Going into my speech I had mixed feelings. On one hand, I felt good about the amount of research I did on my topic. On the other hand, I didn't feel confident about the amount of time I had spent actually practicing my speech. I spent so much time finding sources and putting together a well-developed outline, that I left myself little time to practice performing my speech. This lack of preparation made me slightly nervous. I felt okay though, giving my first formal speech because we had some practice when we did the expert speeches. When I sat down after my speech, I felt disappointed in my performance. I was fairly certain I didn't do too great, and I could have done better.
My speech sounded well organized for the most part. The introduction was pretty good. One element my introduction lacked, however, was a strong attention-getting device. Other than that, I feel it covered most of what a decent introduction should. My thesis was fairly easy to pick out. I tried to pause briefly before and after my thesis. In attempt to establish credibility, I revealed that I was a fan of the music group, Nirvana, which was the topic of my speech. However, I could have stated the fact that I had conducted thorough research on the topic instead of assuming the audience already knew. In my introduction, I stated the main ideas I intended to address during the speech. These three main topics were clear, and in the body of my speech I distinguished between the ideas as I moved from one to another. In my conclusion, I didn't necessarily refer back to the introduction or restate my thesis exactly. Instead I made a few statements that I felt summed up the main message of my speech. While my conclusion didn't follow specific guidelines, I think it provided a sense of closure. Overall I think the speech was easy to follow as a listener. .
After watching the video of my speech, I see that the quality of my delivery could have been much better.
