Last semester I took a voice and diction class because I felt that I needed to work on my public speaking, one of our tasks was to rewatch our first speech and critique it here's how that went.
The overall impression I wanted to make when making my speech was something that was memorable but also inspiring. When going back to listen to my speech I don't think my speech was as memorable as I hoped it would be. The reason for that is because what I wrote was interesting but the way I delivered my speech wasn't.
My nonverbal communication was okay it could have definitely been better. When giving my speech I was standing still and made sure to not lean on only one leg, but I still barely used hand gestures and kept my arms to my side. My stage presence wasn't demanding I was very timid when standing and reading my speech, felt like I was just there on the stage there was no energy pulling people to want to engage in the speech. So when I actually read my actual speech to the class I attempted to be more present and confident but it didn't work because I have really bad stage fright.
If I'm being honest with myself I thought my voice was really dry even though I was trying different ranges to keep the "audience" intrigued. My volume started loud and energetic but as kept reading my speech I ended up with a really low volume that was definitely hard to hear when playing the video back. Watching the video I could hear the energy leaving my voice the farther I read as if I losing interest in my own speech. I used pauses but the pitch was basically the same throughout.
When presenting in class I took the speech a lot more serious but it was difficult to use any of the techniques because of my stage fright. Also when reading my speech in class I looked at my paper a lot more than when I was practicing in my room I guess to avoid eye contact. One insight I have is to be super confident when practicing because you want to keep that kind of energy when it's actually time to present. That advice worked okay because I amped myself and ended up not being as nervous.
My next presentation I'm going to practice a lot more so I'm not tempted to look at my paper and keep eye contact with the audience throughout the entire speech. Also, I need to learn how to pace myself so I'm not stuttering and rushing through what I'm reading. Because of this presentation, I learned that I have really bad stage fright and that even if the paper is right in front me I still have trouble getting the point across and I start stuttering.
Rewatching the speech taught me that I have interesting topics to talk about but the way I deliver them needs to be polished. I have to keep working on my public speaking skills until I'm more comfortable speaking and taking my time.
