False Confessions Speech Analysis

Walking out after my False Confessions speech on Monday, I felt defeated. While I know no speech is ever perfect- including mine- it did not live up to my expectations for myself. Although everyone seemed interested in my topic, my introduction was good, and I presented without even looking at my notecards, I was visibly frustrated when presenting because of time. Time constraints always make me anxious and underperform whether it be timed testing, racing against the clock in a swim meet, or presenting a speech. My anxiety caused me to fumble over the words I had practiced so clearly earlier and rush through citations that gave a lot of credibility to the speech. In retrospect, my speech could have been worse or better, but at least it is over so I can learn to improve for my next speech. The speech started off great. I looked at the audience, paused, and told a true life story that gained their attention. The Central Park Five’s story enhanced my speech my giving a real life example of the problems and consequences of false confessions in our legal system. However, the particular way I told the story really peaked my audience’s interest. I first discussed the victim of the crime, inducing sympathy from the audience. Then, I seemingly satisfied their need for justice by discussing the arrest and prosecution of the boys suspected of

The first problem with my speech was time. Time caused my to become anxious, talk faster, and not clearly articulate my points to my audience. During an informative speech, it is best to be clear and concise so the audience retains more information, but my speech was negatively impacted from my poor vocal delivery. Moreover, my speech lost credibility from my poorly executed citations. For each citation, I would either rush through where the information came from or mention the source at the end, which therefore decreased my overall