About a few days ago, I drafted, finalized, and delivered my introductory speech to my ISM class. It was overall a fun experience since there weren't many guidelines that I need to follow, and I could freely talk about basically anything.
The drafting part was the hardest, like right now writing a blog post: so many ideas to put on paper, and each with its own potential. Honestly, I don't like typing out a full speech draft, and I much prefer just having a notecard with the main points that I need to hit and just sort of "improv" from there.
Personally, I believe that giving a speech shouldn't follow a pre-written script. There is just a different tone when someone writes compared to when they talk. When someone reads from a paper during a speech it is more like a movie or video; sure, there is audience attention, but no interaction. In my opinion, a good speech would interact with the audience, whether by asking rhetorical questions, making jokes or some other ways that makes the audience be engaged. Take Computer Science for example: while others started their speeches with math or statistics, which isn't bad and they are free to do their speeches their way, but many people would immediately lose interest. I myself began with a quote, and quickly rushed past it to get to the juicy and fun questions and the like, in order to not lose audience interest.
The biggest challenge I face when making speeches is time. Most of the time I exceed the time limit, since I was so compassionate and really got into my topic. A good speech is a joy to write and also a joy to listen, and time flies when everyone is having fun.
Comments