Mark Komar

The thing that was most different in performing these two oral presentations would be the emotions involved. For the monologue, you had to try and guess what the emotions of the character were. With the personal speech, it was easier to portray because we understood where it was coming from. The personal speech also allowed for us to share with the class something we’ve dealt with that’s changed us. It also gave insight to who we really are based on that experience. Listening to my speech again I asked myself: “Is that how I really sound?” I noticed I had good eye contact with the audience, but I swayed from side to side. It’s something I do when I’m nervous, although I shouldn’t be. I’ve talked to almost all of the class and I would say, for the most part, I’m comfortable. However, it was the idea of being put on the spot that made me nervous. I should have practiced more because I looked at the cards more than I thought I would have to. Also, at certain parts I was stuck on words and it took a while to recover from the pause. I felt like I could have done more with my gestures and I didn’t need to stand in one spot. I could have paced, but no excessively. Overall I was dissatisfied with my own speech, but the class had some great speeches. They had great introductions, which quickly got my attention on what they had to say. I also wanted to listen more because of how personal some were. Although the emotions I felt were nowhere close to what they experienced, it gave me a good idea of what the experience was like. I liked the jokes that some speeches had. I felt that was a good way to keep the audience interested. Some things that didn’t work were that some speeches were too slow with too many pauses, and others were too quick to keep up with. Also too many vocal fillers broke down the central idea of what the speaker was trying to say. The picture included represents me being put on the spot in front of everyone.

I personally found that the personal speech was easier to do than the monologue. I find it very useful to have personal flash cards in front of you in order to help yourself remember all the main point you want to address during the speech. In this aspect, you can write down key ideas on the flash cards that will help you transition to the next idea during the speech. However this can be a disadvantage as well. I noticed, while watching my own personal speech video, that I sometimes overused the flashcards to my advantage. For example, my eye contact would be constantly glancing at the flash cards in my hands. In my next speech, it’s essential that I use more eye contact with the audience, as well as having a looser posture. In the video it seemed as if I was stuck in one position, so next time, I would like to see myself move around more, with the use of more hand gestures as well. I am overall happy with my loud tone of voice during the speech, but at some points my voice was trembling. This diminishes my convincing arguments if I do not have a confident voice. Therefore, I need to work on improving my confidence level during speeches. I noticed that a lot of my fellow students used questions in order to grasp the listener’s attention and get them intrigued to listen on. This is a very efficient way to begin a speech strongly. However some things that does not help contribute positively to a speech are vocal filler such as “um” or “like”, as well as speaking in a too fast manner. These things cause the listener to not want to listen on.  Lastly the image below that I have included shows that it is essential to get over any stage fright fears and to present your speech in a confident and professional manner. 

• Kevin Oberman
• My personal speech was a completely different experience than my monologue in several ways. In the monologue it was purely memorized, I did not have to deliver any of my personal ideals in a specific way, because the writer of the piece already did it for me. In the monologue, I was mainly focused on not messing up the words and delivering it in a dramatic way. In the personal speech however, I was focused on delivering my message in a way that would engage the audience and make my transitions clear, and having an overall powerful message. After watching my presentation video again, I noticed some things that I did not notice while I was presenting. For example, I noticed that I was constantly swaying back and forth throughout the duration of the speech. Also, I noticed that at some points of the speech, my voice was trembling a bit. Both of these things made my speech seem less convincing and make me seem less confident in the message I was trying to convey. For me, the thing that always engaged me in my classmates’ speech was a good introduction and emotional content. I felt more inclined to listen to the speeches that were personal and heartfelt. The speeches that were emotional felt more genuine and sincere, thus making it more engaging. The thing that made a speech less engaging was when the speaker used words such as “um” or “like”. This made the speech sound less professional and less prepared. Also, the pace of the speech is very important. When a speech is too slow or too fast, it either becomes boring or too hard to keep up with.

This picture applies to me because my main problem is being nervous. It is hard for me to keep my nerves under control even though I am confident in my material and I am confident in presenting my ideas. If i can stop my nervous fidgets and keep my voice level, I can be more successful in my speeches.

As strange as this sounds, I had an easier time presenting the  rather than the personal speech, but for very simple reasons. First off, I don’t like holding papers or cards in my hands when I speak. I feel as though I have to rely on it, to get me from point to point. I end up looking down at it too much. Even though I could have freely talked about my topic quite easily, I overused my index card to keep structure and organization. Also, I realized that a speech will be much more unorganized and jumbled if you do not practice. This is true for me at least. I didn’t practice a whole lot, thinking that it wouldn’t be necessary and I will be able to guide myself through the speech. However, I was wrong. I stuttered and got my thoughts mixed up at some points. My monologue speech was very clean because I practiced it over and over, making sure I knew exactly what to say and how to say it. Like I said, I believe I stuttered far too much and was not completely satisfied with my speech. I looked down at the card too much and did not transition to new thoughts effectively. I want to become accustomed to not relying on the index card, and realize all it takes is a little practice. I noticed that other speeches that gave vivid detail in which I could visualize the scenario were the ones that I played such close attention to.  Also, dramatic stories held my attention well. Speeches that were less personal, and more factual lost my attention quickly.  Also speeches that were monotone and lacking delivery were hard to listen to.  However, most of the speeches in our class did a pretty decent job of avoiding this, and were pretty interesting. And I know this picture is an extremely lame picture but basically it just symbolizes that practice makes perfect, and if you want your speech to come out effectively you have to know what you’re saying.   

Jimmy Marshall

Frannie Torres

The theatrical monologue and the personal speech differed in many ways. First, the theatrical monologue was a bit shorter. The personal speech was also extemporaneous and  felt more natural for me to say, in contrast to the theatrical monologue which had to be said word-for-word. The personal speech also depended on an outline, and allowed for flexibility. Therefore, I found that there was more room for improvisation during the personal speech. This advantage was not as present during the monologue where if you forgot a certain word, your whole flow of speaking would be thrown off.

I personally was not satisfied with my speech, both before and after watching the video. I know that I need to work more on my volume and getting over my obvious stage fright. I now know that I should just start my speech with the “go-getter”, rather than just first introducing the topic of my speech. I also now know that I need to work more on organizing the structure of my speeches.

The qualities of my classmates’ speeches that really got my attention were usually the topics themselves. Finding the topic during the introduction of their speeches as interesting definitely made the rest of the speech more engaging. Humor also got my attention. The emotional aspect of some of the speeches also really got to me, as I tend to be very sensitive on certain issues. The qualities of other speeches that made it hard to stay engaged were usually when a speech being said too fast or too slow. It was hard to stay engaged if the speaker had no emotion in his or her voice, and if his or her tone was monotonous the whole way through.

The image I included shows a laughing audience. They are clearly an audience that is engaged through the use of humor.

After watching the recorded video of my personal speech, I thought there were many things I could improve on. First, is my posture, I thought my posture could’ve been firmer and I could have “owned” the space. I also think I should’ve used more hand gestures. From time to time, I would sway back and forth which seemed like a distraction. I mostly believe I could’ve done better with my physical delivery. However, I did like the inflection in my voice and my use of emotions. I also maintained a lot of eye contact with the audience. I think this speech was harder than the monologue. Memorizing the monologue was easy and it was fun because you were acting as someone else. This speech wasn’t hard because it’s your own specific experience. The only difficult part I found was putting your experience in order and then maintaining that order throughout the speech. When you usually talk about your personal experience to someone else you never really say it in a orderly fashion. In my fellow classmates’ speeches, I think the first sentence was what really grabbed me. If their attention getter was good, it automatically wanted me to continue paying attention. If they had very good vocal variety and they made use of their emotions it also drew me in. It was difficult to pay attention to someone who talked very slow or talked about one specific thing for a long time. But it was also difficult to understand people who were talking fast. Otherwise, I really think everyone in the class did a really good job. A lot of them weren’t too dependent on their notes which I found very impressing. The image I attached shows a man giving a speech, but his physical delivery is very good. Even though he stands behind a podium, he uses hand gestures.

Salma Haque 

Blog posts should be between 250-400 words

In this post, reflect on what you have learned so far about public presentations through the monologue assignment and the personal speech assignment.

• What was different about your experience of presenting these two assignments (aside from the obvious difference that one was your own words and one was not)?
• Having watched the video of your personal speech, what new information did the video give you about how your speech went?  What were you satisfied with about your own presentation, and what would you like to improve?
• What qualities (related to both content and delivery) in your classmates’ personal speeches made you really want to listen?  What qualities made it hard to stay engaged?
• Include an image (photo or otherwise) somewhere in your post to reinforce one of your points.  Explain how this image relates to the point you’re making.