On the River of Life, Go With the Flow

Two of my strengths from this presentation are how I articulated my ideas and how I spoke clearly. I feel, after watching my presentation, that I made my message clear and that I told my story from the beginning, to the middle, and to the end. Doing this chronologically, and not backtracking, made my presentation easy to follow. I also spoke clearly, which made it easy for my audience to understand. I feel as though, based on the video, my volume was appropriate and I used some inflection in my voice as a contrast.

Two areas I would have changed are my posture/gestures and my use of fillers. First, I wish I would have stood up straighter with my shoulders back. From watching the video, I felt like my shoulders were sort of hunched forward. As for my gestures, I don’t feel like all of them were necessary and I probably could have done a better job using them for emphasis instead of using them as a talking aid, which I often find myself doing. Secondly, while I didn’t use very many fillers, I would like to eliminate those completely when I am giving a speech. I would also like to try and work on making sure I don’t stumble over my words when speaking, which is something I find I often do when giving a speech.

I feel as though I was very concise with the point of my story. I clearly stated it, in a metaphorical way at the beginning, and at the end, I stated it in different terms to make sure I reached everyone in my audience in case the metaphor did not stick. I think I was successful because I did state it in two different ways and my story also led to this point, which I feel also helps since the point of my story was a logical conclusion for my story.

I think as a whole, the class did a really nice job of making their points clear. While some presentations were more clear than others, I think overall, the class was successful.

So far, I am happy with my progress on my goals. One of my goals was to diminish my remaining fears of public speaking, and I wasn’t nervous at all when I got up in front of the class to tell my story. My other goal, was to improve my public speaking skills, which is something that will take more time, however, I am still happy with my progress.