Informative Speech Reflection

Going into the speech, I was really excited to be speaking about drugs in baseball. It’s a prevalent issue that still has lingering effects from the “Steroid Era”. To start, I looked to get the audience interested on the topic by humor. I talked about the “Mac Attack Bat”, which was an old childhood toy that used to crush the cover off of a wiffleball. Then, I wanted to transition into the speech with a more serious tone. Physically, I looked to continue scanning the room, making eye contact with people in the classroom to make sure I had their attention. I also wanted to make sure I wasn’t leaning on the table, or having my hands in my pockets. Something that I’ve learned is that it seems easier to maintain attention when the speaker is using their hands, making gestures, as opposed to standing with their hands in their pockets.

Generally, I think I did a good job completing my goals for this speech. I sort of lucked out after having the battery of the recording device fill up because I was able to joke around a little bit prior to the speech. I like to do this because I think it loosens me up a little bit, and since the beginning of a speech can be a little nerve-racking, it’s good to feel a little looser. Listening back to the tape, I think my tone could be a little clearer. Additionally, I use a lot of “umm” and “uhh” in my speech, and I tend to stutter over my words a little bit. Those are some things I should look to improve upon. But overall, I felt okay about this speech. In regards to the audience, I think I was able to connect very well with them. They had several questions at the closure of my speech, and seemed attentive while I gave it.

I think what I learned the most came from the recordings. I feel my speech can be smoother, so maybe what I can do to correct that is prepare my transitions better. Additionally, I was about 10 seconds over the time limit, so I should also plan the timing of my speech better. I think I made better use of my notecards this time around since I actually used them, so I never really struggled to remember what I was saying. Because it was a longer timeframe to work with, I think I assumed that I could take my time at the beginning, which ultimately was why I went over the time limit. Thus, I believe that after this speech, two things I need to focus on are time management and the fluency of my speeches.