Self Evaluation 2

One more down, 2 speeches to go. I have to admit that so far I am finding this class both harder and more fun than I thought it would be. I get so worked up before every speech that it forces me to forget everything else I am stressed out about. With Mondays speech I would say I did a better job than the last one, but I still have some things to work on. I think I achieved the purpose of my speech, to teach about Square Foot Gardening. I was nervous, but not as nervous as the past 2 speeches. I could actually look around the room and feel like I was somewhat in control of what I was doing. My one big challenge now is to overcome my nerves enough to make my speeches conversational. I find that I am so jittery that the best I can do is to practically memorize my speech, then rattle it off. I know that affects my speaker audience relationship as several of my comments said that I needed to speak in a more conversational tone. Next time I will practice more for different people and I think that may help me get over the nervousness of presenting. I think my content is pretty good, writing the speech/outline is my favorite part. If only someone else could present it! As far as delivery is concerned I hope to be more natural, and to be able to relax to the point that I feel like I am talking to a group of friends. This speech was better than the last because I practiced with my power point much more and I timed myself every time I practiced. I did look at the power point slides, which could have been distracting, during some of my speech. I would give my eye contact an 8. I thought I deserved a high B or low A for my speech. I would say everything was good except my delivery, which could be more casual. I mentioned 3 sources in my speech. I would definitely say this speech was better than the last. I practiced more with my props, timed myself, and was a little less nervous. I think dimming the lights helped too!

Chapter 11 Thoughts

For me reading Chapter 11 was very helpful because while I feel pretty comfortable with writing my speeches and doing the outlines, using presentational media is something I do not know much about. I did not realize the range of things that count as presentational media, such as handouts, using a model, or chalkboards. I mostly think of slides and computer images as presentational media. I like handouts when they are provided to enhance a speech, but as the book pointed out they need to be used at the proper time. Before the speech is distracting, as well as during, so at the end is usually the best time for a handout. My husband is in the Air Force and he attends lots of meetings that use power point slides, and he warned against "death by power point." Some speakers misuse presentational media to the point where their speech either becomes boring or overwhelming with images and animations. He says it makes a meeting pretty miserable when a speaker over does it. I feel better about my speech tomorrow night having used some of the pointers in the chapter. I tried to make my slides very brief, highlighting only the main points. I also used images that I could not describe in words. My main concern right now is that I am going to forget to change the slides. We'll see tomorrow night!

Pubic Speaking Using Presentational Media

I have had a fairly recent experience with using presentational media-- in fact it was a few weeks ago and it was my first time using Power point. My organic chemistry class had to do a little project where we were each given a sugar to research, create a power point for, and present our findings for the class. I did my undergraduate work a long time ago. Specifically about 14 years ago. At that time there was no power point. I have been back in school for a few years but I have not had to do any projects using power point until this year. Needless to say I am a little behind the times. For my power point I was far too simple. I put my main points on my slides with no colors or bells and whistles. I did not know how to do any of the extra things, and I had very little time to put it together. I was not proud of my work! As for everyone else in the class there were lots of different styles of speaking and using power point. Now that I think of it it was a great way to see what works and what doesn't. Some people definitely overdid their power points. They used all the twirly, colorful, animated features and their content and speeches were lost due to the distraction. Then there were the people who had so much text that you couldn't possibly read it, and they were facing the screen reading it off of the slide for their entire speech. Also not very effective. The best presentations were the ones with just a few main bullets per slide, some sort of visual to make the content make more sense, and speakers who talked facing the audience and basically elaborated on what was on each slide. I feel much better this time around using power point, luckily my husband uses it for work all the time so he was able to help me figure out how to incorporate images and animations. Its easy to depend too much on presentational media and let it be your entire speech. I think in many ways it can detract or distract from what you have to say. Getting the right balance of reviewing your main points and having something visual to make your speech more interesting is the key to proper use of presentational media.

Ethical Use of Presentation Media

With the wide range of presentation media available to public speakers today, there are definitely advantages and disadvantages to using them. As with research using the internet, using audio and visual files should be done with care. One concern is whether the video or audio clip is legitimate. There is so much available on the internet and a lot of it has been enhanced or is completely false, so the speaker has an ethical responsibility to check the validity of any media they are choosing to use. Video and audio clips are sometimes used to elicit an emotional response. The speaker must choose carefully and make sure that while eliciting this response the clip is not offensive or too strong of a message. As far as being able to alter visual, audio,or taped media it is clear what the ethical responsibility is. The speaker has a message to offer the audience, and the purpose of presentational media is to enhance the message. The audience needs to be able to trust that any audio, video, or taped conversations incorporated in the speech are true to their original intent and content. Anything that needs to be altered to fit a speech should not be used in the speech. When using citations within a speech the audience is under the impression that you are directly relating what you learned from your source. In the same way your presentational media should be passed on conveying what the original content was. Any alteration makes the source invalid. In order to give an honest, strong, clear message the speaker needs to make sure that any videos, sound bytes, or taped conversations have not been altered to fit the speech.

Chapter 13 Thoughts

With our next speech being our Informative speech, Chapter 13 was very helpful to read. I was having a hard time coming up with a topic and trying to define the difference between an informative speech and a persuasive speech. In my brainstorming process I kept mixing the two up by trying to convince my audience to do what I was speaking about. The Chapter mentions this as being something that often happens with informative speeches. I also liked reading about the different patterns to use for writing an informative speech. I tend to just go for topical, but chronological, cause and effect, spatial, and narrative are also choices. Choosing a pattern that fits your topic is important. For instance, if you are doing a speech on something that happens over a period of time chronological is a good way to organize you speech. A narrative speech is a creative way to inform your audience, using a story or a few shorter stories to convey your topic. Cause and effect is good for speeches about events. It can show what caused the event to happen and the relationships among the occurences that led up to the event. Spatial is helpful if there is a geographic element to your speech, such as when your topic is about people of a certain region or animals in a particular country. Topical to me is the most basic structure. It is simple dividing your speech into main topics that serve to help explain your overall topic. It is important to choose a pattern and stick to it to give your speech a flow of events that fits your topic. My next speech is going to be topical, because it is the pattern I am the most comfortable with for now. 

Introductions and Conclusion

An effective introduction begins with an attention getter. This aspect of writing a speech is one of my favorites because it involves being creative and thinking outside of the box of how you are going to arrive at your topic. Introductions should also indicate your purpose, establish credibility and review your main points. Achieving each of these steps is crucial to how much the audience is going to get out of your speech. Having an idea about what you are going to talk about helps the audience tune in, while reviewing the main points gives them a framework to be ready to listen for. Without credibility they would have no reason to listen to what you have to say-- providing evidence that you know what you are talking about will get their attention. For my informative speech my intro begins like this:        Who doesn’t miss the joy of being a child and digging in the dirt, feeling amazed at learning how the world works, and being completely at peace just being outside. (Attention Getter) My purpose is: Starting a vegetable garden can be overwhelming, but using the square foot gardening technique can help you start your own simple, affordable, low maintenance and productive garden. (Thesis) To establish credibility I wrote:  From 1982-86 he had a gardening series which aired on PBS and had the highest rating of any garden show of that time (Bartholomew, 1981).(Establishing Credibility)  My preview of main points is as follows:

Today I am going to teach you the basics for starting a square foot garden: a raised bed, the right soil, and most importantly the square foot organization for planting your vegetables. (Preview of Main Points)

        Conclusions are basically retelling what you told the audience in your speech. When you end the speech you want to review your main points, reinforce your purpose, and let the audience know that you are finished. My conclusion for our next speech is:

     There are many benefits to having your own vegetable garden. Square foot gardening is an efficient way to use the space you have for vegetables, it is economical and easy to get started.  As I have shown you today all you need is a box, the right blend of dirt and compost, and the square foot organization for planting your vegetables. With square foot gardening you can start small and have plenty.

I review my main points, reinforce my topic, and have a closing statement. Ending the speech effectively is just as important as setting it up well in that it is the last impression the audience has of your intentions.