Thoughts on my Elevator speech

My class Elevator speech presentation was nerve-wracking. It was almost like I was going to choke on my words and believe me my mind was filled with a lot of distractions. I’m surprised none of these feelings was noticed.

After the presentation, I was so nervous that I championed the questions session myself, forgetting there was a faculty present and in charge of that.

THE FIRST CLASS PRESENTATION

I had a lot to reflect on after that presentation. First, I didn’t stutter; this is something I do most times during public speeches. I try as much as possible to stop myself as soon as I notice it, but most times it doesn’t go unnoticed by my audience. So, it was funny when I realized that I didn’t stutter during that presentation. I did repeat my sentences, which is something I still think I need to work on, though I do not think it was noticed.

Also, I spoke fast. While I know that sometimes I can be a fast talker, I know it’s something that happens a lot when I’m nervous. I didn’t even realize it happened until I was done with my session. In fact, I was surprised that no one brought it up. But I was timing myself during the presentation and I knew that I finished quicker than I did while practising. So, this is something I made a mental note to work on.

Thirdly, I did not read out my exact presentation, I presented an entirely different thing than what I had written out. Now, this confused me. It was like I was looking at my screen but changing the sentences as I spoke. So, while my written-out presentation gave me context and structure, the words were entirely different. I guess that was one of the reasons why I repeated some sentences, I did that to make sense of what was coming out of my mouth.

Even after, when practising for the second presentation, I noticed that I was substituting some words or sentences in my notepad unconsciously. I decided to change my presentation anytime this happens to see if I would stop but I didn’t.

I decided to only define the paragraphs in my presentation and just go with the flow since I couldn’t stick with the script. Maybe it’s because the presentation was for one minute as I do not think it would fly with a lengthy one.  

THE SECOND CLASS PRESENTATION

Here, I only repeated a sentence and even then, I caught myself and stopped. Also, I would say I wasn’t as nervous as the first time, maybe because I was comfortable with my audience or because it was a Zoom presentation. Well, I completely ignored the faculty’s face until after the presentation.

The feedbacks were also helpful, while I believe I have improved a bit, it seems there is still much to do. I still need to work on the speed of my speech and, learn to enunciate my pauses better during my presentation. This would help my audience realize when I end a sentence and start another.