As someone with major anxiety about public speaking, the rhetorical analysis speech made me uncomfortable beyond belief. As I watch back my speech, I can see how uncomfortable and static I seem. However, my peers were all very kind in their words.
I believe I did very well in terms of my content and explanation or analysis. I did put a lot of work into researching the topics I discussed and choosing which words I use in certain places. I believe that my visuals were another positive reinforcement of the concepts I presented.
There are a few aspects of my public speaking abilities that can be improved. For this project, it was hard to select the most important topics. For example, I wanted to discuss more David Keene’s warped ethos but did not have the time allotted. I believe that because I had so many different things I wanted to talk about, my speech could become an awkward place in certain parts. I do not think I kept the pace of my speech at a consistent rate. I also know that I tend to fidget with my hands while speaking, and I understand that this could be distracting. In addition, I tend to say “like” and “um”, which could throw off the pacing.
I could learn a great deal from my peers’ speeches. All of the people in my group had different moments or actions that made their speeches spectacular. For example, Gabe used his visuals so effectively. Or Justin, whose arrangement and flow were amazing. Or Chris, who was passionate about the content of his speech; made the audience care about his artifact. If I were able to adapt these skills from my peers’, my public speaking would be taken to the next level.
As someone who also hates speaking in this manner, I totally sympathize with you. I can’t wait to see what you come up with for the TED talk in Unit 2, as the longer duration will definitely allow you to flesh things out to a greater degree, which was a limitation of this shorter format.
Your preparation for this speech was really well done and it showed! Do not sell yourself short of how well you did. I believe you definitely chose one of the most powerful artifacts of the class and captured it well. Can’t wait to see you next presentation!
Just like Gabe said, you chose and outstanding artifact to talk about. It demonstrates real emotion, real situations, and real creativity. You perfected your ideas and hit on all the notes that a rhetorical speech would talk about. I agree with one for your critiques, that of a lack of emotion. Not stating that you were heartless during your speech, but adding more emotion would had driven this speech all the way. Of course still a great speech, however, adding emotion to it would of made it perfect. On that note expecting a near perfect ted-talk coming up soon.