Self-Evaluation
The speech targeted ten of my classmates who are planning to become parents in the next few years. The audience evaluated my delivery of the speech through ten questions related to posture, eye contact, and other aspects related to the presentation. I will handle each of these evaluation questions.
Did I use an extemporaneous delivery style?
Yes. I used the extemporaneous delivery style since I first wrote the speech which I rarely referred to maintain harmony with my audience.
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Did I use appropriate notes but not read or memorize my speech?
I used appropriate notes to ensure that I did not spend much time looking at the draft.
Did I establish eye contact with my audience before I began my speech?
Yes, I did create a rapport with the audience.
Did I maintain eye contact during my speech?
Yes. I spent up to 95% of the speech time focusing on the audience.
Did I naturally use gestures?
Yes. I used my hands and head to signal how children react to sounds from digital technologies.
Did I have an appropriate posture?
Yes. I stood upright all through the speech.
Did I have an appropriate facial expression?
Yes. I smiled to show enthusiasm associated with the topic
Did I vary my facial expression?
No. I only smiled.
Did I speak loud enough to be heard clearly?
Yes. I was loud enough.
Did I speak with vocal variety?
Yes. I varied both speed and volume to insist on some points and get attention from the audience.
Reflection
The speech on "Parenting in the Era of Digital Technologies" provided me with a platform to practice presentation skills that I have gained in the course. I wrote down the speech to have a coherence of thoughts before memorizing it for presentation. I used the extemporaneous delivery style, which is the most common and effective way of presentation. According to Carnegie (2017), extemporaneous speaking calls for careful planning and rehearsing of speech so that the presenter can speak conversationally. A presenter should write brief notes that capture the main points in the speech to guide the presentation. The use of brief notes instead of the full manuscript allows the presenter to maintain eye contact with the audience and use gestures to reinstate the main points. The speech that I wrote resonated with my beliefs meaning that I did not have to look at the transcript. Moreover, I had rehearsed for the speech before presenting, which allowed me to interact with my audience. Therefore, the adoption of the extemporaneous style allowed me ample time to assess the audience and ensure that they were listening and contributing.
The speech presented with an opportunity to evaluate my performance in addition to getting responses from the audiences. Ten questions revolved around the delivery style, mainly focusing on facial expression, gestures, vocal variety, eye contact, and posture. The responses to these questions indicated that I had developed requisite public speaking skills. I was able to spend much of the time focusing on the audience, establishing eye contact, using gestures, and maintaining the right posture. These effective public speaking aspects allowed me to connect with the audience and managed to put across the intended message. However, the feedback established that I could not vary my facial expression since the only thing I did was smile. Carnegie (2019) asserts that presenters ought to vary their facial expressions to match the topic in question. It is important to understand that one must use the expressions accordingly to avoid misleading the audience. For instance, one would not smile when dealing with a topic associated with frustrations, such as terrorist attacks. In such a case, when a variation of facial expressions is crucial, one should establish if they improve or distort the presentation.
Public speaking skills are crucial in the academic sphere and the professional and social spheres since people have to speak their minds and educate others. This assignment has been instrumental in improving my presentation skills by helping me know the characteristics of great speeches. Before I did the assignment, I was not aware of the impact of eye contact and facial expressions during presentations. The project has helped me understand that I have to convince the audience that what I have to tell them is essential. According to John & Arthi (2016), eye contact and facial expressions send a strong message to the audience that the speaker is confident and has the authority to speak about the topic in question. Moreover, eye contact allows the presenter to assess the audience to see if individuals have questions or who would like further clarifications.
Apart from eye contact, I have realized that gestures influence the audience's perception and understanding, depending on how the speaker uses them. Gestures help to get rid of monotony, besides, to emphasize crucial points in the speech. However, in as much as gestures are so important in public speaking, a speaker must understand what the gestures mean to the audience (Dolan, 2017). The reason for this proposition is that different gestures may have more than one meaning or interpretation of something that may hamper a presentation's effectiveness. For example, the head's up and down nodding may mean yes to one audience and no in another. In this case, one needs to understand his or her audience to ensure that the speaker means what it intended to mean in the first place.
Organizations are constantly looking for strategies to help them beat the competition and, in this way, become profitable. One of the strategies that organizations adopt is to give employees assignments and then give them a chance to pitch their ideas to a panel. While the panel mainly focuses on the ideas' feasibility, it is impossible to sway them without the right presentation skills. The panel would be easily swayed by individuals whose ideas are presented coherently and with confidence. The skills that I have gained will be significant in my future career, considering that I am an innovative individual. I am almost sure that I will be called upon to present product development or strategies to enhance organizational productivity. When that time comes, I want to be able to impress the audience by giving logic, well thought out, coherent and authoritative presentations that offer the needed solutions.
In conclusion, public speaking is a crucial undertaking for not only academic purposes but also personal and professional reasons. The assignment that required the students to write and present their speeches to audiences has helped me learn valuable lessons that I will carry on to my career and personal undertakings. I have understood the centrality of the audience who determines the impact of a presentation. The speaker must focus on the audience by reducing the amount of time spent looking at the transcript. This time should be used to initiate rapport through eye contact, asking and answering questions, demonstrating using gestures, and holding the audience’s attention. Moreover, I have learned that a speaker should maintain the right posture and vary the vocals to retain the audience’s attention to the end. I will work on facial expressions to ensure that I flow with the speech and, in this way, influence the audience to take a specific stance on issues.
Speech
“Parenting in the Era of Digital Technologies”
Good afternoon.
I am here to talk about parenting in this era of advanced communication technologies. Children are as good as their parents, meaning that they are the result of the effort that one puts in during the developmental stage. During this stage, children learn about the world through the lens of their parents and caregivers. Parents and caregivers orient the children into their world by providing the viewpoints on what is right or wrong and what the world expects of them. This orientation is what has been guiding children all along until communication technologies happened and shaped how children learn.
Modern children are introduced to digital technologies in the womb, and they can even respond to their favorite shows and music. When they are born, the children appear to have technological know-how going by how they react when they hear their favorite tunes. These technologies, which include television and smartphones, take center stage in the lives of the children who are so curious to understand what is happening around them. It is tempting for caregivers and parents to hand children smartphones or place them adjacent to the television as they go on with their chores. The exposure to digital technologies at this early stage is also occasioned by the need for parents and caregivers to venture out for work to meet their financial obligations.
Children who interact with digital technologies from an early age are more likely to have different perspectives from those of their parents. We need to understand that most parents were not exposed to the radical and liberal ideas that some of the films, music, and television shows advance. Most parents are traditional, bureaucratic, and rigid since they prefer the status quo when it comes to upholding social norms. Attempts to instill the same values in children would not be easy since they will have absorbed contrary opinions.
Children who have interacted with these technologies are likely to challenge their parents’ views, label them as backward, conservative, and not fit for this era. In such a case, it is advisable if the parents monitored how their children interact with these technologies if they are to bring up responsible children. As much as possible, parents should increase active play, which socializes children to desired norms instead of relying on digital technologies to keep the children engaged. The limitation of the time that a child uses the smartphone and television will allow him or her to develop other viewpoints about life and achieve social development.
I hope that when you get an opportunity to become a parent, you will remember and apply the lessons from this speech that I make today.
Thank You.
References
Carnegie, D. (2019). The art of public speaking . Amaira Book Publishers.
Dolan, R. (2017). Effective presentation skills. FEMS Microbiology Letters , 364 (24), 1-3. https://doi.org/10.1093/femsle/fnx235
John, A. D., & Arthi, M. (2016). Aspects of proper speech delivery in public speaking. International Journal of Research in Engineering & Technology, 4 (10), 25-30.
