Informative Speech on Chicago's Architecture

This is another random college speech I found on youtube.

Link to Speech

He begins his speech with the historical facts of the Chicago fire, but actually grabs the audiences attention with positive outlook of this tragic event in his thesis, which was that this event was the greatest thing that could have happened to Chicago’s architecture. He gives a good preview statement and summarizes his three main points. He cites his sources well, “according to…” but he relies too much on one source, "the AIA guide to Chicago.” He has very good organization . He does a good job of defining his main points and divides them up well into sub-points. He also gives good transitions between them. He gives a good conclusion, summarizing and restating his main topics.

His delivery could use some work. He relies too much on his notes – he is just reading. Also, he rarely makes good eye contact with the audience. He does a good job of moving by walking around a little, but could use more gestures. He is not very vocally expressive either. His voice reflects that he is relying too heavily on his notes.

The biggest problem is that he never really defends his thesis statement. He gives lots of information about the buildings themselves (some of which is unnecessary, like the location of each building – this would mean nothing to most people unless they live in Chicago, and even then it is still unnecessary). The problem is that he never ties in this information with his thesis.

Overall, he has good organization , but he needs improve his speech with more practice on his delivery, and by connecting the dots between his information and his thesis.