We Made It!

This speech was a lot different for me personally. At first it wasn’t different, and then Sunday occurred, where I crashed my bike in my cycling race. Not only was it a tremendous let down, but I was pretty beat up, and took it easy for the two day gap leading up to the speech. But I did not want that to hinder my speech. I was aiming to physically overcome the visible issues with my face, relax, and present the speech effectively. I wanted a smile on my face when discussing how the Celtics captured the Championship. Emotionally, I wanted to portray a sense of happiness as the Celtics made their quest to be the best team in the world. I wanted the audience to know that it wasn’t easy, and the whole team needed to commit to their goals.

            I think this speech round turned out to be my best. I felt very relaxed, physically and emotionally. The fact that I had a little extra time to prepare was very helpful, as I could better plan out my speaking strategy. I felt like my speech was far more fluent than my more recent speeches, and the format was more clear. Emotionally, I think I connected pretty well with the audience. You could see the smiles in some of their faces when talking about specific players or events that occurred. I also think the questions that followed assured me that I garnered their attention in the speech, and that, if nothing else, they were paying attention.

            I learned that a little preparation combined with relaxation goes a long way. I tend to be very uptight when it comes to public speaking. I have that anxious, stressful feeling, not only in public speaking, but in a lot of things in life. My goal, for future speeches outside the classroom, is to continue to take all of the strategies I’ve learned in this class to make speeches that will be an effective use of my time and the audience’s time. I’m also going to look to better use speaking cards. I either write too little on them when I need them more or too much on them when I use them less. With better preparation, I will be able to effectively use them and thus, continue to efficiently make speeches.