1st Public Speech of the Semester

I presented my first speech of the semester yesterday in my 114P class, Business and Professional Speaking.  The topic that I chose for my briefing was tips to help someone become a better public speaker.  The assignment was to inform the class on something they do not already know or can improve on.  I did research before presenting my speech, and my three pointers were knowing your audience and know the material, breathing tricks and what you do not want to do when public speaking. I thought these were well informed and organized.  I also got the class involved by asking a question at the start of the speech, which helped take some of the emphasis off of me and also keep the audience engaged.  After giving the speech, I believe my delivery can be improved. One of the reasons my delivery was not up to my standards was that I was not able to use my power point slides because the connection on my computer did not match the connection that was in the class.  I learned for future reference that a way I can improve on this is to be better prepared with the visual aid and have a back up plan by either bringing in a flash drive or emailing the presentation to myself, so that I can open it up on another classmate's computer.  Another thing I could improve on is to focus more on my eye contact with the class. Sometimes I relied too much on the notes in front of me and did not look at the class as much as I should have. Knowing the positives and negatives of my first speech will definitely help me in preparing for my next one.