The presentations went well today. I enjoyed the topics that you chose and how well they were adapted to the audience's needs. The delivery techniques were a litte stronger as a whole this time too! You brought in some interesting academic research which was very good. We need to keep practicing how to use transitions better and how to fully cite conversationally to make for stronger presenations when focusing on credibility and understanding. Bravo!
Please post your self critique here. I want some details that move superificial comments in delivery. Please be sure to analyze the strength of your argument in both content and delivery. Post at least three strong improvments that need to be addressed and what your "game plan" is to improve on them in this post.
Due to the lateness of posting here, I will moving the deadline to Tuesday,
April 6th.
I think that overall, my group and I did a good job with this presentation. We had solid research, and were able to break up complicated information and statistics and make them comprehendible to the audience.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I feel that my delivery was pretty strong. I spoke a lot slower than the informative speech, and in fact was not criticized for my speaking speed this time. Personally, I still feel that I can take a deep breath and slow down, which is my first improvement that I need to work on. My biggest fault, I think, was not speaking enough on each point. I think some points of my argument were missed because of me assuming that the audience will remember something I spoke earlier about, or already know. This is definitely something I must improve on—I must make myself take the time to verify that I went over each point thoroughly, so that information is not missed or overlooked. The final improvement that I need to work on is my transitional use. I should have had stronger transitions, and also introduced my partner who was speaking next to make the transition stronger.
I feel that my group and I did an excellent job relating the unemployment bill back to the students in the classroom, but we could have had a stronger action step than just simply becoming more informed about politics and future bills. I am still confident in our speech, and am excited to keep on improving.
I felt more confident going into this speech; it might have been because I had a partner. Even though my partner was hidden by the computer, I sometimes feel better knowing that there is someone else up there too. On the first speech, I actually practiced too much so I worked on that this speech. I thought my deliver was better because it didn’t sound too rehearsed and over practiced. The best part of our presentation was definitely the information we got, regarding stats, quotes, and interviews. I thought the people we interviewed were really relevant to our topic. Also, the credibility we got from our sources helped to strengthen our speech, as well. Another thing I worked on was making sure I had better transitions this time. I practiced what transitions sounded the best with my points. I thought I did a good job of this during my second speech. I made sure all the main points connected with one another.
ReplyDeleteMy first improvement I want to make in future presentations is practicing more with my power point. When I was practicing I rarely practiced when to change slides, so I felt a little uncomfortable with that when I was giving my speech. Another improvement I should make for next time is not feeling so nervous. I thought my voice started to crackle because I got nervous. I should know for next time that there really is nothing to be nervous about. I need to take more pauses and I think that will help to calm my nerves. My final improvement is to make more connection with my audience. I thought I relied too much on my note cards. I should make better eye contact with everyone so they feel a stronger connection with me.
I think my speech topic was a good choice because it is an issue that effects people our age and is something we should all be aware of. I feel I did a good job adapting the topic to my audience by including statistics that were relatable to our age, demographic, etc. I also feel that I had great academic resources as well as great interviews. I spent a lot of time researching the topic so I could become a credible source on the subject. I believe one of the most important aspects of a persuasive speech is research and developing credibility which is exactly what I tried to do.
ReplyDeleteMy third strength is also a weakness. I improved my delivery on the persuasive speech because I slowed my voice down and spoke at a better pace. This was one of the critiques I received after my first speech which I wanted to improve on. However, because I concentrated on speaking slower, my speech ran long. This is one thing I need to be aware of and change for the next presentation. I need to practice my speech, time it, and adjust my information according to the time constraints. This leads me to my next area of improvement which is cutting out repetitive information. I believe I had a lot of wonderful information but I did not need all of it. I will work on editing my presentation next time. Finally, if I had the opportunity to re-present my speech, I would make sure I stated my second benefit in a clearer manner. This would have made my argument much more effective.
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed completing this speech. I am looking forward to the next speech where I will work on my weaknesses.
I was very intimidated by this speech and I believe my nerves may have got the best of me. However, my group put a lot of work and research into this speech so I think it was a success overall.
ReplyDeleteWhile I seemed to have turned down the volume of my voice since the informative speech I need to work on connecting with my voice. I think I was too focused on watching the volume that I did not consider the tone. In the next speech on need to focus on being conversational and really work on making my voice sound more natural. Also, with my nerves catching up with me I think I skipped over some things that I should have focused more on, like verbal citation and clearly going over each point fully. I also think the introduction was a little too choppy and working on a smoother transition between speakers would have really made the speech more professional.
Other than that I believe that the complicated subject my group took on was related well to the class as college students and upcoming college graduates. As well as being well supported with the interviews we conducted.
Personally I felt that this speech went much better than my first. I think that working with a partner helped with both my nerves and with being able to organize the information better. We put a lot of thought into how to present the information in such a way that it would be pertinent to the class since out topic was not one that many people new about before our speech. In terms of improvements we needed to work on our transitions, and I think we could have done that by practicing more which is something I will remember for future speeches, especially with partners. Also personally I felt a lot more dependent on my note cards than with the last speech which made me uncomfortable when presenting. For the next time I would rather know the information by heart than to have to rely on the note cards. And finally I think I had a much better tone and better expressions than I did for the first speech but I still have trouble remembering details, like how I am standing and my facial expressions when I present and that is something I need to improve for the next speech.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to really have a comment on this speech because of the timing of it. We were the last group to go and though we were given the option to go the next class, it seemed as almost a cop out. The ending of our speech was cut short and we were not given classroom feedback. I didn't use notecards too much and it was nice to have Stacie there to go from slide to slide, and I feel that we worked well together. I was much more confident and relaxed than with the first speech, and that is because I was working with someone. If I had to critique myself I would say that the pace was calm and smooth, the slides were structured well but the topic could have been developed more.
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ReplyDeleteOverall I thought I improved a lot with this speech compared to my first speech. For one, I took the advice I was given and did not worry so much about memorizing exact phrases and lines, and instead, I practiced ideas and concepts. This made me feel a lot more confident because I knew the material I was presenting, and if I were to mess up, I wouldn't lose my entire train of thought. Also, my partner and I had a lot more credibility and quotes to back up our presentation, which added to the quality and made it more interesting. Furthermore, I think I had a lot better stance than the first speech, where I was a lot more stiff and uncomfortable.
ReplyDeleteAs for weaknesses, I can still practice working with my nerves, as can everyone. Everyone always thinks they look a lot more nervous then they actually do, and I definitely need to remember that people are concentrating on my message and not me. Also, I need to make sure I scan the entire audience more instead of looking down at my notecards as much. Eye contact is very important in connecting with your audience and letting them know that you know your material.
Compared to the first speech, I honestly felt more prepared last time. I thought our topic was great & we researched a lot but we could have thought a little more about the actual presenting. We switched throughout the entire speech which was not supposed to be done but I thought we still made it work as good as we could. We both are very conversational and passionate speakers so even though I was fairly nervous with that mistake we made, we worked off of each other's energy and it flowed together.
ReplyDeleteFor the future, I know I have to work on my citations and use them better in the body of the speech, and also I need to become more comfortable presenting with a partner (I tend to go off on tangents sometimes when presenting alone).
I thought this speech was interesting. Both my partner and I had strong opinions and are good speakers. This topic was so close to me because of where I am currently interning. I see the types of cases that were mentioned in our presentation on a daily basis.
ReplyDeleteWe apparently, did not follow the correct guidelines. So, in the future it would be a good idea to make sure we are presenting what is asked of us and in the way the professor wants the information. I thought we handled our issues and nervousness well. I usually like to work alone because that is generally best for me. I need to work on not using my hands as much when speaking, which is extremely difficult because the hand gestures are so normal for me. I also need to work on citing verbally. This is a challenge because I am use to just speaking, citing in the bibliography section, and not having to worry about being specific with where I retrieved my information to my audience. I do however, understand the importance of verbally citing.
Because of the timing of our speech, we did not get to hear any critiques from the class. However, I think that there are a few things that could be improved for speeches in the future. We needed to have a more developed second problem. By stating the problem and how it related to everyone in the classroom would have been more effective. Instead, our second problem was more of an extension of the first. Another thing that I need to work on is not using phrases like “and other things like that” which aren’t descriptive and do not help the audience understand the topic more. Also, I improved from the last speech as far as verbally sighting goes, but I still feel that I needed to talk about my sources more so that the audience knew where my information was coming from.
ReplyDeleteI did however feel much more confident and relaxed when going to present and I think that this is because we had partners. It is much easier to try and relax when you know that you have someone standing next to you delivering the speech along with you. Since I was more relaxed, I realized that I was able to focus on the main points on my note cards rather than trying to remember what they said and then speaking without structure.
Overall I think that our group did really well with choosing our topic and getting out the main point that it is important to sign up and support causes like the Dance for Haiti.
Overall I feel like Corey and I did a good job in presenting out information. I certainly felt more prepared and knowledgeable compared to my last speech which was rushed due to illness.
ReplyDeleteI do feel I can still work on trying to relax myself. When i become overwhelmed I seem to stubble on my words even though I do know the information. I also feel as if I can still work on citing much better. Due to my illness I was not at class when this was discussed, and although I have gotten the notes, I still feel as if I am trying to learn just how this is supposed to be done. Finally, Corey and I switched back and forth once during our speech in hopes of making it sound more interactive, but this was not supposed to be done. Thus, in the future I would eliminate this and stick to strictly talking about my section of the speech.
I think my speech went quite well, and I felt more confident in my presentation skills this time. I believe my group did a very good job of tailoring the topic to the audience because the Student Activities Fund increase specifically pertained to TCNJ students in the classroom. We did a good job with our powerpoint in breaking down the information so it was easy to understand and the magnitude of the problem was apparent (i.e. using the pie chart). We used very good citations, both verbally and on the ppt, which made the speech more persuasive because all the numbers had a definite source. I also think we used good transitions moving back and forth between the 2 presenters.
ReplyDeleteI need to work on being more aware of my body language and posture while I present. I was crossing my legs the whole time and didn't really even realize it, so I need to find a stance that is comfortable for me. I still have a problem with the "ums" and I think practicing more and slowing down my speaking speed will help eliminate that problem. I think I did better this time in keeping the "talking with my hands" problem to a minimum, which came from being more aware of my nonverbal body language.
I think my group's presentation was very strong. We had a lot of good research and we did a good job relating the subject to the audience and establishing credibility with our sources. I think personally I have to work on the pace that I am speaking, because I tend to speak too quickly. Also, I need to get the hang of transitions and how to use them properly in a speech. I think I improved from the last speech because I had more research and I was much more organized for this speech.
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