Oral Presentation Critique

Oral Presentation Critique Throughout my life I have been giving speeches. Most of them went well but all of them could have been better. The funny thing about speeches is I can prepare a great speech and rehearse it until I’m blue in the face but when the time comes to stand up and give that speech my heart beat starts fluctuating, my mouth dries instantly, and all my accepted wisdom is wiped clean. This is when I rely on my gift of gab and the confidence I have in myself. After all, this is coming from a guy who loves to tell stories and often enjoys being the center of attention. This time I had a well written speech, I was prepared, and I was confident to be standing in front of the class. Overall it was a success. After reading my classmates’ critiques about me I feel my presentation went well. Many of the comments contradicted themselves such as “poor eye contact” with “excellent eye contact” but others were much more accurate. Overall I think my delivery came across loud and clear and I feel I made good eye contact with my audience. I think I need to learn to slow it down a bit, I get excited and I start rambling. My content was really good, I used fun examples for each trait, and I had some clever transitions to get some laughs. I was very comfortable with my voice presence. I really felt I hooked the audience and kept their attention throughout my entire presentation. This is thanks, of course, to great organization. I am not always the most organized person, but I really put some time into this speech and organized it with note cards and rehearsed in front of people and when all was said and done, it felt good. I hope to overcome the jitters. I realize they may never go away completely, but I would sure like to suppress them at times. I love to talk, and giving a speech should be no harder for me than telling a story, but it is. One thing I have learned is that if you get those jitters but you have put the time and the organization in that is needed