First Speech Completed

A few hours ago I completed my first prepared speech in front of my Toastmasters club.  I was a little nervous at the start of the meeting and when I was walking up to the podium, but when I started speaking it came naturally and I became more comfortable.  Although my biggest worry was that I would rush through the speech and not meet the minimum time requirement, I ended up speaking for around five and a half minutes (the minimum was four).  I even managed to get the "word of the day" incorporated into my speech which impressed some of the members. 

 My evaluator did a great job because he gave me a lot of positive feedback in addition to some constructive criticism.  He said that I smiled through the whole speech which was great, my stories were very detailed, and that my volume and confidence were good.  One thing that needed to be improved was that I didn't know what to do with my hands and sometimes they were distracting.  Next speech I will try to incorporate my hands more into different gestures to engage the audience instead of dangling at my sides.

Overall, I thought my Ice Breaker Speech went much better than I expected.  I received a lot of positive and constructive feedback which I will use to make my next speech even better.  I was glad I was the first person to speak because I was able to get it over with and relax for the rest of the meeting.  I really appreciate all the positive comments from the members and I feel very supported by them.  I am ready to start thinking about my next speech and advance my speaking skills further.