Reflections on Past Presentations

Areas where I need to/have improved:

1. Making the speech entertaining - While running for a state office, I had to make a public speech to accompany my campaign. One of the biggest mistakes I made was that I focused solely on substance and what I wanted to change in the organization. I put minimal work into making my speech entertaining, which was really important given my audience: middle and high school kids who lacked long attention spans.

One of my competitors made a speech with a reference to a popular movie. This immediately got people's attention and made the speech engaging and entertaining. In comparison, my speech was more content-based, but less interesting. I learned from this mistake and came back the following year to make a speech that had a better balance of content and entertainment. At the time, Frozen was a very popular movie, so I made an analogy using Frozen that made people interested while also explaining my content effectively. I think I also had an effective grabber in my RCL speech that made it more interesting.

2. Standing behind the podium - I made this mistake both years that I ran for state office. While the podium was tempting because I could have notes on it, it really inhibited my physical connection to the audience. I learned from this mistake, and in my RCL speech, I spoke from the side of the podium, where I could still access the computer, but was able to make a connection with the audience.

3. Body language/gestures - When practicing for my RCL speech in the Speaking Center, I made too many hand gestures, so I decided that I would hold my notes in both hands. While this strategy was effective for reducing hand movement, it made me appear stiff. I definitely need to work on this going forward. I would also like to incorporate physical body movement in the future. I just wasn't sure how to time it for my RCL speech.

4. Eye contact - I did make eye contact during my RCL speech, but it was too fleeting. I was trying to balance between making people feel uncomfortable and not making any eye contact. I need to work on knowing exactly how long I should "talk" to a particular individual in the audience.