Speech Evaluation

  Appearance

            I thought as I watched myself I looked quite presentable; I wore a dark suit, with a simple blue shirt and a modest tie.  My hair was short and trimmed, not in any outrageous fashion.  I had contemplated being clean shaven but instead trimmed my beard to be short and groomed very nicely. To some it might be distracting to watch a speaker with a beard, so I would for the next time be clean shaven to see if I feel any more confident.  I also found as I watched myself that when I would look at my cards my posture would weaken, if I would hold my cards a little higher I wouldn’t have to slouch as I glanced down.

Organizational Pattern

            I feel like I organized my speech very well, I made it clear in the beginning what my topic was, and even briefly summarized beforehand what I was going to address, so that the audience could have a little idea of what they could expect.  I think it’s hard to fit all of the information you would like to in 5 minutes, but I feel like I got the important things across.  If  I was to change or reorganize the pattern I might have used different sub topics, instead of talking about rules I would have followed more of a timeline to show how lacrosse started, and how it changed through the years until today. It created a little gap when I spoke about where it started and then talked about the rules, then went back to where it is today.  Overall I feel like I organized it very well.

Vocal Qualities

            I used to feel like I had a very nasally voice, and I couldn’t pronounce certain words correctly, but throughout the whole speech I feel like I pronounced and enunciated my words very carefully, even some of the big words I practiced beforehand so I could make sure I said them correctly, a few times I slipped with my tongue but corrected myself.  I had good voice projection and could be heard in the back of the room, I tried to keep my head up as I was speaking so I wasn’t projecting my voice to the floor but out to the audience.  Sometimes as I looked down at my cards I felt like I wasn’t speaking towards the audience. 

 Delivery

            I was very calm as I gave my speech, I tend to be nervous before I give it, but as I’m presenting it all those worries go away.  I used good gestures with my hands that weren’t too distracting, and I held my cards with one hand for most of the time, I did find myself holding them with two hands but tried to be conscious of it.  I used the space up in front very well, I stayed in the center of the room but made sure I gave equal attention to each side of the audience.  I wasn’t stiff as a board, or rigid, I felt very relaxed and felt my actions were natural and not forced or overboard.  My eye contact was good, but sometimes I felt like I could’ve looked at the audience more, but I used my note cards very sparingly.

Visual Aid

I noticed as I used my visual aid, I could’ve used a little more eye contact on the audience as I was explaining what the different parts of the stick were, as well when I was putting the visual aid away I was talking while I was bending over to place it under the table, I could’ve waited to put it away, or put it away and then continued from where I left off.  My second visual aid wasn’t focused which, I noticed, but I should’ve fine tuned it before my presentation so it could’ve gone a little smoother.  I feel like my visual aids helped give good support to what I was talking about, the stick especially helped to physically show what I was explaining. I also held it high enough for everyone to see, and was still able to explain and point to what I was describing.  I would have liked to show a short video clip to give a live action view of what lacrosse is, but because of time I decided to leave it out. 

Audience Connection

            Pathos:  I think I could’ve used a personal experience to gain a little more trust from the audience and get them a little more involved.  I still feel like they could make a connection with me because they had been told that I had played for many years.  I think as well I came off very friendly and direct so they knew I was speaking to them from conversational point of view.                  

             Logos: I had good research that helped explain my topic and back up what I was saying, even the info was new to most students so it attracted their attention to something they had not known before.       

            Ethos:   Because I had played for many years and even succeeded in what I did, it helped give me more credibility, and helped the audience to trust me.  I used a quote from direct lacrosse sources like, USLacrosse, or the NCAA which all directly effect and deal with lacrosse. 

Strengths

            I feel like my confidence was one of my strengths, I knew what I was talking about, and I came into my presentation like I was the person that knew the most about it.  As well my preparation was a great strength, you can tell when someone has prepared fully, I put a lot of time into practicing the speech in full and it paid off.  As well I have a great love for lacrosse and that just gave me an extra boost to let people know what it is. 

 

Areas to Improve

            There will always be things that I feel I could’ve done better. I don’t think a presentation could ever be perfect, there will always be something you could fix, or improve.  I feel like I could’ve used a little more memorization in a few parts, so I could’ve kept my head up to focus on the audience.  As well I neglected the back row by not giving them as much eye contact; the first two rows got the majority of it.  I feel like I could’ve used more specific hand gestures in certain places to add a little more variety.