Informative speech.

During my informative speech, I had felt that I may have relied too heavily on my outline. The way I remember presenting the personal speech, I felt that the outline I had used there gave more room for extemporaneous structure. Basically, it had felt more fluid. I had tried to give the audience transitions within the outline, between sections, but felt that they were lost on my delivery. I noticed other classmates had visual aids which incorporated the outline into them, and felt that it had been an effective approach. I had considered accompanying my speech with powerpoint statistics, but felt that I wouldn't have had time to really explain them in enough detail to incorporate them. I later regretted that, as my dry, slightly disconnected delivery could had something visual to lean on. Instead I only used one visual aid to emphasize a small point in my topic. Ultimately, not an effective choice. In introducing my topic, I think I may have incorporated too many small details that could've been left out. I think I may have written out a better introduction and conclusion than I may have actually delivered, I tried to suit the presentation to the knowledge of my classmates, which is why I didn't want to alienate them with confusing statistics to back up vague points. I can definitely see the need to improve on my vocal delivery, and posture, as it may have been distracting during my speech, as well as giving the impression of a lack of credibility; which, coupled with the subject matter of drugs, gives off an slightly embarrassing impression to my classmates. I think I should probably practice more for my next speech.

Personal Speeches

So yesterday morning I went and gave my speech about cranky New Yorkers and becoming a cranky New Yorker myself. While I was preparing for the speech I was excited about how much information I was able to cohesively string together, with seemingly little effort. My roommates and I had a fun discussion about our various interactions with New Yorkers, and came up with several examples or reasons for discussed crankiness, besides the one I finally used in my speech: traffic.

Some examples included peoples' horrified reactions when asking for directions to Houston (when pronounced Houston, TX) Street, or the inability for anyone in the greater metro area to find a bathroom when needed.

It became clear that some editing had to have been done. Trying to maintain some of the decorum of speech-giving, I'd decided it would be better to deal with technical examples, such as traffic patterns and population density, rather than juvenile pee-pee jokes.

By the time my speech was prepared, and I felt ready, I was hit full force by a head cold, leaving me bedridden for several days before the speech. I had considered potentially e-mailing Professor Hilborn, asking if I could go on Thursday, but had decided that it would've probably been a rare exception to make. One that would have probably been made already.

Without leaving my apartment, I had tried to get my roommate's printer to work on my computer, but could not get the drivers to download within a week, let alone that night. So, I had decided to wait until the morning, get an early start, and head to the school library before class to print my assignment.

With a brand new box of Tylenol "SEVERE HEAD CONGESTION" and the inability to hear out of my right ear, I had gathered my belongings and headed to the school library, only to find that I was completely incapable of figuring out their printing system in the 30 minutes I had allotted myself before class.

Kicking myself as hard as I could with every step, I ventured to my speech class with only my unrevised original draft of my outline, scribbled in frantic excited print in my notepad, and the document sitting on my computer, which I wouldn't DARE bring in front of the class with me to give a speech. I had hurriedly copied the revisions I had made onto the old outline as quickly as I could before the first speech of the day began.

By the time I had been called to talk, I had finally settled on my situation and had to the best of my ability, gone over all of the individual little lines I had thought of to exemplify my point in my head. It was time to go.

While giving the speech I had tried to make myself aware of every noise that was coming out of my mouth, but couldn't stop myself from nervously interrupting myself with an "um" here, or a self doubting roll of the eyes there. By the time I had gotten to the end of my speech I had forgotten entirely the firm points in the cyclical argument that I was making. I looked down at my notes, to try and save some of the coherent, pseudo-articulate conclusion I thought I had made, only to let out an abbreviated mumbled version out. My nerves had won... but the speech was done.

It was a relief to find that I hadn't been the only one to stumble slightly over my words, and felt to some degree, satisfied that I had gotten my point across. All that was left was to listen to the remaining speeches... which were exciting to hear. Everybody's personal relationship with The City of New York had a unifying quality, that despite everybody's differences within the classroom, we're working towards a common goal. I have a bad habit of forgetting my classmates names, but I found Demea's speech, (if I remember the young ivory coast native's name correctly), especially charming. I was also glad to see how interested my classmates were in each others' speeches, which makes the entire experience slightly easier on the nerves... which I have far too many of.