Self Evaluation Assignment #1

1) I think that I achieved the purpose of my speech fairly well. I had gotten through all of my points that I had, given enough information on the history and also demonstrated in good efficient order.
2) I felt as comfortable as I ever do when speaking in front of class. I was a nervous wreck! I was pretty confident in my speech because I did the research and work as well as practiced it many times but I am still nervous about talking in front of groups of people.
3) If I had to do it over again, my main fix would be my sources. I think I could have done a better job citing them and in the midst of my nervousness I forgot to use the sources or give credit to them during my actual speech. To fix that problem I would write them or a quote even on the note cards.
4)My one goal that I have in improving the context of my speech is to actually mention my sources during my speech. Like I said in the question before, I didn't do a very good job mentioning sources in my speech.
5) One goal I have in improving the delivery of my next speech is not to be so nervous because it make me overuse the non existent word "UUMM" and forget things. Maybe I will practice saying the speech in front of someone next time instead of by myself so that I can get used to someone watching me and that way I wont be as nervous.
6) After the speech, the first thing I noticed was that it was a lot faster than I had practiced it at home. When I practiced the speech at home, I was just under five minutes and worried about taking too long, however, my actual presentation was right on the dot of four minutes. I think that is because when you are speaking in front of the class, you tend to rush through it more.
7) I think I have a tendency to cross my legs and put my hands in tight fists while presenting because of the nervousness but other than that I don't think I did anything distracting during the speech.
8) On a scale of 1-10, I would give myself a 9 for eye contact. I wasn't amazing at it but I think I did pretty well. I memorized most of the speech and information so I didn't have to look down at my note cards much at all.
9) I unfortunately mentioned only one source, me. If that even counts.
10) I would give myself a B grade because I did a good job at getting my information right and my demonstration good but what killed me were probably the source citations. I maintained good eye contact, had a good outline and tried to keep my voice from shaking during the speech.

Reading chapter 7/8

In chapter 8, the book goes into detail about organizing your main points in pattern. After you select your main points, they need to be put in a clear pattern/order. The book talks about 7 different patterns you can use to organize your main points. To choose the correct pattern, you look at what your speech topic is. The seven patterns are: chronological, spatial, topical, narrative, cause-and-effect, problem-solution, and monroes motivated sequence. I think I am most familiar with chronological order, this is where you you organize it in a time sequence. For example, from a to b to c ext.. Its an order of doing things or explaining something from beginning to end. Used most commonly when your teaching or showing how to do something, or also used if you are explaining something from history,  you would start from one thing that led to the next.

Facts and Statistics

I find that giving facts and statistics are most affective when you are trying to persuade the audience to believe or do something one way. They may help because it will show the audience that you did your research and make your speech more believable in a way. No one for example will buy a $200 tooth brush unless there is research and logic behind why they should spend so much on a tooth brush. However, in order to do so, you must research the opposing side or in this case the regular $4 dollar one and see what difference there are between the two. When giving facts and statistics, it will not be helpful if you do not research the other or opposing side because it will make the audience question you and they may just look at it as a scam. Either way, I believe that looking into both sides of the story so to say, will make your speech seem a lot more believable and reliable.

Speech Buddy Videos

This weeks speech buddy videos were pretty informative what you should do in a speech and what you should try to avoid doing in a speech. What I found helpful was the transition phrases, they gave a lot of different ones, I had probably only known three good ones. I also thought that the speech buddy videos helped a lot in explaining how to use statistics and facts to benefit you in your speech. There are a lot of statistics out their but its also good to investigate both sides of the argument and in maybe using the opposing sides facts or statistics, you make your speech more credible. That way the audience sees that you did have an open mind about it and considered all the facts before coming to your conclusion. I especially liked the part where they showed how using examples can be tricky, not always beneficial and sometimes unrealistic. Never really though of it that way.

chapter 5 reading

I thought it was really interesting reading the story of how Michael Jordan messed up his persona with a bad speech! I never heard that story before. That is a great example of why audience analysis is so important. You can prepare for your speech all you want but if you dont take into account who your talking to then what you say when your presenting can turn out to be a huge flop. I thought it was very interesting that the book said that the speaker and audience are like partners. Its an interesting way to view it but a great way to put it also because no speaker no audience, no audience no speaker. It goes hand in hand. The book also said that what your speaking about has to apply to the audience and fit with their experience. I look at that as almost like having a conversation with someone, you wouldnt talk to your friend about something that offends them. Same concept works with audience, you want your audience to relate to you!

research interview

I havent really done any research interviews for class however I do something similar for work. In my dental office I am responsible for all the ordering and inventory. This requires me to make sure we are ordering good quality for a good price. There are so many different companies that I am able to order from so I have to sit down with reps and interview them to see which company has better costumer service and prices. I also have to compare and contrast all the companies before ordering from them. Not really sure if that counts as research interview but I think it kinda in a way does. My advice to anyone who has to do something similar for work is to remember that those companies want your business, so you have to make sure your getting your business the best deal. thats why researching and interviewing them is an excelent idea, you and your company will benefit from it!

Purpose and goal of your speech

In chapter 4, they go over the types of speeches there are and show how to get your point across for each type of speech. Seeing that its very easy to get off topic, I think that its an awesome idea to follow these guidelines. Once you figure out what your general purpose in the speech is, it shouldnt be hard to go off of it and pick a topic. The book talks about brainstorming and I personally love that idea! From past experiences, ive found this the easiest and most effective way to figure out what you want your topic to be and  what you want your main points off that topic to be. I also thought it was interesting that you can get an idea from a picture or photo. Visual aid is a great way to help yourself and others understand the topic better. I know that brainstorming works best for me so I will most likely be doing that and recomend ffor anyone who hasnt tried it to give it a shot!