Sanjay Gurung

I found that presenting to my classmates either through a monologue, or a personal speech was challenging but rewarding. The main difference in my experiences between the two different presentations was how I prepared for each one. For the monologue, I had to put myself into the character’s shoes and present to my classmates, in a way such that they saw me as the character I was portraying and not as me. So I tried and had to show fabricated emotions that went with the monologue. On the other hand, for my personal speech, my emotions were real and authentic. Everything that I said came from heart and this made it easier for me to present than the monologue which I had to “fake” myself through the assignment.  Watching myself presenting my personal speech was weird but the things I saw me do or not do was valuable. For example, I thought I had eye contact with my audience for most of the speech.  However, the video showed me that I did not have as much eye contact as I thought . I also saw that i was a little too reliant on my index cards and fidgeting several times during my speech. Nevertheless, apart from my flaws, I also saw my strengths. I noticed that my pace was consistent, and my volume was at the right point. I felt that my conclusion was effective as I managed to end my speech on the tone that I wanted. Therefore, I am quite satisfied with my presentation, but I know I can do even better. Improving my stance and having more eye contact are aspects of my presentation skills that I want to improve.  Some effective and good qualities in my classmates’ personal speeches that attracted my attention were their vocal variety, attention grabbers, and the use of emotions. In a lot of their speeches, the progress of their stories kept me engaged and made me want to know what happened next.

The image above is of Oprah Winfrey in her commencement speech at Spelman College. Her palms are faced outwards and towards the audience. She is using this physical motion to keep the audience engaged in her speech. This image relates to my point of keeping the audience engaged in our speech and the above motion is one of many methods to do so.

• The difference I saw between the monologue and the personal speech was that I could play a lot more with the emotions of the monologue, making the character sound like anything I wanted to. In the personal speech, I lived through the event so there was no point in pretending to be anyone but me. I also found myself approaching the two speeches differently, for the monologue, making sure I had everything memorized so it sounded good, while for my personal speech I could  rearrange the words and change how I wanted them delivered because, I came up with them.
• I have terrible stage fright so watching myself give my speech was a whole new level of nerve-wracking. At first I could only pinpoint the bad things in my speech like the fact that my voice sounds so much weirder on camera.  I realized later, that it’s not as bad as I thought it would be. There are things I need to work on, but it wasn’t tragic. It really does help a great deal to see oneself and pick apart the speech to work on the mistakes.
• I think that a lot of the classmates are too self-deprecating when it comes to their performances. We’re not professionals, but I think it’s an easy group to be comfortable around so a great quality of many is that their deliveries have great eye contact and gestures. What I think that many of us have to work on is  the speech fluidity, so if we forget something or make a mistake, we don’t let the audience know of the error, and just continue.

• The picture below, pretty much explains what is going through my head as I am presenting.  I want to come off confident and sure of myself, but on the inside I am just hoping I don’t make a mistake or pass out.  “What I think I do” is a good example of how silly I feel going up with the audience looking at me, waiting for me to start. The reality isn’t really that scary, as represented in the picture,  and it’s a good thing to remember when the nerves kick in.

• Before presenting my personal speech, I thought that it would be much easier than the monologue because it was my own story. However, I learned that this was not true. In the end I actually found the monologue to be somewhat easier because what we had to say was written for us. Where the personal speech, we had to think of everything to say, ourselves. It was also much more nerve-racking to present the personal speech because I didn’t want people to think that I was telling them to look for sympathy.

Alex Abramov

The main difference between the monologue and personal experience for me came down to the point of view. When practicing the monologue, I’d try to imagine myself as the character. It would pretty much be me reading straight off the page. In the personal experience, it came down to getting my message across in my own words. As I practiced I’d try to limit myself from looking at the index card.

After watching the video of me, I have to say that I was under-prepared. I caught a bit of this while I was presenting, in the form of me not being able to speak smoothly and without glancing at the index cards.  I definitely needed to practice more. I also noticed my speech was a bit monotone. Once again, I can trace this back to the fact that I wasn’t delivering a message, but instead just repeating words.

The biggest factor in catching my attention was the passion displayed by my classmates’ for their experience. When they read like it was important, it made me just want to keep watching. A few of the speeches had moments where they went off point, and that formed a sort of block in the message.

  This picture resembles the mental blocks that happened while I was presenting. The road is the message, and the wall is usually me freezing up trying to remember the next point. Hopefully next time,  I could remove, or at least decrease the size of, the wall by practicing more.

•      The first prevalent difference between the speech and monologue is that the Speech takes more preparation. For the monologue you’re emulating and portraying a character, for the speech you’re sort of being your own. I thought I did well on the monologue but my delivery for the personal speech was less effective. It was easier being another person than being myself in front of a crowd of people.
•     Honestly, it’s just embarrassing to watch at first. I did take away some valuable notes from this. I need to correct certain parts of my posture and my vocal pitch stays too low at times. The part that assailed of the effectiveness of my own speech was the use of filler words. Every time I heard myself use “uh” I didn’t want to listen to myself speak. I think I sent my speech to the grave with how many times I used “uh.” I was satisfied at certain points in my speech where I thought I was convincing, I also thought I had an overall good pace.
•      Qualities in my classmates that made their speeches engaging was their use of vocal variety and tone. Most of them had a interesting content and felt comfortable enough to share their stories. Most were straight to the point and it was easy to follow. There were a few who, dragged on and either spoke too slowly or too quickly.
• 
  Stated earlier my use of “uh” and not being able to connect my points quick enough really sent my speech to the grave. I hope to improve upon it next time.

This blog was very different from our assignment, the monologue, one because obviously one was my own words and the other was not and two because with the Personal speech i was able to be much more flexible and it was much more natural because it is something i experienced.  I was able to be more extemporaneous and i didn’t have to try to remember my lines because it was something that happened to me.

When i watched the video of my presentation, i saw for the first time how i speak in front of an audience, i saw how i use my hands and how i sound when im up. Watching it the first time it was funny to see myself and i was a pretty harsh critic. Although after taking in the information and watching it again, I feel i didnt do as bad as i thought. If i used more eye contact and talked to the entire room instead of one part it would have been better. Also, a breath here and there would have been very helpful when my voice was breaking up. I can tell by my voice i was kind of nervous but as i speak more that will go away. Overall, i feel watching myself really did help me in knowing how to do a better presentation for future assignments.

What my peers did that got me really engaged in their personal speech was when they got really into their story and got emotional. When the story got personal and they were passionate about what they experienced it got me very into it. Also the use of humor had me engaged with the speaker as well.

This picture represents my speech because going up i was very nervous, and i didnt think i was very well prepared and knowing that a video camera  was recording me added to the pressure, but during the speech i got a little more comfortable and although i stumbled here and there it looked like it went better than i thought it would.

Often, when I plug in my headphones, I feel as if I am in my own personal little bubble. As I watched my speech, my bubble burst as my roommate asked, “are you okay, Val?” I realized then that I was no longer in my little bubble and in fact, my inward commentary was audible to the world around me. I was not “okay,” as I moaned and groaned in disgust of my own speech. I felt as if I were a child as I peeked through my hands to watch myself present.   Unlike the monologue, in which the ideas and words were not my own, this presentation was a direct reflection of who I am as a person. Having to share intimate experiences with classmates was challenging, but in the end, beneficial. The negative aspects of my speech stuck out to me like a sore thumb, unfortunately. I know that I speak fast, I’ve always been a bit of a blabber mouth; however, now, I understand how this is distracting. As I watched my speech, knowing exactly what the content was, even I had trouble at times keeping up with myself. I realize now that this is distracting because it forces the audience  to keep up with the words rather than the content.  I also noticed that when I was reading from cards, my words came out faster than when I was speaking more freely. From this point forward,  a more extemporaneous approach to speech giving would work best for me. What I feel I achieved successfully in my speech body language. For example, I pivoted my body to engage both sides of the room, used natural/conversational hand gestures, and made eye contact with the entire audience. Also, I had inflection in my tone and used vocal variety in my pitch. Using these types of stylistic elements makes  a speech more engaging. As a member of the audience, those who used these approaches made the speech more interesting. I also liked when the opening sentence made the audience reflect on past experiences or values, for this made me want to listen in. I found it hard to continue listening if a speech was too long or a tad artificial. A shorter, yet to the point speech, that didn’t sugar coat too much were the types of speeches that I was really invested in. By a non sugar coated speech, I mean one in which details weren’t added just to take up time and the content was to the point and easy to follow. Although nerve-wracking, this was a beneficial experience to have. From now on, I will look back upon this speech to remember what works and what does not.

-Valerie Auciello

Personally, I liked the personal speech better than the monologue. I think the monologue was a little more intimidating to do. This is because we had to memorize it and on top of that, we had to act it out. The personal speech allowed us to have index cards to help us. It was easier to talk about myself than to pretend to be someone else. Theater is not my thing. Had I not watched the video of my speech, I would never notice the things I did wrong. It gave me a new perspective. I realized what things worked and what didn’t. Firstly, I realized that I wasn’t as “awkward” as I thought I was. I thought I looked at my index cards too frequently, but upon watching my video, I realized it was fine. But, I noticed I didn’t have a strong posture. I had one leg kicked back and it didn’t look professional. I sounded scared to be speaking and I don’t want that to happen in any future speeches. Also upon watching my speech, I realized what posture, gestures, and tones would be better. I am definitely going to use that for future references. The personal speeches of my classmates that were either I could connect to or really personal were really engaging. Good introductions also kept me engaged. If the speaker was passionate, it made me want to listen. Any speaker who mumbled or didn’t have a strong introduction turned me away from listening. Also, if the topic of the speech was something I didn’t enjoy or I could in no way relate back to me, I didn’t really want to listen. One thing I found interesting about my own presentation was I had prepared to look at my friends, but I ended up making eye contact with people I barely speak to. It made it much easier to speak. I won’t lie, I was extremely nervous about speaking. However, once I got up and began my speech, it just flowed smoothly. I felt the same way about to monologue as well. I’d rather give a speech than perform a monologue though.

The personal story, in my opinion was a lot easier than the monologue. First of all, we had index cards available. So when my mind blanked out for a split second, I had something to keep me on track. With the monologue, I was constantly forgetting the next line, even though I memorized it. I also believe that my nerves had to do with that. Also, the personal story is about me. The monologue, although I believed in the message it was conveying, was more forced. They weren’t my words, and I think it took away from the presentation a bit. The personal speech was much more natural, because obviously I know what happened, and I can speak about it without worrying about forgetting anything. I felt more comfortable in that sense. However, there was a larger sense of vulnerability that I felt with the personal speech. I was speaking on a topic that was very close to my heart and had a big emotional effect on me. It made me feel very exposed, and to a certain extent, it was a little uncomfortable.
After watching my video, I saw how stiff I looked. In my opinion, the speech itself wasn’t bad, but my physical presentation could definitely use some work. I looked like I was clinging onto my index cards for dear life, and the way I was standing didn’t say anything about my confidence. I definitely need to start taking deep breaths before I start speaking because my nerves were clearly visible. Towards the end, my volume started to drop, and that’s something I need to work on too. To be honest, I didn’t even notice any of these things when I was speaking.
The image below shows how I jumped out of my comfort zone to do this speech. I found myself feeling really uncomfortable standing and speaking in front of everyone, but after it was over, I was proud that I got through it.

Thulasi Pius

Giving the personal speech in class was a very different experience for me compared to our monologues.  The monologues were fun to do when we really got into it.  Honestly I was a nervous wreck before giving my personal speech and it was not fun.  I started out thinking I was going to be fine because I believed in the message I was giving and I had gotten my speech memorized perfectly but that was not the case.  After going up there and being put on the spot made me hesitant in what I was saying.  The difference in the two speeches was most likely the content and the way the speeches were prepared.  The monologues were written for us and the emotions are already put into it, all we had to do was deliver it.  Our personal speeches however, had to be about us and we had to put in what emotions we wanted the audience to see.  Watching my speech made me realize a lot of things that I was doing wrong.   When delivering the speech I never realized that I swayed left to right.  After watching the video I saw how I shifted for right to left almost every other sentence.  I also need to work on my volume.  I couldn’t hear me speaking in the video with my earphones.  I had to watch it on my desktop with my speakers.  Volume is definitely a problem that I’m going to have to fix.  Watching everyone else’s speeches made me realize the issues that I have to work on.  They talked clearly and with very strong posture.  It drew you into the speech and made you want to listen.  Watching my self trip up on words and fidget every now and then made me realize a big factor that I was missing.  Confidence.  I need to work on handling my nerves when in front of an audience.  That is one of the biggest feats that I need to overcome to be successful in public speaking.  Some things that really make a speech unbearable is being monotone and adding in unnecessary “ums”and “likes”.  It makes the speech boring and the speakers doesn’t fully reach the audience.  The image below portrays how my nerves get to me once I get in front of the crowd, no matter how prepared I am.