11/07/2011
I had a difficult time coming up with an unconventional wisdom topic. At first I was going to talk about the personal reward for performing random acts of kindness and how positive actions toward strangers can start a perpetuating cycle of kindness (“pay it forward”). I questioned the “unconventionalness” of this topic idea, however. I now think it would have been an acceptable subject, but at the time I did not, so I decided to consider talking about how people tend to search for miracle diets instead of simply eating real foods in moderation. I drafted an outline and everything, but when I went to the library to work on it I passes some books about animal cognition and I immediately wanted to change my topic to the benefits of owning a dog. I realized that I could use the diet outline for my persuasive speech instead. This was this speech-round’s curveball to myself: last-minute topic switch, which inevitably left less time for preparation.
I am glad I changed topics though; I felt much more enthusiastic and connected with my speech (especially since I had just gone home the previous weekend and had treated myself to some dog-therapy; I was truly feeling the benefits). Although I do not think that I performed as well as I had on past speeches, based on the question/answer session I think that the audience felt my energy, which I took as a plus. Because of my compromised preparation time, I feel as though my speech was a bit rough; under-practiced. My words just did not come out as smoothly as I would have hoped. For the upcoming persuasive speech I hope to stick to my topic, or at least not change it less than a day before my scheduled presentation.
No comments:
Post a Comment