Speech Buddies

For me, Katherine's speech was the most beneficial to learn from because it showed me a lot of what not to do.  First off, she seemed extremely rushed, probably because she was nervous.  Since she was talking too fast it caused her to stutter and stumble over words.  In turn, this probably caused her to be even more nervous.  Also, Katherine looked at her notes a whole lot.  It appears that she wasn't properly prepared for her speech.  She didn't feel confident in the subject matter or in the flow of the speech.  I believe this is a prime reason why some are nervous when they are speaking.  If you know your subject well, and have a planned out thought of how you are going to present it, then there is no reason to be nervous.  If you are feeling a little nervous, just taking a deep breath prior to speaking and concentrating on going slow and allowing the thoughts to process in an orderly manner will definitely help in the presentation.

Organizing a Speech

When someone is passionate about a topic, they may not have much trouble at all finding reasons to talk about it. However, the conversation can be very choppy as they jump from one topic to another merely as they think about it, not necessarily with any specific reasoning about it.  This is where speech organization comes into play.  It forces you to stop and think about the topic in a way that will make it easier for you to convey your passion in such a manner that the follower will be able to understand and possibly share in your passion.  Just thinking about the process is a good step in organizing your thoughts.

Placing your thoughts down in outline format causes you to begin to think in a general flow.  It causes you to think specifically about what you want to talk about, and then what details specifically you want to share through main points and sub points.  By utilizing this format you will be able to speak more clearly and the audience will better be able to understand and thoroughly grasp the information that you are trying to convey.

Stats and Facts

When found from a reliable and trustworthy source, statistics and facts can be very much utilized to drive home a certain point or to help sway an opinion your way.  From my experience, statistics are the most impacting when they are given a little at a time throughout the speech.  Some speakers that I have heard give a whole list of various stats at one time.  The only time that this has been an effective way to draw me in or to peak my interest is when all of the statistics given at one time pertain to me.

I often find it captivating when random facts are given throughout a speech.  I like to hear what someone else has taken the time to find out so that I don't have to.  However, I often find myself remembering what the facts were and having no clue what the speech was about.

An audience...

When one says the word "audience" most will typically think of a large group of people watching or listening to something on a stage.  However, we have audiences in everything we do everyday.  Anyone who is a parent knows that their children is their audience 24 hours a day.  Their children are watching, evaluating, and processing everything their parents say and do.  When we are with an audience of  friends, our friends are observing our responses, attitudes, and mannerisms.  Our spouses are such a captivated audience,  observing and knowing their mate well enough to actually manipulate and push buttons knowing the response they are going to get even before it happens.

With this in mind, we should be as aware of our everyday actions as we are when we are actually speaking in front of a designated group of people.  Just as you need to utilize audience analysis and adaptation with a group of designated people, you should be doing this with your children, friends, family, co-workers, and spouse.  You are always being watched and evaluated.  There is always an audience before you.

Knowing Your Audience

Adapting to your audience is a HUGE aspect of giving a speech.  If you don't draw in and cater to your audience there wasn't much point in speaking to begin with.  Even if you are speaking on a topic that the audience is interested in, if you don't deliver it in such a way that includes them they will become distracted and drift off from listening. 


Some things that need to be considered in analyzing your audience include the age of the audience, along with their standpoints, values, attitudes, and beliefs.  Other speech considerations are type of setting, the occasion, the time of day and duration of speaking time.  When giving your speech, you will adapt to the type of audience by choosing how you phrase opinions, choosing specific examples or stories that won't offend someone, including the audience with their feedback or acknowledging a situation that most will be already encountering in their life.

When I give my speech I will utilize speech analysis by recognizing that I am speaking to a small group, in a closed environment, to people that have a shared culture with me of being college students.  I will attempt to draw them in by catering aspects of my speech to include them or bring a relation of where they are in life to what my topic is about.

Ch.6 Speech Buddies

The speech buddies did not seem to be too incredibly helpful this week.  There was only one short video that seemed to cover material on research speeches and it mostly reiterated what was already covered in the reading.  Just as far as speech presentation in general goes, the slug speech was somewhat fascinating.  Whether or not Shaura really is a slug enthusiast, she at least had fun with the speech and played the part well.  The media slides that she used were not very visible, however I could get an idea of how they could be utilized to better express what she was trying to say.  To someone that is nervous, it could also be an avenue to take the center of attention off of the speaker and put it towards the media.  Also, it gives the speaker something direct to be talking about which can also help decrease the nervousness.

New Concept

The research interview was a new and unique concept to me.  I have not had much experience doing research interviews and never really thought about the strategy behind it.  It was interesting to me to actually label the different kinds of question asking.  Although I know that I utilize primary, secondary, open-ended, closed-ended, neutral, and leading questions, I can't say that I use them on purpose.  Typically, I would ask questions just as they pop into my head, not really asking specific questions on purpose or seeking a particular result.

Also, I don't believe that I have previously ever had a particular plan or layout whenever I have interviewed anyone.  The concept of having an interview guide is new to me.  Of course I always have a purpose when I interview someone, but to actually anticipate an opening, utilize different types of questions, and end with a specific conclusion is something I have never consciously utilized.  I can see how putting this layout to use could be beneficial to more efficiently getting the result from an interview that I want.

Research Interviews

My experience conducting research interviews is pretty limited.  In fact, I don't recall ever conducting one aside from interviewing candidates for job positions.  When I am interviewing, I am researching how well the interviewee will fit with the company.  The interview not only gives me an avenue to research what skills they possess based on previous work and life experiences, but also how they conduct themselves during the interview such as body language, how well they communicate, and their clarity and articulation in speech. 

Typically in this situation the candidates are nervous so I have found that the best types of questions to ask are primary, secondary, and closed-ended.  I am typically looking for very specific answers or responses and therefore, if I were to use open-ended questions, the topic may stray too much from the information that I am looking for. However, by asking secondary questions I have discovered that I oftentimes will find out valuable information about the interviewee's personal life that may also impact the position I am interviewing for. When conducting these interviews, I definitely stay away from leading questions.  The answers are typically very short and don't give an accurate representation of the candidate as it is easy to anticipate what the interviewer is wanting to hear and give the assumed response.

A Whirlwind of Ideas

I lived in Oklahoma for a period of time.  While there, I experienced a number of tornadoes and tornado warnings.  One of my favorite things to do was to go outside right before the sirens went off and watch the lightning and clouds swirl around, much like a strobe light. When I hear the term "brainstorm" I think of a tornado.  As a tornado travels along its path it will pick up whatever it encounters and toss it around and tumble it about.  Eventually the items it picks up will be either thrown about in some inconvenient array, or placed down unharmed. 

Brainstorming is probably one of my favorite aspects of preparing a speech.  Similar to a tornado, it involves picking up random pieces of information, some of which will be used in the speech, some tossed out of the way, and others put on a shelf for use at a later date.  Brainstorming has no limits to what ideas are potential content.  It gives allowance for any interactions that take place in daily life to become part of the presentation.  I always find it interesting to see what content I find that I am able to utilize in a speech that I probably wouldn't  have even considered if it weren't for the brainstorming process.  It is because of this very important piece of the public-speaking planning, that aspects of one's life are able to take their place in the presentation.

Buddy Learning

In seemed to me that a good majority of what the buddies said was already covered in the chapter reading.  Probably the most that I learned was the result of watching their body language and how they carried themselves.  They appeared to be comfortable in front of the camera. In observing Jessica giving her speech, I did notice how much I was attracted to the fact that she smiled so much.  It caused me to have more of an awareness at how critical facial expressions are when conveying a thought or opinion.  When she smiled, it gave the appearance that she was at ease in speaking even if she wasn't.  Also, it helped draw me in to what she was saying.

People often tell me that I look too serious or too focused on what I am doing. Being able to recognize my own personal reaction to the facial expressions of another will help me to be more aware of the affect my facial expressions are having on others and if I am communicating the same thing through my face that my words are.

Does what I say really matter?

Growing up my older brother was always pretty loud and obnoxious.  When he walked into a room his presence seemed to consume it, and not necessarily in a positive way.  Over the dinner table, most conversations somehow seemed to always get routed to either talking about him or for him to be the one talking.  As a result, I developed the personal opinion that what I had to say didn't matter.  Still to this day, he will ask me a question and go on to something else before I even answer. 

The repercussions of this that I have seen in my own life are that I typically won't take on a debate or try to convince someone that my way is right, and in a crowd of conversations I will have a tendency to listen rather than interject a thought or opinion on what is being said.  Probably my biggest speech anxiety is that no one really cares what I have to say. 

One tool that I plan to utilize to overcome this is visualization.  I will be visualizing the response and reaction that I want the audience to have and anticipate that to act itself out as I am giving my speech.  Also, by choosing a topic that I care about, my passion for it will come out which I know will draw in the audience causing them to want to hear what I have to say. Ultimately, I know that what I have to say is valuable.  If it affects even one person I know it was worth going through whatever anxiety I had to go through for that one person to hear it.