Speech Buddy Videos

Probably the biggest thing that I learned is how much persuasive information you can really fit into five minutes.  I was impressed by how much they were able to say, while still speaking slowly and methodically.  Both speakers connected with the audience by bringing the subject matter close to home, literally.  By talking about homeschooling, the speakers spoke on a subject that most people have had to approach at least once in their life.  The speakers were easily able to draw the audience in by making personal.  The appeal approach that was used by both speakers was an emotional appeal. By speaking on subject matter that involves one's children, there is automatically an emotional connection.  The audience had to consider the well-fare of their children not only scholastically, but socially as well.  In an attempt to come to terms with which situation really is best for their child a parent can feel guilty having to recognize the fact that they really may not be doing what is best for their child.

Tribute Speeches

Depending on the occasion, tribute speeches could be one of the most important type of speech.  Tribute speeches are meant to speak in high regards about a person or group.  The tribute speech that I am most familiar with is the eulogy.  I have probably been to about 30 funerals in my lifetime and have heard quite the variety of eulogies given.  In a time of grief, what someone else says about a loved one that has passed can either dig a bigger hole of depression, or help you celebrate the life they lived.  Careful consideration must be given to the eulogy speech in regards to the families desire for the atmosphere, the type of person the eulogy is about, and time limits.  Although death is always a tragedy, speaking about the fond memories, funny times, and special characteristics about the one who has passed can lighten the mood.  On the other hand, focusing on the sadness, the emptiness, and loneliness puts more emphasis on the tragedy and will only darken the mood.  I prefer to be at funerals and hear eulogies that hardly mention the tragedy of the death, but rather speak about the good that the individual accomplished and the positive impact he/she had on others.

Persuasion

My boyfriend races motocross.  About 6 months ago, on a Saturday morning, he went to a track to practice without me.  I was studiously studying for my upcoming Physiology exam.  About 11:00 I get a phone call from him. He says, "I think I hurt my ankle,  but I'm okay. I am going to load my bike up and go home."  Apparently, he landed a jump and went into a corner. While turning, his boot got caught in the mud and twisted his ankle.  He heard a loud "pop!"   I met him at his house to assess the situation.  Although he managed to load and unload his motorcycle by himself, once he took his boot off the outside of his ankle looked the size of a tennis ball.  His reaction to it was, "It's just a little swollen. I probably just sprained it.  A little ice and it will be fine." 

I had to utilize causal reasoning to convince him to go to the doctor.  If it was just a sprain that was fine, he should just stay off it for a bit.  However, if it was broken, there could be severe ramifications to not getting it set properly.  Putting any weight on it could make the brake worse.  It could heal incorrectly causing more long-term damage. He potentially would not be able to race anymore.  However, if he went to the doctor and it was broken, it could be properly set, he could get a release from work to give it time to heal, and he would be able to continue to race. 

The end result was that he went to the doctor within an hour's time and found out that it was indeed broken and he was in surgery a week later to get 2 screws and a plate put in.  Now 6 months down the road he is training for his next race in May with hardly any limitations due to the brake.

Audience Types

I don't think that I have really ever necessarily thought in detail about the different types of audiences and how they should be addressed differently from each other.  I think I have just automatically altered my approach but not really taken thought as to why.  The way the textbook broke the audience down into different categories was interesting and quite helpful.  Showing how each audience type had similarities and differences in relation to each other was something I would not have taken into consideration on my own.  I like how the text broke down within each category not just what their opinion of the subject was but also what their opinion of it was.  However, when writing a speech, it is not always necessarily known whether or not the audience is educated on the subject matter or not and if they are educated about it, their viewpoint may not be known.  To cover this approach, I think it would often require generalizing the speech toward the assumption that you are speaking to a divided audience.

Monroe's Motivated Sequence

Monroe's Motivated Sequence is about getting the response from the audience throughout the duration of your speech.  In essence, properly manipulating them to see things your way.  You get their attention by first establishing the relevancy of the topic.  Then you explain that there is a specific need that needs to be addressed. After that you describe the solution that you have to this specific need, and visually show how this solution will best solve the need and what the costs would be if the solution was not utilized. Lastly, you explain how the audience can take action to implement the solution bringing them to the conclusion that they will do it. 

In contrast, the problem-solution pattern puts more emphasis on the fact that their is a problem that needs solving versus having the emphasis on a particular solution.  Once the problem is established, a reasonable solution will seem logical.

I will opt to utilize Monroe's Motivated Sequence primarily because it appears to be a better fit for my topic.

Sea of Persuasion

I am probably immersed in a sea of persuasion a little more than some.  I work for a smaller home improvement company and we do tons of marketing and advertising.  I not only am one trying to be persuaded by others, but am also involved in the process of persuading.  A hefty majority of our day is spent with other people trying to persuade us about something.  When we turn on the radio there are advertisements, when we watch TV there are commercials, as we drive down the road there are billboards. All of these are  promoted by companies trying to convince us to pursue them and buy from them in their industry rather than their competitors. At home there are children trying to persuade us to spend our attention with them rather than their siblings or with housework. If we become aware of the fact that people and businesses are trying to persuade us, we will be less susceptible to the messages.  Rather than going with what appears to be the flow we will actually stop and think for ourselves what the best choice will be instead of going with the easiest choice due to the information being more readily available.

Language and Gender

I found the flickr dialogue to be mostly a waste of one's time and words.  I am not one to be offended by how things are phrased in relation to gender and don't think anyone should.  I believe that by having to make things be gender specific it reduces the amount of detail that is given.  For instance, I would find it much easier to say "the waiter" versus "the server who was male" (although I would be more inclined to say "the server who was a boy," but that would also be incorrect).  I believe that man was created as the more dominant of the two sexes and should be shown respect in that manner.  I will always say the husband's name before the wife's. For me it is more honorable to do so.  Even the terms "female" and "woman" have the masculine terms within them because he is first.  No part of man or male has a suggestion of femininity within them.  I think that there are a few people that need something to complain about and so have chose it to be the terminology in which they are referenced and have made enough noise about it that there is now rules to govern how people are referenced.  I believe the majority of people would not even notice they were referred to in an unfair manner if someone else did not point it out to them.  I know I probably wouldn't.

Managing Your Body

When giving a speech, how you carry yourself is almost as important as what you say.  What you say will not hold any relevance or capture anyone's attention if they are distracted by other aspects of what they are looking at.  Your appearance should both take into account the occasion and your own personality.  When giving a speech you should be speaking in such a manner as though you were having a conversation with the audience.  In doing such, you should be making eye contact and other gestures that include them.  Thoroughly practicing your speech will give you more confidence and allow you to do this better as it is a natural reaction to look up when you are trying to remember something.  Your facial expressions are one of the biggest things that will convey your own personal emotion about the subject.  Even if the audience does not hear your words, based on your facial expressions they should know if you are saying something funny, serious, exciting, or sad.  Correctly moving your body to coincide with your speech will be most perfected through practice and timing.  Matching gestures to speech content will help with the flow as you are giving your speech.  Keeping these things in mind will help drawn your audience in and help you be more comfortable as you give your speech.

Speech Buddy Videos

You would think that the subject matter of the speech buddy videos would be pretty much common sense. However, it is actually quite common that I will hear public speakers do everything wrong according to the speech buddies.  I remember very vividly having a history teacher in high school that was monotone and wasn't engaging at all.  I personally always have to pay attention to the speed in which I speak as I have a natural tendency to talk fast.  There are some speakers that I have listened to that were irritating just because of the pitch of their voice.  Knowing what pitch is the most desirable will assist in drawing in an audience and make them more comfortable listening to you.  Adapting to the audience is key in this regard. 

I think the video and discussion about how to practice your speech would have been more ideal towards the beginning of the semester.  Having an increased repertoire of how to practice is helpful.  It is good to see what techniques possibly work for others.

Eval #2

The purpose of my speech was to explain the benefits of massage therapy. I feel that I did achieve this purpose focusing on Swedish, deep tissue, sports injury, and infant massage. I was confident in the material that I had to present and am comfortable talking in front of people in general. However, I was nervous about the time limits. I could talk about the subject matter for hours so restricting and focusing the information at hand was a challenge. Also, remembering to incorporate the cited sources into the speech made me nervous as it is not typically something that I have to take into consideration. The biggest difference I would have made in preparation is to not start writing it the weekend before it was due which would have then allowed me ample time to rehearse it.  In regards to support and organization I don’t think I would have made any changes.  As far as delivery of my speech, the only change I think I would have made would be to step away from the computer so that I could not see it to read from the slides.

To improve the content of my next speech, I will probably attempt to get more quotes and statistics to assist in relevancy.   To improve the delivery of my next speech I will make it more of a point to have more eye contact… something that I think can always be improved upon.  Having to utilize power point rather than a visual aid that was tangible made this speech less enjoyable to give and had more of a sterile feel to it.  However, the power point display did allow us to display more aspects of the speech content. Since I don’t have the video to watch I am not sure if I did anything distracting or not.  Based on other classmates’ feedback there wasn’t anything specific stated that I did.  However, on the last speech I was told that I was saying “um” a lot and that was not brought up on this one.  

From what I remember I would rate my eye contact as a 7.  I tried to make it a point but am not sure if I remained consistent in it or not.  Based on this performance I would give myself an “A” rating.  I had a strong introduction and conclusion and main points, I utilized power point slides, and only felt that I showed nervousness on occasion.  Throughout my speech, I had 4 resource cites to acknowledge but think I only mentioned 3.   I feel that I performed my last speech better than this one mainly because I was more nervous about the time restraints with this speech.  Having a tangible object to talk about also helped maintain focus and flow.  I was aware of the fact that it helped draw the audience in.  Also, not having a tangible visual aid on this speech made me a tad more self conscious.  It added more aspects that needed to be remembered such as advancing slides, making sure to look at the audience rather than the slides, and having to utilize the note cards in conjunction with the slides.