• 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.