Overall, I thought my speech on coffee went well. I felt prepared and not too nervous, which is a win on its own in the context of public speaking. Though the video of myself is difficult to hear at times, I do feel like I projected well and spoke with a full sound, which helps present an air of confidence as well. Similarly, though the video does not show it (the podium was in the way), I remember moving my hands and giving gestures as I spoke, which I thought helped make the speech just a little more engaging.
One thing I need to improve on was eye contact. I did reference my notes a bit too much, I feel, and that may have been distracting or at the very least, not engaging to the audience. Proper eye contact, too, gives an impression of confidence, which helps in public speaking scenarios. I also could improve on moving on from mistakes; a few times I said “um” or repeated my sentence. It would be more professional to be a little bit more “off the cuff” and make any transition between a mistake and the rest of my speech more smooth. For example, if I started one of my sentences incorrectly, I could have rearranged what I wanted to say so that it continued smoothly.
Watching myself was a weird experience. I did not know how often I would move my head or eyes, and how at certain points it almost looked like I was moving my head just because I didn’t want to move my feet. I need to work on having an even posture, and not moving my gaze so much. I was trying to make eye contact with the majority of the class, but it would be better if I focused in one general area, I think. Because I couldn’t see my hands in the video, I have no idea if I moved them too much as well. Judging by how fidgety I was on camera, I would assume so. I also didn’t realize how little inflection I had, at least from the sound in the video. I need to work on varying my tone, which inevitably will make my speeches in the future stronger as well. Looking at the length of the video, too, I wasn’t aware that I spoke for about five minutes. I actually had worried that I got up there and spoke much too quickly, around two and a half minutes; being amped up to give that speech made time pass very quickly while I spoke. For the next speech I give, I should be better prepared in terms of how long I am going to speak for and how I am going to pace my words.