detracted from the speech. The only way she could have improved would have been to put the statistics that she used on the slides in a visual way so that we could more easily understand them, such as in a bar graph. 

Ethical responsibilities for audio and visual files

I think that as a speaker you have an ethical responsibility to provide your listeners with accurate, unaltered information. It is unfair to your audience to show them photographs, videos, songs, or taped conversations that have been changed for your own purposes. As a speaker, the audience has no choice at that time but to take you at your word, therefore giving them false information is extremely irresponsible. Your ethical responsibilities include not using visual or audio files that have been physically changed, but you should also make sure that you are not showing extremely biased pictures. It is important to use visual and audio files that come from a credible source because otherwise the pictures may have been inaccurate even if you were not the one that physically changed. There may be certain circumstances that altering files is necessary. For instance, if the original images or songs were yours and there is a specific purpose for changing them, but you should tell your audience of any changes.

Week 8 Topic from reading

A topic that I would like to talk about from the reading this week is in Chapter 13. The three qualities that an informative speech should have are particularly important to me, and all of my fellow students, because of our upcoming speech. The three qualities are that an informative speech be personally meaningful, it should be accurate, and the information should be clear. To make your speech meaningful, you need to relate your topic to your audience. The topic you choose needs to be relevant to the people you are speaking to. You can make it meaningful by including a narrative in your speech. Making sure your information is accurate is another important quality. In an informative speech, accuracy is key. There is such a huge amount of information these days that if your information is not accurate, you will lose all credibility. Last, you need to make sure your speech is clear. It should not be difficult to understand what the speaker is trying to get across to you. I often think that information that I’m explaining is very clear, but sometimes I don’t realize that people aren’t quite getting what I’m saying, so it’s important to try it out before you get up and make your speech on someone at home who can tell you if it makes sense or not. 

Intro & Conclusion

According to our book, there are four main components that go into an introduction. These are an attention getter, a clear statement of your purpose and thesis, information that establishes your credibility, and finally a preview of the main points. I will use an attention getter at the beginning of my speech by giving a surprising statistic about MRSA. You will also want to state the purpose of your speech clearly, as well as your thesis. Your purpose should not be so succinct as “My purpose is to…”, it should be subtle. The thesis should be done in the same. Next, you will want to establish your credibility. For example, you could talk about how your job at a store makes you knowledgeable about customer service practices. Then, you will want to preview your main points so that the audience can easily follow along with your speech. An example of how my introduction could possibly is: Did you know that just a few short weeks ago dozens of babies contracted MRSA in a local hospital in Sacramento? (attention getter) After working in a nursing home, I have seen just how dangerous MRSA can be. (establish credibility) Here, I would put my purpose, but I haven’t decided what it is yet. MRSA is a dangerous disease caused by a bacteria that infects many people of many ages and backgrounds. (thesis) Today, I will talk to your about the dangers of MRSA, where it occurs, and steps being taken to prevent the spread of this disease.

In the conclusion, you will review your main points, reinforce your purpose again, and finally provide closure. In my conclusion it could go something like this: In summary, today you’ve learned the dangers of MRSA, where it occurs, and preventions being made to contain it. (review main points) Here, I will reinforce my purpose by leaving a memorable message about my topic. I may end it with another interesting fact about my topic, or I might use my powerpoint to give closure to my speech.

Chp 9 & 13 Speech Buddy Videos

Up until now, I have been stuck on where to begin my speech, but seeing other people making those speeches gave me some ideas and the push that I needed to start writing out my outline. Sometimes, writing the introduction can be the hardest part, so video 9.1 was good review. What I got from the video, which was more review than new information, was that the most important aspects of the introduction were to make sure you have established the purpose of your speech to the audience, written a strong thesis, go over the main points, and then also to grab the audience’s attention with something interesting, funny, or witty. In video 9.2, the video went over how a conclusion should be executed. The main elements of a conclusion are a review of the main points, reinforcement of the purpose you said in your intro, and then giving the audience closure on your topic.

13.1A video was a speech designed to inform the audience about techno music. I thought the speaker did well overall. He had good eye contact and he had visual aids, which really helped the audience understand his topic better. In 13.1B Janine had an interesting speech on the Kodak camera. She made very good use of her visual aids. I also thought it was interesting how she took a picture of the audience, which served as a nice attention getter I thought. I’m not sure that I heard her thesis in her introduction, which it is important to not skip that. In the 13.1 USE IT video, Katherine gave a speech about “kosher”. The one thing I noticed about Katherine was that she looked at her note cards a little too often, but she made up for that in other ways, like by sounding credible in her speech and having a good introduction.

Overall, these speeches were not really any new material, but they did serve as good reminders for what we need to be working on right now for our upcoming speeches.