Start, Stop, Continue: The Dump

3 GROUP MOVES:

1) TAR-OFF: The genie's catchphrase. It was cheesy, but the cheesy catchphrase is a convention of infomercials. We could have incorporated our tagline: "dump your child at the dump, and leave your worries behind." We wanted to incorporate this phrase, but when we wrote our script, we forgot all about it.

2) AI: the video with the fun edits. I liked how they brought humor into their presentation. The vape clouds with the music made it super entertaining. The way they presented the "sharks" with the photo shopped pictures and their funny background story really added to the believability of it being a shark tank pitch. I think we brought a little humor into our speech, but it was all channeled through Steven's characters.

3) TOWBE: I really liked how they had the prototype there with them to present to the sharks. I also liked the video they had and how they showed how hard it was to change with out the Towbe and then how easy it was with the Towbe. We wanted to have a printed ID card to hold when I talked about our high-tech data scanning system, and pamphlets to pass out to the "parents" but we ended up not having time print out our props.



START:

-Smiling more. In previous speeches I smiled much more than in this speech. I did smile a few times, but that was when I was breaking character. Steven's revolving characters were absolutely hilarious, and I couldn't help but laugh.

-The best thing I could do for the advancement of my public speaking skills is to embrace the essential scariness of speaking in front of others and just combat it head on with confidence. I tried to really keep myself calm before we started our speech. I think I did better at staying calm for this speech than in previous speeches, but I was still freaking out inside. I don't know what this freak out comes from but I think I am getting better. I need to start being confident in the face of my speech anxiety.





STOP:

-I fidget with my hands. I do this when it isn't my turn to talk. Like I have said in previous reflections, I believe this is a coping mechanism due to my intense nervousness. I don't realize that I am doing it. Since I have written about it a few times now, you'd think that I would be aware enough to combat it, but that apparently isn't the case.

-I said "um" a few times and this really upsets me when watching the video of our speech. It is upsetting because this was something I really focused on when practicing. I was so tired when we rehearsed before class and I was nervous because I was forgetting a few of my lines. I think the "um"s came out because I was second guessing myself. I tried to slow down so I could think about my next line, but somehow a few "um"s still snuck in there. It was a serious let down to watch the recording and hearing myself say "um". Not proud of that one.

-I said "like" in a few places where I hadn't planned. One instance: "We were just, like, kibitzing one day" and another was, "so I was like, that is a great idea". It sounds uneducated and unprofessional. "Like" is not a good pausing word, and sounds terrible when used in replacement for "I said".

-I broke character a few times when I got distracted by Steven's character, which I referenced in the "start" portion of my reflection. I should have avoided looking at him while I was speaking, because those hats were pretty distracting. It was hard to keep from cracking up when I knew certain lines were coming up. The anticipation of his silly characters hyped me up, but I am glad that I didn't let that trip me up too much. Although Steven's hats distracted me, I think I recovered pretty well.

-I looked at my notes a couple of times, which I really didn't want to do. I wrote them right before we went up to present the speech because when we practiced, I was having difficulties with a few lines and I was terrified of completely spacing out on those lines in front of the whole class.



CONTINUE:

-This speech I really tried to actively use my hands when I was talking. I think this came across. I don't think it looked the most natural at times, but I was attempting for my hand gestures to make me come off as more animated and relatable, rather than dry and impersonal. I counted on my fingers for points I was making. I referenced where the pool and the boys and girls club is in proximity to the local middle school and high school.

-I attempted to make great eye contact with my audience (Steven- PTA parents). I actively engaged with him and gave him lots of feed back like, "I'll handle this question" and, "That's a great question" in order for my delivery to be more believable. This is how I imagine people interacting in a PTA meeting.

-I naturally lead, and I think this has become a characteristic of mine that has grown on me. I used to see this characteristic in a negative light. I saw myself as bossy and controlling, but now I see that as a strong initiative to lead. This helped our group immensely because my drive to "boss" people around made it easier to work as a group. Instead of us all looking around like, "uh, I don't know, what do you think?", I would take the reigns and then say "does that sound good to you guys?". Handling the group project in such a way made us cover a lot of ground at a faster speed. The first time we met up, we all just kind of sat around and dumped ideas on a paper, but no initiative was taken on which direction we were going. It was obvious that we needed one person to guide us all into the right direction. I just accidentally fell into that position, but it worked out smoothly for all of us... Or at least that is how I viewed it from my perspective. I hope that my group felt the same way.

-I looked more comfortable up there in this speech than previous speeches and this is something I am really proud to see when reviewing the video. I looked confident and composed. Although that is not how I was feeling, it was very convincing, and for that, I am very proud of myself.

-My favorite portion of my lines was when I described the ID card. When watching this I am in awe at how smooth it sounds and how knowledgeable I appear on the subject. When I lost a word, I slowed down and took a second to pause before I spoke. I made it all the way through with only one "um" (there was one um at the end of this section, but it wasn't very noticeable). I am so amazed because this was the portion with the most information, so naturally, I felt like this is where I might stumble the most, but instead, I NAILED IT.