MY BEST ADVICE:
I think the best advice I gave to a peer in class was one that I gave during our first dry-dry run. I told my peer that it might benefit them to organize their speech because their points felt a little disconnected from one another. I suggested grouping their outline based on the topics/tips that they were bringing up.
WHY IT’S MY BEST ADVICE:
This was my best advice because I thought that their topic and everything they were saying about it was really important, but the format of the speech wasn’t as engaging for me as it could have been. After seeing them revise their speech on the days we recorded our dry runs, I could tell that they used this advice and had improved the connectedness of their speech. This advice was definitely effective seeing how organized their next draft was, so I believe this was the best advice I gave.
BEST ADVICE FROM MY PEERS:
I think the best advice that I received from my peers was to add something that could connect with everyone and wasn’t only about my experience. They said that adding something that anyone could do to better themselves academically would make my speech more relatable to the audience. Adding something that can apply to others changes it from a speech about myself, to something that is relatable and can apply to others.
WHY IT’S THEIR BEST ADVICE:
This advice did impact the way I went about my speech. While my speech was still mostly focused on my personal experience with bettering myself academically, I added the part about my digital planner that has helped me manage my assignments better. This is something that anyone can use, so I thought it worked to not only connect to the audience, but as a visual aid as well.
REFLECTION AFTER EACH PEER REVIEW:
(From Journal #8) After watching the video of my dry-run of my speech, I have realized there is a bit I need to work on. I have always struggled with the anxiety of public speaking, and while this isn’t really something I can simply get over, I think that by practicing my speech more until I am confident with it will help. Taking deep breaths during my speech, and trying to calm myself down doesn’t always help, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to try. Also, I used filler words such as “like” and “um” quite a bit, so I will cut down on that. I went on a tangent at the beginning about my previous experiences with school in elementary and middle, and I’ll cut down on that a bit to focus more on the topic of how to improve academically. Also, adding more about things “you” or “the audience” can do to improve themselves academically would be beneficial based on some peer feedback I received. Making more eye contact with the audience would also benefit me, however that is also something I struggle with even outside the context of speeches. Overall, I think my dry-run went better than I expected, but there are still things I can work on before my final presentation of the speech next week.
