- What do you feel you did well on?
I feel that overall I gave a pretty solid presentation. I was proud of my slide organization/design, and believe that it provided a helpful and insightful additional resource to my argument. Additionally, I think my introduction was strong and did a good job of previewing my speech’s points. I went into great detail and depth describing not only the controversy and broken precedent surrounding the love story itself, but also the historical context and kairotic moment in time in which the film was produced. I did a good job pacing my speech, and staying on topic while not reading an exact manuscript of the speech. Overall, while it was mildly stressful to present on Zoom, I believe I did my best and am proud of the speech I delivered.
- What are some areas to improve?
While I do think that my speech was something to be proud of, there were a few areas that could use some improvement. For one, while the actual pacing of each of the points was adequate, while watching my speech I felt my delivery was a bit rushed. Whether this is because I am a naturally fast talker or because I was nervous to accidentally run over the allotted time (if given the space to, I could talk about Casablanca for hours), in the future I will be sure to pay extra attention to my speed. Additionally, I used filler words like “uh” or “um” a bit too often. It was a little nerve-wracking for me personally to present on a computer as I am used to being able to gauge my audience’s reactions to what I am saying in real time, and for this reason I hesitated a bit more and my voice was slightly shaky at times. While there were minor cosmetic flaws in my delivery/physical presentation, I feel that the content of my speech was solid and did a good job of analyzing the classic film we know and love today.
- What are three things that happened that you weren’t aware of?
For one, I had my laptop on my lap while I was presenting and did not realize how shaky the camera ended up being because of this. My bad! Additionally, I noticed that I played with my hair quite a bit while I was speaking. This wasn’t necessarily a nervous habit, but rather I was not having a good hair day and it distracted me while presenting. Finally, although I was a bit nervous to perform my speech over Zoom, I observed while watching it back that I actually seemed quite confident in what I was saying and delivered a solid argument. In the end, my passion and love of Casablanca washed away any nervousness and uncertainty I was feeling beforehand.