Rhetorical Interpretations Day 1

I was just looking over my past few speech blogs and like in my last critique one Anna's sticks out in my mind the most. First of all I think her topic was great. She really made Sojourner Truth's character and mind set understood and relevant to our audience. Her attention getter was good; it made you want to know who the person she quoted was talking about right away. It made it obvious that her topic would be surrounded by a struggle or controversy so it made you eager to hear more. She projected her voice clearly and the tonal difference between her speech and the interpretation was distinct. The interpretation was a little shaky though however I can imagine it is very difficult to speak in a different dialect as well as dealing with a speech that is somewhat incomplete. Overall it was well delivered speech.

My Informative Speech

Did anyone even get what I said because I was speaking super fast! I am so mad at myself for doing that! That's nervousness for you. Other than speaking too fast and ruining my time I think my speech went much better then the first one. My voice wasn't as shaky and I was more articulate (I think anyway). Also I stuck with my outline and didn't get lost anywhere which was good. Now looking back I probably could have had a little more information however I think my visual aides were strong. Unfortunately the power point bugged out and didn't change the slide to the more recent pictures of her automatically. Oh well! Oh yea and I don't think I "ummed" once. :)

Speech Day #2

Round two of the speeches. The one that sticks out in my mind is Anna's. I think the reason she sticks out is because her tone and projection were very clear and steady. It was easy to hear her so I could concentrate more on what she was saying, which in itself was very useful information. Not to mention humorous at times. I liked her approach to the speech. When I have heard people talking about organic food in the past it was more to push it on you for reasons I don't agree with but this definately was relevant to our audience because I'm sure everyone could eat a little healthier! Her visual aide could have been stronger and she was a little fidgety with her feet. But other than that I thought it was a well delivered speech.

Informative Speech Day 1

Overall I think everyone did well with the informative speeches today. I really liked Gaby's topic. It led us into a culture that if you are not a part of it may intimidate you. Although I was aware of some of the facts she informed us they were put in a new context, from their point of you. It was very refreshing. Although her timing was short I think that she did get all her points out there. Also she needed to speak a little louder - at times I was struggling to hear her. Her organization was very well done and you could tell - it made her more confident. Great job Gaby!

Monday's Speeches

Wow. The speeches on Monday had some heavy topics so props to everyone. The one that sticks out the most is Sophia's. The way she delivered her speech went very well with the stories she told. You could hear in her voice when she was being five and when she was being eleven. Her tone also went along with this - she was excited when getting into the characters and then she was somber when the more serious parts came. She was a little fidgety which was a bit of a distraction however at times it added to the energetic parts. Although she became choked up at the end I think it did not take away from the speech at all. Clearly Madeline was a very special person in Sophia's life. Her admiration and love for her definately showed through her words and emotions.

Thank God that's over with!

I don't know if anyone could tell by the look of horror on my face...but I was super nervous on Friday before, during and after my speech. However that was the first time I have ever written/given a speech before so I think that the second time around will be a little less nerve racking. I noticed I said "and um" a lot and every time I said it I was like crap! stop saying that! My delivery definately could have been stronger because I was so nervous that it seemed to keep me from concentrating on things like eye contact and articulation at times. I was happy overall though with the speech itself. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get my point across - it wasn't so much that she was pregnant rather it was focused on her choices and consequences...so I think I did successfully get that out there. For some reason I got more nervous the more I was up there so towards the end I became a little disorganized but I am glad that I didn't leave anything out that I wanted to say. All in all I guess it was a good experience now that it is behind me but thinking about it still makes me want to cry a little haha.

P.S. Thanks everyone for the feedback I appreciate it :)

What I Hope to Achieve

What do I want to achieve? Well for starters I would like to make myself more blog-friendly. I always mess these things up, get frustrated, and then vow to never visit that website again. So let's hope this blog goes better! However more importantly I have never written or given a speech before. The closest thing I have done is class presentations - verbal as well as ones with visual aids. I have a feeling though that this speech thing is going to be a bit different. What makes me most nervous is being able to write something that people actually want to listen to. So that's about it - just jumping into something new!