Public Speaking Self-Critique

I keep leaving these posts until the last minute! It is starting to become a terrible habit that I would love to break. For today’s post, many of you might see it as lazy work (which it slightly is), but I wanted to share a reflection I wrote for my public speaking class. I had to write this reflection after giving my first in-person speech last week. I think it is beneficial for me to post this and be honest with myself of what I need to improve on. It was a surprisingly good learning experience, which I did not expect from a public speaking class. I thought this class would be easy, fun, and that I would leave without learning squat. So far, that has not been true. I have actually been struggling in that class. It is such a structured class, and I am not used to that when it comes to public speaking. I like to run my mouth and say whatever comes to my mind. I want to preface this reflection with the fact that there were certain things I had to include because of the rubric. One of those things was to write a motivational message to myself. You will see what I wrote at the end. It makes me want to throw up in my mouth reading it, and I would never say that in real life, but I had to. It is not a bad message, and it probably would help me out a lot. It is honest; it just sounds so cheesy. Yuck! Everything else in here is honest, though. Enjoy my self-critique!

Self-Critique Of Informative Speech Presentation

For me, preparing for this speech was a little different compared to speeches in the past. This speech was about something that I was passionate about. It was not something I had to do initial deep research for. I was mainly speaking from my heart and mind. I think this made preparing really difficult for me. I had so many thoughts and things that I wanted to say. When it came to making notecards with a twenty-word count, I really had to become a comic strip writer of sorts. I was making all kinds of symbols and using my words wisely. I really enjoyed making them. I rehearsed multiple times, and each time, I kept thinking of more and more things that I wanted to incorporate. But that definitely got my mind in a mess. I kept looking at the notecards, and I think I added too much.

If I were able to do everything over again, I would try to stick to my script better. Rewatching the recording of my speech, I could see my mind jumping around everywhere. I went second to last, and I was taking notes on what other speakers said and what they did effectively. I wanted to incorporate their techniques into my speech. Again, this put more and more into my mind, which made me grow increasingly nervous.

As a residential assistant in my dorm, I have to speak publicly all the time. I usually do not get so nervous, but for some reason, I was visibly shaking while giving my speech. Our outlines were very structured, and it scared me a little. I am someone who can go on and on, but with a time constraint, a notecard constraint, and a structured outline, I was really out of my comfort zone. It was a great learning curve for me to have to try and stick to an outline. If I were to do this speech all over again, I think I would really need to hone in on my outline and let some of those extra thoughts go. Just scrap them. My speech ended quite shortly because I had so much going on in my head that I really just forgot it all. While performing my speech, I could have made more eye contact and spoken a little more slowly. I was so nervous that I started stuttering and speaking too fast. That is a common habit I need to work on.

Although I really struggled with this speech, there are a few things that I think I did well. The first was finding great sources that gave me strong insight into my passion for becoming a father. I used a variety of research papers and real fathers' advice. There were a variety of facts and opinions that helped shape my speech. The second thing I did well was making my notecards. As a visual person, the symbols and comic strips helped guide me while giving my speech. I think I might change the number of symbols next time, but they were still effective for me. The third thing I thought I did well was connecting with my audience through my personality. Many people gave speeches that were more career-driven, but I thought my topic added variety to the class. I typically like to speak about my personal life, and I tried to stick to what I know best, which is myself.

A strong note of encouragement to myself is, "Max, slow down, remember how you prepared for this. Stick to your outline and your notecards. Pick the thoughts that will be most effective and throw out the infringing thoughts. Do not confuse yourself, and just calm down." This speech was not my best, and hopefully, my speeches will get better, but I learned a lot about myself and how I need to improve.