Dwight D. Blogenhower

With this upcoming speech on Eisenhower, I anticipate several problems occuring. The biggest obstacle with this will be remembering all of the facts and details. As much as I know about Eisenhower, there are a lot of specifics and historical information that I will need to discuss. I am worried that I will have a lot of trouble giving a fluid speech on this subject. However, I think that this issue could be resolved by making a more detailed outline than usual. Including dates and little facts in my outline would give me some backup just in case I forget. I also think that practicing the speech more should help make me more comfortable with the subject. I am also unsure of what type of visual aid I would like to use. A picture of Dwight would probably be the easiest but it is not very interesting. I think that I might try to find a clip of him giving a speech or perhaps some other more interactive aid. Hopefully I am able to get the class as interested in Eisenhower as I am with my speech.

Blog-a-saurus Rex

On Monday, I gave my first speech and let me tell you that the weekend leading up to it was nervewracking. I was pretty close to just not showing up and taking a zero. So I must say that I am rather proud that I even gave the speech, so as for the specifics of strong and weak points, I don't really have many. I think the speech turned out fine overall. My biggest problem was definitely with length. I talked for a considerably shorter time than I was supposed to. When practicing, I should have kept track of how long I was talking for. It also would have been a good idea to include more descriptions and facts in the speech. Next time I will be sure to create an interesting image for the audience while telling my story. On the plus side I thought I kept fairly good eye contact and strayed from using filler words like "um" and "like". So while it may have been brief, what few words I did say were good enough. All in all, the assignment boosted my confidence and was the first step in becoming comfortable talking in front of the class.

Problems

On Monday, I am going to be the lucky one to read my speech first. Obviously, I am dreading it because while writing it I have encountered several problems. One of my major problems is dialogue. I am still really shaky as to how I can incorporate it into my speech. I am telling a serious story about a man in prison and I am worried that it will sound like a joke if I speak in an accent or perhaps a gruff voice. Not to mention, if it is story that I didn't actually witness but I use dialogue as if I was there, won't I lose credibility? That is another issue that I have with my speech. It is entirely fictional yet serious. While I have a lot of facts to back up the moral of my story, the "hard-hitting" story is really a lie. I am having some serious problems with this assignment.
I think I have thought up some ideas as to how I am going to deal with these issues but I am still pretty unsure. I am going to try to incorporate dialogue into the end of my speech when I discuss how the man is dealing with life after prison. Perhaps he could utter some profound yet simple sentence that will tie into my message. As for credibility, I am going to do as much research as I can on life in prison to avoid giving a stereotypical description of prison. Hopefully, everything will turn out okay.

Blog you like a hurricane

This is Trista Bakale's blog. Excited yet? While every post I make will pertain to my speech class, I have feeling that they are still going to be pretty darn interesting. Sex? Lies? Scandal? Almost certainly not, but who knows. So strap yourself in and get ready for a rollercoaster of excitement as experienced through personal reflections on my speaking skills.
Through my reflections in this blog, I hope to acquire a better understanding of my strengths and weaknesses as a public speaker. And hopefully this class will make me a better speaker because currently I am not.