Speech Analysis

Watching myself give a presentation was a first for me. Throughout high school and even first semester, I have given many speeches, but never reviewed them. Truthfully, immediately after giving my speech, I felt that was one of the better speeches I have given. After reviewing my grade and being a little unhappy with the outcome I watched the video of my presentation to see some flaws I had during my presentation. Some things I noticed that I should work on for the next and future speeches are as followed:

1.     Beginning my speech, I was a little dependent on my notecards. Looking at my notecards the very beginning of a presentation is never a good first impression on the audience.

2.     My stance was awkward. I have found myself to cross my legs during times of stress. I feel as though by a slow pace or movement I will not feel the need to stand cross-legged during presentations.

3.     As stated in my rubric, I had a bit of a monotone throughout the speech. Even a little pep during the stories I told would have given a better reflection on how these stories impacted my life and were worthy enough to tell the class.

4.     Going hand-in-hand with my tone of voice, were my hand movements. There was little to no natural hand movements given during my speech. I feel that the more I present to the class, the more comfortable I will feel and with that, natural hand movements will occur.

5.     I repeatedly said the word “um.” Obviously I did not notice myself saying this while presenting but the more I practice, the flow of the speech will be better and less awkward pauses for “um” to happen.

Although there were things that I could improve on I felt that my volume and overall assignment to present to the class were well done.