Baseline Speech

I was happy with the way the baseline speech turned out. My slides did a good job complementing my presentation about solar energy in Germany. Rather than containing loads of text, the slides were relatively simple, clear and had good graphs/diagrams. In particular, I think the slide with the pie graphs showing the amount of solar electricity that Germany produced in 2008 versus the U.S. really "drove home" the main message of my presentation. It showed just how far ahead Germany is compared to the rest of the industrialized world in terms of renewable energy. I think this slide put things in prespective for the whole class. I was definitely comfortable with the information I was presenting which is a result of my preparation in advance. Obviously after looking at my video there are definitely things I need to work on. One of those is working on my body posture during the presentation. There are times during the video when I'm leaning over the podium. Needless to say, this seems a little awkward. After the title slide, there was a point where stumbled with my words which gave off a sense of nervousness. I also spoke quickly at times which might have been another sign of anxiety. Like I've mentioned in my previous blogs, controlling my nerves will continue to be on of my major goals throughout the semester. Another thing I noticed in my video was that I looked at my notecards a lot. I think I knew the material well enough that I didn't need to do that. Unless the cards contain just a few main points to serve as a remainder of what's on each slide, they will otherwise be confusing. The eye contact should be directed towards the audience and not the cards.