Speech Reflection

I performed a speech about why teenage relationships are beneficial on November 1st, 2016 in front of my speech class. Public speaking is something that I had been practicing since I was in the sixth grade, however it is apparent that I continue to struggle with nerves. When my teacher called my name, I realized that I was shaking and trembling pretty badly. I told myself I had practiced beforehand and I knew what I was doing. There are many things I noticed while reviewing my speech, critiquing my own speech performance does not seem to be a problem. As I watch the video of my speech I can see the things I have improved on, on the other hand I can also easily point out things that I want to continue to enhance. I walked up to the podium and took a big deep breath, I wanted to ensure I did not speak fast by slowing my heart rate down. As I re-watch my speech over-and-over I try to pay attention to the big problem I was trying to avoid during my speech, the word “um”. I am very pleased with the fact that I did not cram this forbidden word in as much as I had the last speech. I know from personal experience that when I am trying to gather information from a speaker who says “um”, I get easily distracted and start counting every time this word is said. I plan to get to a point in my public …show more content…
Overall I did an excellent job, it was the longest speech of the year and I delivered the information properly. There were also many things I observed that make me want to work on for my future public speaking experiences. There are always ways to improve on a skill, no matter how good you may think you are at it. By increasing my voice volume and taking out the forbidden “um” from my messages I can start to enhance my speaking skills in a different way. I plan to take time to surpass my own expectations for my next speech by polishing the skills I already