Elavator Speech: Start, Stop, Continue.

I need to start:

• Explain how/why the audience should listen to me. I did not do a good job of introducing myself as the speaker. I should have given the audience more information on why I am speaking on the topic, which would give them more reason to listen and take in what I am saying. For example why should I be advocating eating meat? How has eating impacted my life? I need to establish my credibility.
• Aside from needing to establish my own credibility, I also needed to do a better job of giving background to my story. In my speech I did not do a good job of explaining why I was in the elevator with my friend at the specific restaurant. I feel like I need to take a few moments in my speech to contextualize and explain the general purpose of it.  
• Using body language and gestures in my speech. It makes the whole thing seem boring when I am just standing up there reading off of a note card. It doesn't sound natural and may make it hard for my audience to pay attention. Also using gestures may help me feel more engaged in my presentation.
• Watching the pace of my speech. I think at times I began talking a little bit too fast for the audience and because of this they may have become confused and lost interest in my speech.

I need to stop:

• Using a notecard in my actual presentation. I feel like during practice and while I am still in my earlier stages of my speech it is fine, but during the actual presentation in front of the class it may make it more difficult. I noticed that when I was looking off my note card I lost my place multiple times and that showed in my speech with a pause or an “umm”.
• Just listing off facts that I have memorized, this can make my speech sound computerized and not natural. This also hurt me when it came to the elevator speech because it did not seem like I was actually talking to my friend Alexa.
• Talking so fast, especially when the person held up the 1:30 sec marker. I feel like when I saw this cue, I got a little stressed out about time and therefore lost control of how fast I was talking.

I need to continue:

• The way I prepared for my speech. Although you can never make it perfect, by utilizing the communication lab, and a few friends I was able to practice my speech for speech day. No matter how much I practiced though I noticed that when you are up in front of the class, performing is going to be a challenge. Freezing and forgetting your place in your speech I noticed was a common mistake of mine.
• Making an organized outline that is easy for me to follow and memorize. I am usually really good at making outlines for papers, so making one for the speech was rather easy. It is crazy that no matter how clear and easy your outline is, it is still very easy to mess up in front of an audience.
• Making eye contact with the audience. I know I didn't use enough hand gestures and body language, but I felt like for the most part keeping eye contact with the audience was easy. I think that not using a note card will also help with keeping eye contact because you will have no reason to look down.
• Being passionate about my topics and the speeches. When as a speaker you are passionate, some of the passion may rub off on your audience. If both you and your audience are engaged in the presentation/speech then the experience will be much more enjoyable.
• Giving both sides of a specific topic. So in my speech I was trying to convince my friend to know longer be a vegetarian, and in order to do this I had to be convincing. When I am persuasive it is important I give both sides to particular issue, which is what I did in my speech. Once the audience is familiar with both sides, then it is your job to convince them to agree with your stance.
  Staying on time with my speech. This time my elevator speech was right on time. I had to speed up a little bit at the end but overall I think that I was pretty punctual.