I was actually extremely nervous for this speech because there was no way I could have practiced what I was going to discuss before the actual presentation. I did try to practice outlining random topics at home so I would at least be prepared to organize my thoughts quickly with whatever topic I was given in class.
I was given a slip of paper which simply read, "IMMIGRATION". I was actually a bit relieved because it was something that I could relate to. I started off trying to relate to the audience and open up about myself being an immigrant in the United States. I thought it added a personal touch and made the audience immediately be more tuned in because they know that the subject is something that matters to me, the speaker. I simply tried to show the audience that there was a problem with immigration and present a solution. That was the only thing that mattered to me.
In order to explain my stance, I tried to use as many sticky phrases as possible. "America itself is a melting pot", "Aren't we all technically immigrants?", "Educate society and then make laws" are just a few examples. I also tried to tell a story so the audience could relate the topic to their own lives.
The one thing that I could have improved on was prolonging my speech. I did not really have a sense of time while I was speaking up in front of the class and then realized I did not reach the time that we were allotted. I did try to say as few "UM"s as possible, but there were still a few that stuck in there. It's really interesting to see how nervous I was given that impromptu speeches are something that we do everyday of our lives. For aren't conversations always impromptu speeches in a way? But, the fact that we were given a topic to talk about made a huge difference and calling it a "presentation" added more butterflies in my stomach.
I think that if I make myself care for the topic and take a passionate stance on it, any impromptu speech that I'm forced to give will turn out fine. As long as I can truly show my audience that the topic is important and that it matters, I will be completely fine as a speaker. I hope I'll be able to lose the inhibitions I have in an impromptu speech, because in the end, it really is just a normal conversation with a group of people.
The personal anecdotes made this very compelling. If you ever have to do something like this again, you can easily eat up time by adding yet another anecdote at the end of the presentation--i.e. after you have delivered all your points but still have time to fill.
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