On February 27th, 2009 we, being my online communications 20 class, were asked to prepare a speech based on any cultural artifact we desired. A strong deliverance as well as thorough research would help to enhance the audiences' experience and was the main focus of the cultural artifact speech. To be honest, I was fairly satisfied with how I presented, knowing that I had practiced for a couple days ahead of time extensively. But as with every single speech and event out there, there was definitely room for a substantial amount of improvement that could have potentially made my speech more of a grade A level speech.

For this first time in my short history, I actually prepared diligently, but still late, a few days before the speech. With a stopwatch in hand and my powerpoint slideshow prepared on my laptop, I did a fair amount of test runs to get the timing down and to judge what was needed to be cut in my speech. Going up, I actually breathed more calmly and slower breaths to calm my nervousness. In all honesty, I never usually do the tactics that I did on February 27th, 2009, but I'm going to have to say that they are completely effective. I felt very comfortable and calm up in front of everyone.

There are several flaws that I definitely took notice while I was presenting my speech. One of the flaws was the habitual use of verbal fillers such as, "Um" and "Uh." I think after watching my personal video of how I presented, I see the difference and impact that the verbal fillers can have on our presentation. Secondly, I think my information seemed very basic and only touched the surface. Though we did have only about five minutes to present, I still feel that I could have delved deeper into a particular subject about Jeepneys. Another thing I felt that should have been improved was my lack of mention for source citations. Obviously, if I ever am to present a speech to a bigger public audience, citing my sources is going to be much more necessary, if not already. Lastly, I see my biggest flaw in the project of my voice. Believe it or not, I truly felt that I was actually speaking out louder than I should have, when it really sounds differently through the video. I didn’t feel upset or uncomfortable in front of people; I just never felt the need to up my vocal volume. I was always upstage with a microphone or some sort of amplifier to raise my volume automatically. I believe that making a change in all four of those departments would significantly enhance my overall grade.

What are the biggest changes that I will make for the next speech? In terms of content, I will be a little more specific, even though there may not be as much time, with certain topics, just to have a speech with depth, and in terms of delivery, it would definitely have to be the omission of verbal fillers, a projected voice and citing sources verbally or on the slideshow.
When I first popped in the video and pressed play, I immediately noticed my voice projection was weak. On top of that, the most distracting thing that I noticed was the annoying verbal fillers that kept coming up unconsciously. To add, I saw my voice projection just drown out my ums and uhs and unfortunately I think it greatly impacted the outcome and power of my speech. Just to reiterate, I would work heavily upon my voice projection, source citing, removing verbal fillers to further enhance my speech. All variables in a speech; preparation, support, delivery and organization, all aren’t perfect in my speech, and definitely calls for attention. As far as my eye contact goes, I would rate myself a seven or eight out of ten, because I remained consistent but did glance at my powerpoint presentation more then I should have. I believe that keeping your eyes on the audience will keep their eyes on you, which ultimately results in a much more powerful speech.

So what would I give myself in terms of grades for my speech? I felt a little confidence, and for a first speech in introduction to public speaking, I feel a solid B is what I would have received. I feel I prepared my speech and delivery well enough to merit a decent grade, and people will only learn from their mistakes. Experience through mistakes is the best and easiest way to become better in any skill, especially public speaking. I felt that my presentation never truly halted in the idea of forgetting what I wanted to say, particularly throughout the whole speech. I practiced enough for me to remember what would fit between four and five minutes with consistent talking. One other reason why I see myself with a B is that my information was strong, IN MY OPINION. I felt that even if the information wasn’t too diverse, it still provided a wide spectrum of ideas on a topic/object not often discussed about. I only verbally cited one of my sources once throughout my video, and even though they were cited on the slideshow, I believe that verbally citing them would have been more effective.

Overall my experience was a significant one in terms of presenting in front of an audience. I have never truly prepared for any speech before, and I must say that giving it my best has definitely provided a better outcome. Of course, I have my fair share of flaws that definitely leave room for improvement. As far as standing up in front of the class though, I was considerably comfortable and calm compared to my past years.