Evaluations
Narrative Speech Evaluation
9/27/2011
The most important thing that I gained from this exercise was the confidence to
stand in front of an audience and give a full-fledged speech. I am very happy
with how I delivered my narrative. It felt very natural; not forced or
contrived. I was very comfortable with being able to open up to my peers and
share with them a very personal story, one that I probably wouldn’t feel
inclined to share with anyone on a simple whim. Thus, going hand in hand with
my affirmation of confidence, I can also say proudly that I was able to make a
real connection with my audience.
From listening to others give their mini-speeches, I was able to gain a great deal
of insight as to what would be expected of me when I gave my own speech. I
observed how people attempted to make their delivery, each trying to connect
with the audience in their own unique way. That helped me determine my own
method of delivery, by impelling me to employ one that would differentiate me
from the rest. For example, many people introduced themselves to the audience,
while others attempted to give an overview of their narrative before they
actually started. I decided to ask my audience a question, one that would help
me relate to them and vice versa; that was one method I’d noticed had not been
employed to any great extent. Also, seeing how everyone was pretty nervous the
first time around helped alleviate my own feelings of unease and apprehension,
because in the end we were all in the same boat.
One line of advice that I would give another student tasked with delivering this
narrative speech is: tell a story that has some personal connection to you. I
noticed that the people who were telling personal stories seemed to be much
more confident in their delivery and exposition than those who were telling a
story that was either fictitious or simply not personal.
Another line of advice I could offer is: be yourself. Don’t try mimicking the delivery
style of someone else; be original, and more importantly, be true to yourself.
We all have something to offer, so we shouldn’t cheat ourselves or our audience
out of an honest exchange.
My last line of advice is: take a deep breath, and relax, because, in the end
everyone is in the same boat as you. You’re not alone in feeling uneasy and
anxious about having to deliver a personal narrative. With that knowledge in
mind, you should be able to muster just enough confidence to get up and deliver
that speech.
Interpretative Reading Evaluation
10/5/2011
This was truly a constructive and engaging activity. I really had fun participating in it. The Interpretative Reading mini-speech exercise allowed me to accrue even more experience with regard to commanding the attention of a captive audience. I felt even more confident and at ease than I remember being when I was delivering my narrative speech. I honestly believe the quality of my performance had much improved since that last time, What I appreciated about this exercise was the creative autonomy associated with it; freely selecting some piece with which one has a deep personal connection and communicating that special connection to the rest of the class. The poem "The Second Coming" by Yeats is one of my absolute favorites; I love the terminal bleakness and the grim foreboding, the awe and mystery of the apocalyptic vision. Being able to render an interpretation of all that, in one excerpt, was thus very enjoyable. Apart from the actual reading, I was able to become acquainted with the Power Point program and its use in this class. I now have an excellent idea of what will be expected of me as far as interfacing with the Power Point slides and presenting visual aids.
Again, I learned a great deal from listening to the rest of my peers deliver their own interpretative readings. I gained some valuable insights into the kinds of interests that they have. There was a real human connection here. Seeing others somewhat struggling at first with how to plug in their memory
sticks to access their power points was something of a relief, and made me feel less insecure about having difficulty doing something so simple.
One piece of advice I would with regard to this assignment is: pick something you have a really deep personal connection with. That's the only way you're going to be able to sound convincing when you're interpretating it. All you're heart has to be in it to begin with, otherwise you'll just come off as
contrived and disengenuious.
Second bit of advice: provide some kind of visuals that really relate to whatever you're interpretating. I was reciting a poem written about the First World War; thus, I featured a picture of a battle scene from the war in my
power point slides.
Third bit of advice: have fun with it. This is you're own personal interpretation, so go crazy, and be creative.
Self Evaluation of Informative Speech
10/28/2011
I feel very good about my Informative speech delivery. It was, without a doubt, a great experience, one that has secured my confidence as an effective speaker. I am overwhelmingly satisfied with my performance. To start with, I felt that my introduction met all the necessary criteria. I am particularly pleased with the attention grabber that I used; posing a question to the audience. That was really effective in establishing an instant connection with the audience, as it allowed some direct one-on-one conversation to generate, and it also established my topic (Breakfast) as something that everyone could relate to. That was followed by the preview of my main points, which were all
present. Moving along to the body of my speech, I believe that I provided a plethora of interesting details that really captured people's attention; I talked about the history of breakfast, the origin of the word "breakfast," I mentioned a number of early breakfast cuisines ("Full English"), I dated in
chronological order some important breakfast innovations in history, etc. My personal favorite part of my speech was presenting my second main point: breakfast around the world. Here I really got into a lot of detail, presenting specific types of breakfast buffets from Asia, Africa, Europe, South America, and North America. This is where I was able to make full use of visual aids, showing actual pictures of each of these wonderful breakfast dishes, much to the delight of my audience. I do believe that they were truly captivated by this part of my speech, overwhelmed by all the different selections of food, and stimulated by the exquisite imagery. My last main point was also communicated effectively and well recieved; I used a video to fully capture the attention of my audience.My last mainpoint was followed by my conclusion, in which I provided a recap and summarized my topic.
I made sure that all of my sources were cited in my slides. Based on my own evaluation, I would say that my overall delivery was very strong; I projected confidence and enthusiasm, my voice was clear and audible, I was articulate and employed an authoritative tone, I used a variety of gestures and facial expressions to emphasize my points, my eye contact was for the most part consistent, and I made an effort to directly engage my audience. The fact that my delivery had a significant impact and was effective in establishing a deep connection is reflected in the positive feedback that my peers later communicated to me.
I personally believe that I performed very well. Of course, there are some areas that I feel I could improve. For example, I realize that I did stammer while I was speaking a number of times. Also, I used alot of fillers ("uhh," "umm," etc). But those things notwithstanding, I would say that I did performed to the best of my ability, and I would therefore grade myself an A.
Self Evaluation of Persuasive Speech
11/29/2011
As with my informative speech, I was very happy with how my persuasive speech
turned out. I feel I did very well and learned a great deal about the art of
persuasion. To start with, I am satisfied with my introduction. In order to
really capture peoples’ attention, I interjected some humor into my intro; I
transposed images of people on a set of slides and asked the class which person
they thought had eaten breakfast. It was humorous because it was purposely
overdramatic, exaggerated, and even downright absurd (transposing an image of
Albert Einstein with one of Adolf Hitler and asking the class which one ate
breakfast). But it worked for a number of reasons. This stunt got people
interested in my speech because it was provocative and bizarre; maybe they were
confused, maybe they didn’t quite know what to make of it, but bottom line, it
really caught their attention. It also got them directly involved in my speech.
I was able to directly engage them by opening with this little “game,” which
means that they were able to make a connection and were therefore invested in
what I had to say. So my introduction, I would say, was definitely a success.
Moving onto the body of my speech, I kept to very simple and clear
points. I orally cited all of my sources, so as to reinforce my expert
knowledge and thereby make my argument all the more credible and convincing.
Most importantly, I made sure that my argument incorporated all three
persuasive elements: logical appeal, emotional appeal, and ethical appeal. My
goal was to persuade people to eat breakfast every morning. I went about doing
this by: 1. Giving people the facts about the health benefits of eating
breakfast, and thus making a logical appeal as to why they should rationally
partake 2. I gave people a general impression that eating breakfast makes you
feel good, thereby making an emotional appeal 3. I set eating breakfast in the
larger context of having a healthy diet in general, with its far reaching
implications for the health of society as a whole, thereby making an ethical
appeal.
In my conclusion, I gave a recap of all my main points, and even
referred back to the “game” I had in my intro; the faces, the distinction
between “good” people who eat breakfast and “bad” people who don’t. I posed the
question, which group would you want to be a part of? That was meant to leave a
lasting impression on the audience. I believe I was successful.
All in all, I’m very happy with my performance. My area of strength
was definitely my delivery. I really felt that I was able to communicate an air
of unwavering confidence and authority. I made sure to project myself and
suffuse my speaking with general enthusiasm. In contrast with my informative
speech, I also believe that I made improvements in terms of using “fillers;”
for my persuasive speech this time around, I used a far fewer amount. So that’s
one area where I was very happy to have improved. The one area I would say I
could still improve on is my over-reliance on my power point; having to refer
back to it in order to speak. I made consistent eye contact, but at the same
time I probably could have relied less on my power point. Emily actually made
the comment about using the power point less when she was evaluating that day.
Her comment was not directed at me specifically, but I definitely see where she
has a point. Nevertheless, in the end I’m satisfied with how I did, and I’m
confident that I’ve earned a high grade.
Interpretive Speech Materials
interpretive_speech.pdf | |
File Size: | 422 kb |
File Type: |
Informative Speech Materials
breakfast.pdf | |
File Size: | 1896 kb |
File Type: |
Persuasive Speech Materials
breakfast_2.pdf | |
File Size: | 2038 kb |
File Type: |