Presentation Zen Speech: Crafting the Story

First, I just have to say that I had a great time putting these slides together! I love looking up pictures and playing around on Powerpoint. I really focused on trying to get the essence of PresentationZen and tried to make my slides as eye-popping as I could get it to be.

I definitely think I have improved from my first speech. I was more prepared for what I was going to say and didn't look down at my notes at all until a little bit at the end. I still came across as confident (probably because our class is such an inviting audience) even though I always get the jitters on the walk to the front of the classroom.

In terms of being prepared- I thought my slides were pleasing to the eye and were great supplements to my oral presentation. I tried my best to make them relevant AND interesting so the audience would unconsciously stir up some emotions while I was speaking. I also tried to give as many examples and stories as I could in order to drive my points home.

I could definitely spend more time practicing, however. I need to improve the process of how I go through my presentation from slide to slide so that I am always actively interacting with the audience. Finally, I need to cool down on the "UMs"! I didn't realize I say "UM" so much while speaking. That is one thing I will work hard on fixing by the end of this semester. I think I use it as a filler word while I am gathering my next burst of speech. I may need to record myself while practicing now so I can count how many times I say it before my next presentation...

Baseline Speech: how many of you hate children?

So considering that it was the very first speech of the semester in front of an unfamiliar audience (and it also being my very first day in the class!), I thought that my baseline speech went fairly well. I have always heard that I am a bit aloof and more "rigid" when I get nervous and I could definitely tell that I myself was trying to play it cool when I was up at the podium. Deep down, I'm desperately hoping that the other students won't be judging me for the way I talk or look. First impressions mean a lot!

My very first speech was on how some parents needed to control their children and learn when and when not to lug your kids around. I'll start with the negative elements (as always). I definitely could have been more prepared for the actual speech-presenting part by practicing more! By the time I got to the second page, I lost track of where I was on my paper and had to improvise a lot more than I had planned. Being more prepared and having the speech memorized would have made me look down less and be greeted with a mouthful of my bangs. It definitely took a toll on my audience interaction since it was a) distracting and b) I lost my eye contact with them!

However, I thought there were a lot of things that went well too! Looking back at the video footage, I can tell I sounded confident about the topic and was personable. The speech was easy to understand and I kept asking the audience questions to keep them interactive. I was happy that my hook was humorous both times the audience heard it and caught their attention. Finally, I think that my topic was interesting to a lot of people because it was unexpected. We usually are inclined to love children and think they are the most precious things on Earth, but it was fun to take a different stance on the little ones for once! I hope that the speeches to continue this semester will be better and I will be able to get to know my audience quite well. I'm really excited to see what the end product of this course will be, but I have a feeling that I'm going to enjoy this. :)