Blog Post #5

What I believe I did well in my speech was efficiently communicate this unique culture that I found within army ROTC. I felt as thought the organization of my piece was thoughtful in order to aid and enhance my underlying theme of emotion and relationships I discovered. I did find myself getting choked up on my words occasionally but I feel the audience could also tell that I came prepared. There were parts within my speech that made it apparent I knew what I was talking about; however, there were also a couple of transition areas I struggled on. I need to make sure that I practice transitioning my ideas smoothly and confidently. I also should have used more eye contact. In watching myself, I found I was looking at the PowerPoint frequently or hiding my nose in my notecards. I thought I did very well with my tone and volume; however, I could have slowed down my pace at times to add stress to the main parts of my argument. In order to improve for further speeches I need to concentrate on keeping my head up and making sure I am looking at the audience more. I need to avoid looking back at my PowerPoint too many times. Another improvement I need to make for the future could be to incorporate more movement as I am speaking. In watching myself I noticed that I remained stationary throughout the whole speech when I could have displayed a more confident image through moving through the room. Lastly, I could improve my PowerPoint in a way that requires less use of the clicker so I don’t find myself paranoid that slide will not be on the correct point or bullet. In total the speech truly wasn’t as scary as we all thought it would be and despite all of the improvements I need to make I am happy with how it went.