We had to give a political speech in my communications class and my professor thought it would be fun if we recorded and critiqued our own speeches. I’m not sure why she thought this would be fun, but hopefully my critique helps her to understand that it isn’t.
Nomination Acceptance Speech Review
It was frustrating to listen to my Nomination Acceptance Speech as it sounded like I had not practiced at all, when in reality I had practiced a great deal. From what I could hear, I stood completely still throughout the speech, which would be great if I was giving a demonstration speech on how to be a guard for Buckingham Palace, but for a political speech it was a terrible thing to do. A political speech should be passionate and insightful and not delivered by someone who speaks like a valley girl after a stroke; “today I want to talk to you about three topics that are pretty important to me. Um, everyone is talking about, um, things such as, um, the economy and, um, gay marriage, and I think we should talk about things that aren’t talked about as often which are universal healthcare, school vouchers and the idea of vat-grown meat”. It seems we were all quite lucky that I got my thesis statement out without going on a diatribe about how awesome my shoes were or without a rapid succession of ‘ums’ that would fully illustrate how I should never become a public speaker, which is worrying as I plan to spend the duration of my career in front of a classroom.
When I wasn’t spending my time peppering my speech with ‘ums’ and ‘uhs’, which really added some credibility, I was spewing out random strings of sentences that were so fast and garbled together that you never quite knew where one began and the other ended. An example of this would be when I was discussing Universal Healthcare and I said “my first concern is that without competition pharmaceutical companies are going to keep raising their pricesalreadytheytake home seventeen cents per dollar (said like a question) as opposed to oil companies who only take home seven cents so we’regoingtoneed to put a cap on that, you know, maybe we could legislate how much they can charge and then tax them on that and use that money to help, uh, lower income families with healthcare (said triumphantly)”.
I’m not quite sure how my speech turned into this, but there once was a time when it was well practiced and articulate. It even had a lovely PowerPoint that emphasized each statement. Sure, the PowerPoint was still present, and the speech was there amidst the emotion breakdown, but it was nothing compared to what it had been during the practice runs. I was prepared, but sadly being prepared wasn’t enough to save me from the humiliating meltdown that I had before my peers. I am a smart woman who works extremely hard on every task she is given, but I feel that 6 minutes before my peers discredited everything I work towards. I suppose what is most mortifying is that I practiced nonstop. I practiced in the car while I did my errands, I practiced in from of the mirror in the mornings, I even practiced with my boyfriend, but I still managed to make a complete fool of myself. I didn’t think I could possibly dread giving the next two speeches any more than I had, but apparently I can. I’m not sure how I can stand before my peers while appearing to be confident when I know that I sound like a complete idiot.
As for the type of organization that I used, I chose topical. My topics were universal healthcare, which I opposed, school vouches, which I supported, and vat-grown meat, which I felt we should explore. For an example of my dazzling display of topical organization, please see the first paragraph.
My introduction was nothing to be proud of. I would like to take a moment to transcribe it for you, so that you may get the complete awesomeness that was my emotional breakdown. “Hello, I am Megan Burks, and I am Presidential Nominee for the Salt of the Earth political party. (4 second pause while someone, somewhere, hums a ditty) Um, and today I want to talk to you about three topics that are pretty important to me. Um, everyone is talking about, um, things such as, um, the economy and, um, gay marriage, and I think we should talk about things that aren’t talked about as often which are universal healthcare, school vouchers and the idea of vat-grown meat.” I introduced myself and my topics, I got the audiences attention, if only long enough to say my name, and clearly stated my thesis. What I did not do was make up some sort of back-story to establish credibility. Instead, I tried to do that throughout my speech by giving personal details that illustrated why this topic was important to me, which was embarrassing, but I felt it was necessary. For instance, when I revealed my family’s history and fight with cancer, I did so to illustrate why universal healthcare wouldn’t work for me.
I felt that I did say each topic clearly and that my speech remained focused on my stated purpose. I chose to discuss three topics that I felt weren’t talked about enough, and I tried to demonstrate why I was passionate about those choices. I may not have executed my speech particularly well, but I felt I was clear about my topics.
In my speech, I used several different kinds of support. For instance, when I talked about vat-grown meat, I used the example of how cows contribute gas emissions to our environment, which would require us to change. I used testimony from nurses.com which stated how Canadian surgeons felt about the wait times for their patients. I also used anecdotes in my speech. Though I wasn’t particularly funny, I shared personal stories with the class in order to illustrate why I felt the way I did.
In conclusion, I would give myself a D for this speech. It was clear that I had prepared as I had visual aids and clear topics, but my delivery was horrible. I am embarrassed that I gave that level of performance in a classroom as I typically pride myself as someone who goes above and beyond what is asked of her. I sincerely hope that my future speeches are nothing like the one that I am reviewing, and I can promise that I will never run for political office. Also, I believe that this has made me realize that I should think long and hard before becoming a teacher. How could anyone ever take me seriously? Teaching has always been a passion of mine, but perhaps I never considered that being passionate wasn’t enough. I will practice and prepare more thoroughly for my next speeches, perhaps emphasizing speaking slower, and I can only hope that doing so will help me improve.