Entertainment Speech Self Evaluation
Your topic:
Contained “universality” for audience-how so? I think everyone in the audience had at least
some knowledge of the Lord of the Rings and particularly the one line during my speech "One Ring to
Rule Them All". The piece I chose also tells a story that's easy to understand and that is interesting to
the average person (the movies are so successful for a reason afterall)
Fit you as speaker, why or how I definitely give off the vibe that I'd be the type of person to
enjoy the Lord of the Rings (atleast in my opinion), and that "vibe" turns out to be 100% true. The
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is my favorite movie and the book series was one of the
things that got me into reading when I was younger. I also have a lot of fond memories associated with
the franchise and I made a connection to one in my introduction to the speech.
Introduction:
Did you have a significant pause? YES
First sentences grabbed audience attention YES
Written well (informative, descriptive writing, interesting) YES
Stated title and author at end of intro YES
Eye contact:
What percentage of the speech? I'd say about 50%, so it's definitely something I can work on.
Did you pan the audience? I mainly panned to the left side of the room and need to work on
including the whole classroom.
Gestures:
What percentage of speech included gestures? 0% (though I may have done an introductory
gesture when I asked my initial question but I can't remember)
Gestures (Showed planning but natural) NO
Did the gestures show the words determined the actions? NO
Movement:
Used upper body movement? NO
Showed planned lower body movement? NO
Facial expression
Animation was evident YES, I think my interest in the piece shown through
(Intensity, enthusiasm, excitement showed on face)
Vocal variety:
Used a conversational tone (didn’t sound like reading) YES
Rate, pitch, volume, enunciation variation write 2 examples of
how and where you used these well: The piece could've felt choppy and uneven at times if I
didn't purposefully pause at certain moments. It's easier to digest in the movie because the narration is
accompanied by corresponding visuals. The main example I can think of is when I said "Isildur took up
his father's sword". In the movie, after this line, it shows Isildur slicing off Sauron's finger, but this
context is missing and the line immediately after is "Sauron was defeated", so I had to make sure to
pause after the initial info to try and drive this point home. I also made sure to slow down and
emphasize my delivery for the famous line "One ring to rule them all" because I knew it was the most
impactful and well-known line.
Dressed as required? YES Material prepped as required? YES
The amount of expression used in my interpretation of the material was
(less) 1 2 3 4 5 (more) I'd say about a 4. They aren't my own words so it was a little more difficult to
add my own personal flair, but I tried my best.
What three things overall did you like about your speech?
1. I had a lot of text to go over, but I think I paced it well and wasn't rushing to the point where it was
confusing to the audience.
2. I think my introduction did a good job of setting the stage, grabbing the audience's attention, and
preparing the audience for some dense language and information that could be hard to digest if they
weren't giving 100% of their attention.
3. I think my interest in the piece was clear from my vocal delivery and rehearsing of said piece.
Though I memorized it I don't think my language/delivery was robotic or monotone.
What three things would you like to work on?
1. Planned gestures and movements to hold the audience's attention. I can feel a little locked up there
so it's difficult, but it's definitely something I can work on.
2. Further eye contact. I think in order to facilitate this I'm going to have to memorize my speeches
even more so I can focus on it, because it's an action I have to force myself to do.
3. I stumbled over my words one time and my immediate instinct was to say "Sorry" and I instantly
regretted it. I think further rehearsing (mainly in front of family and friends) will help me avoid
making this mistake in the future.
With all of the resources available to you today, remember that the best delivery system for
communicating ideas to your audience is YOU