What I found useful in chapter 9 and Chapter 13

From what I've read, I found both chapters to be very important regards to our upcoming informative speech. Chapter 9 explained very well about how to improve our introductions and how to fully cover our conclusions. I liked how the book broke down the components to forming both the introduction and the conclusion.
In the chapter 13, it was very useful because they gave us many examples of how to make an outline for our speech. It also gave us key points on how to keep the audience engaged. The most important thing that I received from this section was that to keep the audience's attention, we must give a speech on a topic that can relate to our audience. Hopefully I achieved that with my subject! I find it very common nowadays with the economy struggles and what not, but you guys won't know what I'm talking about until April!

Introduction & Conclusion

According to the book, as part of the introduction, grabbing the audience attention is the first and foremost important key. You want the audience to be engaged by the first few seconds of speech, because that is the way to determine if they will pay attention or not. To keep them captivated, the second factor you should have in your speech is to give the audience the purpose o your speech. The purpose is what the audience is keeping track of, because they would like to know what you're going to be talking about. Integrated with the purpose of your speech, is your thesis. The thesis is mainly the points that you are going to be talking about. It gives the audience an idea of what they are going to be paying attention to. Giving credibility, which I lacked during my last speech, is another component in your introduction. This alerts the audience that you are the authority of your topic and that you have done good research. At the end of the introduction, simply go over your main points again so that the audience can refresh their memories.

As for the conclusion, there are 3 components to cover. The first component is to again review your main points. This was left off at the introduction before you begin to go further in depth with the main points. Reinforcing the purpose of the speech is to highlight what was important from your speech. The audience obviously didn't sit through your speech not expecting to learn anything. To reassure them with the reinforcement would give them a sense that they did learn something, hopefully, from your speech. As for the last factor, asserting a well put together closure is needed to end the speech. You want to end the speech with a smooth ending. You don't want to leave the audience confused and full of questions.

As for my speech, I'm going to make sure that I introduce my main points precisely. I also want to make sure that I have a well put together conclusion to finish my speech off at the end. As of right now, I am working on my outline and coming up a good conclusion. You guys can be the judge when we meet next!

Videos: 9.1, 9.2, 13.1A, 13.1B and "Use It" 13.1

In the first video, 9.1, when the speaker had started her introduction by taking a picture of the class, it reminded me of my speech. I was going to do the exact same introduction. Once I got up there, I had changed my mind. Anyways though, the videos were super helpful. In the video 9.2 Evan explained how having a solid conclusion is important in speeches. I forgot to provide a closure to my speech, because I panicked when I saw that I had already taken up five minutes. That was my mistake, so for the next two speeches I'm going to have to remember to add that.
As for video 13.1A, I like how Evan speaks very fluently and clearly. He clearly presents his transitions and makes it very clear of what he's trying to explain about techno. His slide also went well with his speech. The way he incorporated his speech and the slide is very smooth.
In the video 13.1B, Janine delivered her speech very smoothly also. Once she pulled out her notes for that quote, I noticed that she did not use her note cards barely at all. This shows how practice is very important in part of delivering a well speech.
As for the "use it" video, I think that Katherine is speaking too quick. This may be just because she's nervous, but clearly she is experiencing some anxiety. Another factor that I've noticed is that she stumbles upon her words quite a few times. She also is focusing a lot of her note cards.
All of these features, positive and negative, are the skills that I've learned to integrate or to watch out on for my own speech. Remembering to speak slowly and clearly is important while giving a speech. Even if I were to take a look at my note card, it won't look as if I am forgetting my speech completely. Whereas, the way Katherine is viewing her note cards, it just makes it looks like she didn't practice much at all.

Chp 7 and Chp 8

In chapter 7, the whole chapter describing the different supporting materials was interesting to me. Because for the most part, a single sentence definition is often said to describe "narrative" or " examples". Chapter 7 went into more depth upon each supporting material. It gave me a better meaning of what each means. From that I feel more comfortable using those different materials in my speech, because I have a better understanding of it.
As for chapter 8 showing the different patterns or organization help to put together a speech effectively. With the help of the supporting materials and the ways to organize certain speeches to an online, the speech can be presented very smoothly. Patterns help to determine what is needed for a speech. What to provide as the main points and sub points no matter what kind of speech it is. It can be a topical speech or informative speech, ect. I like how the chapter also provided a chart for the readers. It clarified the different patterns and also when to use each one.

Facts & Statistics

As for me facts and statistics are important in speeches, because it helps to provide specific evidence. For an example, back to the video we watched Matthew give a speech about drinking, and the harmful affect of drinking and driving, he provided facts and statistics. In my point of view, providing those information captures the audience more. This is because it gives a definite number and percentage of what can happen. I don't know if that's quite understandable but here's an example. I'm sitting in class and someone is giving a speech about drinking and driving. Of course there's going to be death in this situation; although if the speaker were to just say "Death is involved in drinking an driving" it doesn't exactly grasp our attention. Giving statistics in this speech would capture my attention. For an example, "two out of ten people are killed during drunk driving." See the difference? It helps to give a steady ground to approximately how many people die from drinking and driving.
Facts and statistics are not as effective when it gets to much out of hand. For example you don't want to give all facts and just base your speech off of that. Putting in personal opinion and experience is mainly necessary to have an effective speech. Sometimes giving too much statistics can make an speech seem unreliable. Or at least it would show that the speaker is not familiar with their topic at all, because they are just giving out straight facts and statistics.

7.1, 7.2, 8.1 and 8.2 Videos

Within chapter 7, the videos explained supporting materials. I found that in my favor, I prefer to start off an introduction with a narrative. When I'm the audience, what captures my attention is an everyday story as a grabber. I view that examples are also very inmportant within speeches. Without speeches, the information that we give out can seem to be to generalized. People won't understand more in depths; therefore they wouldn't be as into your speech. And I also agree with the idea that a media slide should be included when there are facts and statistics. Simply stating statistics and giving out facts would not appeal to the audience too much.
Chapter 8 went over the patterns of organization. I view that this is important, because it can help bring out the speech more effectively. By knowing the pattern, the speaker can also make it easier for themselves, because this makes it easier to create an outline. In a way, it helps to organize and simplify your topic.
From chapter 8 I've learn a bit more about transitions and how to include them into my speech. I know that I needed to make sure that I include these smooth transitions into my next two speeches. In addition, pattern organization is an important factor, because it helps to organize the speech topic.

Anticipating for my turn has always been the cause for my speech anxiety. I could be an expert on my speech topic, but getting in front of an audience would still cause me to become nervous. As I watched my video, I noticed that I had a confident body postures and a presentable approach. I talked loudly and clearly, or at least as much as I could since I was getting over a cold. I also thought that the idea with pointing out things at the power point was a plus, because it kept me moving and that would help the audience to stay focus; rather than just to focus their eyes on my just standing at one spot.
As for the deliverance of my speech, I believed that I got my purpose across. I addressed that I was going to compare how cameras are used back when it was first introduced, and how it has evolved into a cultural artifact for the American culture today. I felt very confident in my speech. I had done enough research to narrow it down to specifically what I wanted to talk about. With all of the research and being able to smoothly give a speech along with a power point made me feel comfortable enough.
Unfortunately during my speech, I did not recite any credibility. That’s one of the few negatives that I noticed during my speech. I had a few pauses during my speech. Some of the pauses were actually for the audience to take their time to view my slide page. Other times I slightly stalled because I lost some thought, but usually that shows in my face expression. I also noticed that at the end of some sentences I mumbled and said “what not” a few times. I guess I say that, because it works as a wrap for my sentence. So for my improvement for the content of my speech, I should focus on how to smoothly transition my sentences and topics. I have mentioned this before, there’s always room for improvement when it comes to giving speeches. Even after I feel confident about giving a speech, I begin to notice the smaller factors that I could have added to make my speech more effective. Another factor that I should improve on is to specifically use transitions in my introduction. I didn’t clarify my main points using the right transition words as some of my colleagues did.
As for positive notes, my posture was fine; it showed that I had confidence. I felt that moving around and pointing back at the power point kept my audience awake. I didn’t want to just stand in one spot an only have semi hand gestures, so I thought that if I were to direct my audience’s attention around, it would keep them entertained. As for giving eye contact, I believe that I did that very well. I’d give myself an 8, because I did stare out at the audience majority of the time. The other times I stared back at the power point to help point out some of the images for the audience. I didn’t rely on my note card. I noticed that only once did I check my note card. Other than that, everything flowed out in order and I got most of my points across.
If I had to do anything over, I would definitely have practiced a little more with my speech along with my power point. I was able to practice that a few times; although when I do get up to give the actual speech, sometimes I change my words around. So then I confuse myself and that causes me to become more nervous than I already am. This just shows me that I need to keep my speech very constant, instead of adding new sentences and new words to make my speech confusing for me. I would try to incorporate transition words too and make it clear to my audience of what it is that I’m going to be talking about.
Overall, I would actually give myself a B. For the mistake of not clearly mentioning my main points should dock some points off. Not using transitions during my speech was also a negative; A little bit of mumbling and using “what not” as a filler was a factor too. But other than that, I believe that my speech was fine and that I was still able to get my point across to the audience.
I know there’s more that I need to work on to improve my speech deliverance. For the upcoming speeches, I hope to at least accomplish each of these negatives that I have mentioned above. I found that the notes taken down by my colleagues helped out a lot. They are the audience and since the papers were anonymous, each of them can be honest and just write down our errors. Again, public speeches will never be flawless for me; therefore I hope to still learn and improve my speech giving skills.