Out of Class Presentation

For my out of class presentation, I was able to speak to a group of my peers.  They ranged in age from 20's to 40's.  In my preparation for the speech I referenced some of the class members who had given their breakdown and analysis of their out of class speeches.  These blog posts on their speeches yielded some good inspiration on what I should talk about and the rubrics for their analysis of my presentation.  One post suggested that we choose a topic we are passionate about so that we are able to speak with more ease and conviction.  I took this to heart and gave a speech/presentation on the home sharing website of Airbnb.  I used a common rubric for the audience analysis of the presentation.

Airbnb.com is a website were people can rent and/or rent out homes or rooms within homes for people who are on vacation.  It is part of the new "sharing economy" that is trending in the past 5 years with sites such as this one and the taxi service Uber.  My presentation focused on the recent issues the City of St. George has taken up with locals who are posting their homes and rooms as available for rent.  The city is sending out letters of warning of potential fines for violating codes on short term rentals within the city.  I myself have used Airbnb.com on occasion for vacations and have found it to be a more economical way to vacation as well as being able to be more involved with the community which you are visiting.  I took the stance and persuasion of telling the audience that the City should allow these rentals as they are an economic boon to the city and also extra income to those who are renting.

My analysis from the audience showed that they were sympathetic to my speech and I believe this showed that I was able to connect with them and persuade them that my line of thought and analysis of the situation was correct.  That the city should not try to put an end to these short term rentals.

In preparation and during the speech I felt more at ease, most likely because I felt that my audience was predisposition-ed to be sympathetic to my presentation and not likely to judge harshly.  Overall my speech went well and those in attendances said that it was very good.  However in my heart I know that it could have been much better.  Due to the nature of audience, I did not prepare as well as I should have and had many noticeable slip ups and faux pas throughout the presentation.  I relied too much on the generosity and non-judgmental nature of my audience.

Though I received mostly 4-5 marks (these being the highest) on the sections of my rubrics, I found that the audience noticed that I used quite a few "ums" and "uhs", which I do use typically but not as much as I did during this speech.  This I can attribute to lack of practice.  A few comments also stated that my transitions were not as fluid as they could have been and also I caught myself and my audience caught me self-checking quite a few times.

As I stated, the audience liked my presentation in general and my message.  The liked the attention getter and the structure of my speech.  Examples and three main points were well discussed and informative to them.  My slides conveyed my messages and they seemed to appreciate them but not overly so that they took over, upstaged, my speaking.  The mechanics of my presentation were somewhat flawed and amateur.  I believe I will be able to take their criticisms and apply them to my portfolio speech and speeches in the future by not taking for granted my audience and giving them the preparation they deserve.