What I Got Out of this Class

I got a lot from this class that I did not expect. Going into it I did not have high expectations. I was dreading speaking in front of a room full of people. I thought the speeches would be more loose, I did not realize that we had to do different styles, timing, delivery methods, and use of supporting materials. I learned a lot from the extra work, and I know I will use it all again eventually. My husband has to prepare power point demonstrations and give speeches to students regularly ( he is an instructor pilot in the Air Force). I know that it is highly likely that at some point in my career I may have to do the same. I am currently applying to nursing school, and being able to explain concepts in a timely manner will be a huge asset. I expect that there will be some presentations required for me nursing classes as well. I have been a stay at home mom for the past 6 years, so this class has also prepared me for job interviews. Being able to speak confidently to people I do not know well will help me eventually find a job. The relaxation techniques we learned to combat anxiety have already stuck with me in other areas of my life. I find myself relabeling a lot, and trying to channel negative energy into positive. I also learned a lot from watching the other speakers and seeing them evolve as public speakers. It taught me that almost everyone is nervous speaking in front of people, but when you learn to control the anxiety and channel the energy you can give a great speech. I am happy to be finished with the class, and I am positive I will use some of what we have learned this semester in the near future.

Favorite Speech

My favorite speech was by far the informative speech. Providing an audience with information that I was interested in felt very comfortable, like teaching. There was no pressure to persuade, to do a demo, or to get anything accomplished other then teaching the audience about a subject. I really liked both of our speeches that used power point. Dimming the lights so the power points were easier to see made me feel way more at ease. Also having the slides as another focus for the audience to look at, other than me, made me much less nervous. The challenge with the informative speech was being able to get my points across in a short amount of time. I imagine teachers deal with this all the time, being able to lecture on a subject within class time constraints. It was also difficult to keep my content strictly informative and not persuasive, which the book gave some pointers on doing. It was interesting how each speech was so different in how I felt about them. I was nervous every time, but definitely the least with informative. As an audience member I enjoyed the informative speeches the best also. I liked seeing what people in the class find important enough to tell an audience about. I would say I learned a lot from everyone's speeches!

Most Useful Information

I would have to say that the most useful things we covered in the book as far as our speeches go are the things that helped me get started and work on presenting my speech. Initially with the culture speech I went into planning it by writing a paper and trying to memorize it. I have never done extemporaneous speaking before, so learning how to create a speech and organize it in a way that it could be delivered conversationally was really hard. One thing that helped me a lot was from Chapter 12 where it was suggested that you practice your speech in sections. Diving in and trying to recite the whole thing at once left me feeling really lost. Learning how to write an outline for a speech also helped me organize my thoughts without just writing the whole thing out. Chapter 2 is still the one that sticks with me the most, especially the various relaxation techniques for preparing yourself to deliver your speech. Relabeling is my favorite, taking the negative energy and making it positive. When I would practice I would always use visualization also, and try to picture a sea of eyes on me while I talked. One last thing I found useful was Chapter 5 Adapting to Your Audience. It was nice that we are in a class of students all from CA, so we have some common links. The speeches allowed us to get to know each other more, and I noticed people used a lot of audience interaction when delivering their speeches. Many people began with questions directed at the audience, or related their data to our classroom. I would say I learned a lot more than I thought I would in this class, and despite the nerves enjoyed it overall!

Chapter 16 Thoughts

I always love to hear good special occasion speeches. On the flip side a bad special occasion speech can be a real drag for whatever the event is. Every year I have a friend who hosts an Oscar party and one of the things I like to do is listen to the different speeches made by winners of an Oscar and see how well some people express gratitude while others are terrible. I will focus my discussion on Acceptance speeches because these to me must be very difficult (I have never had to do one!) I think it would be very challenging to humbly and gratefully accept an award, thank those who helped you get there, deal with being nervous, and be concise all at once. I always wonder how many people forget to thank someone major and really regret it later. I like it when people are humble and take the focus from their accomplishment to the bigger picture of what they accomplished. Being succinct I would imagine is the most difficult aspect of delivering an acceptance speech. I know when I am nervous I ramble, especially when I am excited. I love it when someone can say so much in just a few words, its really a gift. Our book also indicates that you should provide the context in which the event leading up to the award occurred. If I ever had to deliver an acceptance speech for receiving an award I would hope that I would be humble and able to acknowledge everyone who helped me get there, I would be concise but would do a thorough job expressing my emotions, and I would contextualize the event.

Recent Persuasion

Convincing kids to do anything they don't want to do takes incredible persuasive skills. Every day brings endless opportunities for persuasion. Today for instance it began with trying to convince them that going to the Farmers Market would be fun. I used deductive reasoning by starting with the fact that a lot of people we know would be there, that its only once a week, and finally that we would have a great time. I used causal reasoning to explain that they stayed up too late the night before and that was why they were grumpy.I used examples of what we do there, who we may see, and what foods we like to buy. My final attempt was an analogy between how much fun we were having outside and how we could have the same fun at the market. I was successful! And we had a great time! In my adult life a recent argument with my husband required some strong persuasive skills over why he should clean the kitchen while I'm at school at night. Again I used an analogy, that I keep the whole house clean when I am home, so he should do the same when he's at home. I also used causal reasoning to explain that when I come home and the kitchen is a mess I am not happy, but if it is I am and I am very appreciative. Describing this argument by dissecting it with public speaking terminology make it sounds much more mild than it was...my persuasive skills were highlighted with some anger! Don't know if I won yet, as of tonight I am doing school and our kitchen is a wreck. I'll have to consult my book for some more advice!

Pros/Cons Home School Speech Buddy Thoughts

I liked these videos because they were like watching a debate, and I enjoy a good debate. For Dixie's speech she chose to represent the pro side of home schooling. I recognized her use of a narrative with the story of a child coming home from school upset about something that happened. I however thought this narrative was weak, because kids come home from school crying for dozens of reasons that do not have to do with school security and curriculum, and I do not think this is a common occurrence. I felt that she needed to offer some statistics of public school violence and insufficient curriculum to show that it happens enough that the story of the kid crying is a situation many parents deal with. She did a great job setting up her Monroe's Motivated Sequence with the problem being the public school system, the solution being homeschooling, and the benefits you would see if you became a home school parent. What I did not like about her speech was that I found it to be a little extreme. I thought she needed to do a better job including the audience, many of whom are more likely public school parents than homeschool parents, and acknowledge that not all schools have daily violence. In fact I think thats pretty rare, at least from what I have observed. She could have focused more on statistical evidence that proves that home schooled children come out ahead educationally, or how they fare in college. Focusing on violence in schools should have been part of her reasoning, but not the entire slant. I also thought she talked too fast and it was difficult to follow her path of persuasion. Robert on the other hand did a great job with speaking with inflection and speed, but pausing in the places he felt needed emphasis. I felt his speech was better adapted to convince a group of people to take action, because his action was less extreme. He stressed that in combination to public schooling kids need parental help at home. He did a great job acknowledging that everyone in the audience was from different educational backgrounds, making the audience feel connected to his topic. I don't think he used Monroe's Motivated Sequence, he instead did a few topics to lead up to his solution, public school with parental involvement. Overall I would say his point were better delivered, and more inclusive and less extreme than Dixie's. I did like seeing a speech using Monroe's set up because I am still struggling with writing me next speech not using the usual 3 main points. There were also some narratives, use of statistics, different types of arguments and sociable credibility examples that helped me hear what they sound like in a speech. I found these clips to be helpful, hopefully now I can get this thing written!

Chapter 14 Knowing Your Audience

As I've said in my last post I am pretty nervous about the persuasive speech. After reading Chapter 14 I am at least grateful not to have to persuade a hostile audience to buy into something they are against. I liked the advice the book gave on how to deal with a persuasive speech given to a negative audience. It is important to establish your credibility well. The next step I find helpful in any argument or debate situations, to establish a common ground. Doing so can diminish the audiences hostility by making them aware that you are not just against what they believe in. They will listen and be more open minded once they see that. Getting your audience to see your points in a positive light is also helpful. Being ready for negative feedback is important, and acknowledge it in your speech. That will make the audience aware that you know why they do not agree with you. The last suggestion is to keep your goals within reason, just having a hostile audience listen to what you have to say is a great start. Speaking to a positive audience is much easier. In this situation its important to offer enlightening evidence for your topic, to make it interesting and fresh, to tell a story to help highlight your goals, and to move past just being agreed with and try to get your audience to actually take action. An uninformed audience is open minded but knows nothing about your topic. Its important to show them why your topic is important, to establish your credibility, to use lots of repetition and redundancy in your speech, and to go easy on the persuasion. An apathetic audience requires a skilled speaker. You have to liven up your audience by having a great attention getter. You might need to make your topic personal for them, to show how it directly impacts their life. You also need to only represent one side of the issue. Using presentation media can also help get your audience interested. I expect our class to be a positive, open minded, uninformed on some topics but mostly interested audience.

Sea of Persuasion

Immediately after I read this discussion question I reflected on my morning and so far it has been a bombardment of persuasion. It started with checking my email and glancing through what was mostly emails from online websites that I have previously visited trying to persuade me to buy more things from them. This time of year for some reason I am highly driven to buy new stuff, maybe its the renewed energy of Spring, or maybe its the increased level of persuasion from retailers who know people shop more this time of year. On the way to my children's school I was being persuaded to buy my daughter a doll with real hair and some new puzzles, and my son was being especially persuasive in his request for after school frozen yogurt. I then went to the district office of my kids school district to pick up info on a new charter school in our district, The woman at the front desk gave me her persuasive bit on the school, which was nice because I wanted information and am thinking of switching my kids to the new school anyway. When I got in my car I called a friend who's daughter is best friends with my son and I used my best persuasive speaking skills to hopefully convince her to also switch her child to this school. From there I went to the grocery store, to succomb to mass media persuasion of all sorts. It was interesting to reflect on all these types of persuasive situations and to gauge my reactions and whether the outcome was successful or not. It reminded me of Chapter 14 and how your speech should be modified depending on how you audience feels about your topic, whether they agree, disagree or are apathetic. I think there is so much persuasion going on every day in our lives we definitely have to learn to be critical of what we are really getting into and what the persuader really has to offer. In a persuasive situation the speaker is going to try to convince you to do something, think a certain way, or take an action. As listeners we have to filter through what the speaker has said, think about what their goal is and how they are presenting that, and always consider the things they have left out or have slanted to reach their goal. Its really hard to do with how many times a day we are targeted in our personal lives, at work or school and from the mass media which is practically everywhere. Some persuasion is great and helpful and informative, and a lot of it is unnecessary, manipulated, or driven by money only. As consumers and individuals it is up to us to be aware and open minded to what we are really hearing.

Chapter 14 Discussion

 A part of me has been dreading the persuasive speech this whole semester. Its a big chunk of our grade, and I have never been a very good salesperson (note the gender neutral language!). Chapter 14 made me feel a little more confident, and helped me start to organize my thoughts about how I'm going to pull this off. I liked Monroe's Motivated Sequence in that it provides a template for how to get people fired up. You start with your usual attention getter to get the audience listening. Next you establish the need for something to happen by showing what the problem is. Your audience will want a potential solution to the problem now, to help them feel invested and involved in your topic. My favorite step is visualization. I like it when a speaker gives me the technical side then allows my imagination to take over. With visualization you help the audience see what the solution will look like, cost like, and how it will benefit the problem. Lastly you give the audience a chance to see how they can take action themselves. Compiled together this sequence is a way to  take your audience through a series of steps that will most likely lead them to accept or at least consider your proposition. In the problem solution organization you present a need to the audience and then offer a way to solve it. Its a simpler technique, that the speaker has to be sure to establish what the problem is and make the audience understand its importance. For my next speech I have not started writing yet but I like the idea of Monroe's 5 steps. I think the 5 steps of building up to the action is effective. Hopefully I can convince my audience with this foolproof technique!

Chapter 12 Thoughts

So far each time I have started working on a speech for this class I go through a period of not knowing where to start. We are not supposed to memorize a speech, but part of me wants to write it all out and just learn it. When I write out my outline I do not know where to start with practicing. Do I read the outline out loud and add the details on the fly? Do I write it out then say it without looking? When I practice I feel like I may run through the speeches too much, because for the week before the speech I say my speech while I drive, while I cook dinner, before I go to bed....it helps calm my nerves! Chapter 12 helped me organize some of my thoughts regarding this process. For some reason my first speech I did not think to number my note cards, They of course got out of order and threw me off. Chapter 12 suggests numbering your note cards as well as write out keywords and not sentences. I feel that I write too much on my note cards and they do not help me like they should. Chapter 12 also recommends practicing your speech in stages. This advice has helped me immensely. Its so much better to just work on each section first, working out the kinks before putting it all together. Another point in the book is to give a version of your speech each time you practice instead of one version. I also am guilty of getting stuck and trying to say the same words each time I practice. Doing so affects my delivery because I end up sounding scripted. Timing your speech is also important, as we all found out in our demonstration speeches that all went over the time. I wish I had read this chapter in the beginning of the class because I found it very helpful!

Sexist Language

I am not entirely sure how I feel about the Flickr discussion, and I am curious to see how other people in our class respond. I did find it funny to read the discussion of using gender neutral language written in choppy "netspeak" language. I am with the members of the discussion who were annoyed by the worry over using the right gender words when most of the comments were written in fractured, choppy english. I am a person who tends to take things lightly, and I feel like modern society can be very sensitive concerning some issues. On the flip side there are certain things that trigger me to feel reactive, so I have to be aware that although it may not be an issue to me it might to someone else. With that being said, I feel like attempting to use non sexist language is important in both public speaking and writing. At the same time there are circumstances where using potentially sexist words may fit the context, like a "girls night out" or "the boys." It really depends on the context, the audience, and the way the words are used. I believe in complete freedom of speech, and do not think any words should be censored. I also find it interesting, and this situation was mentioned in the Flickr discussion, that often the most derogatory names like "bitch" and "blonde" are posted by the person the words refer to. When speaking to a class or a group of people in general neutral, inoffensive and all inclusive gender language should be used. On the internet I think its a free for all. You don't know your audience, you aren't seeing them, and they don't have to read what you write. In our class we all have to listen to each others speeches so we may as well make them pleasant and inoffensive. Avoiding sexist language in a public speaking setting will add to your credibility as well as ensure that no one is made to feel different or singled out because of their gender.

Chapter 10 and 12 Speech Buddy Videos

I have finally figured out that the Use It video clips are the ones I get the most out of. There are the Watch it videos, that simply summarize what you read in the chapter, and then the Use it videos that show speeches that highlight the reading. For Chapter 10 3 clips from speeches were used to highlight different techniques for using language. The first speech, Amy's, ends in her using a metaphor between her topic and a "female orgasm." I am still undecided as to whether this word choice was a good move or not. While it could certainly be offensive to some members of the audience, it also was an attention grabber and it definitely made her speech memorable! The second speech clip was by Stacy. I am not sure if the purpose of showing the audience members faces during her speech was to show that some of them looked bored, but I felt her speech was somewhat long winded and her word choice could have been more concise. I liked her speech, just felt that she went into too much description and was a little too formal for the setting. The last speech was Eric, and what I liked about him was that he seemed very comfortable and was a great conversational speaker. He chose simple, clear language to tell the story of his friends funeral. He also incorporated humor, further connecting his audience to his speech. The video for Chapter 12 that I found the most interesting was 12.2 Use it with David and Lisa. David's speech was pretty good, but I noticed he stared in one spot the whole speech. You never saw the audience so he could have been speaking to just one person, but if not he needed to work on his eye contact. I also thought he could have been more presentable. His speech was very well practiced and presented but his hat and outfit seemed sloppy. Lisa used her note cards too much. She held her cards in both hands the whole speech, and looked down every few words. It would have been better for her to hold her cards in one hand and reference her cards less often. Her language was good, but her card reading was distracting. It is helpful for me to watch these speeches not only to further understand the Chapters but also to see why choosing the right language and having the right delivery technique is crucial to the success of your speech.

Self Evaluation 2

One more down, 2 speeches to go. I have to admit that so far I am finding this class both harder and more fun than I thought it would be. I get so worked up before every speech that it forces me to forget everything else I am stressed out about. With Mondays speech I would say I did a better job than the last one, but I still have some things to work on. I think I achieved the purpose of my speech, to teach about Square Foot Gardening. I was nervous, but not as nervous as the past 2 speeches. I could actually look around the room and feel like I was somewhat in control of what I was doing. My one big challenge now is to overcome my nerves enough to make my speeches conversational. I find that I am so jittery that the best I can do is to practically memorize my speech, then rattle it off. I know that affects my speaker audience relationship as several of my comments said that I needed to speak in a more conversational tone. Next time I will practice more for different people and I think that may help me get over the nervousness of presenting. I think my content is pretty good, writing the speech/outline is my favorite part. If only someone else could present it! As far as delivery is concerned I hope to be more natural, and to be able to relax to the point that I feel like I am talking to a group of friends. This speech was better than the last because I practiced with my power point much more and I timed myself every time I practiced. I did look at the power point slides, which could have been distracting, during some of my speech. I would give my eye contact an 8. I thought I deserved a high B or low A for my speech. I would say everything was good except my delivery, which could be more casual. I mentioned 3 sources in my speech. I would definitely say this speech was better than the last. I practiced more with my props, timed myself, and was a little less nervous. I think dimming the lights helped too!

Chapter 11 Thoughts

For me reading Chapter 11 was very helpful because while I feel pretty comfortable with writing my speeches and doing the outlines, using presentational media is something I do not know much about. I did not realize the range of things that count as presentational media, such as handouts, using a model, or chalkboards. I mostly think of slides and computer images as presentational media. I like handouts when they are provided to enhance a speech, but as the book pointed out they need to be used at the proper time. Before the speech is distracting, as well as during, so at the end is usually the best time for a handout. My husband is in the Air Force and he attends lots of meetings that use power point slides, and he warned against "death by power point." Some speakers misuse presentational media to the point where their speech either becomes boring or overwhelming with images and animations. He says it makes a meeting pretty miserable when a speaker over does it. I feel better about my speech tomorrow night having used some of the pointers in the chapter. I tried to make my slides very brief, highlighting only the main points. I also used images that I could not describe in words. My main concern right now is that I am going to forget to change the slides. We'll see tomorrow night!

Pubic Speaking Using Presentational Media

I have had a fairly recent experience with using presentational media-- in fact it was a few weeks ago and it was my first time using Power point. My organic chemistry class had to do a little project where we were each given a sugar to research, create a power point for, and present our findings for the class. I did my undergraduate work a long time ago. Specifically about 14 years ago. At that time there was no power point. I have been back in school for a few years but I have not had to do any projects using power point until this year. Needless to say I am a little behind the times. For my power point I was far too simple. I put my main points on my slides with no colors or bells and whistles. I did not know how to do any of the extra things, and I had very little time to put it together. I was not proud of my work! As for everyone else in the class there were lots of different styles of speaking and using power point. Now that I think of it it was a great way to see what works and what doesn't. Some people definitely overdid their power points. They used all the twirly, colorful, animated features and their content and speeches were lost due to the distraction. Then there were the people who had so much text that you couldn't possibly read it, and they were facing the screen reading it off of the slide for their entire speech. Also not very effective. The best presentations were the ones with just a few main bullets per slide, some sort of visual to make the content make more sense, and speakers who talked facing the audience and basically elaborated on what was on each slide. I feel much better this time around using power point, luckily my husband uses it for work all the time so he was able to help me figure out how to incorporate images and animations. Its easy to depend too much on presentational media and let it be your entire speech. I think in many ways it can detract or distract from what you have to say. Getting the right balance of reviewing your main points and having something visual to make your speech more interesting is the key to proper use of presentational media.

Ethical Use of Presentation Media

With the wide range of presentation media available to public speakers today, there are definitely advantages and disadvantages to using them. As with research using the internet, using audio and visual files should be done with care. One concern is whether the video or audio clip is legitimate. There is so much available on the internet and a lot of it has been enhanced or is completely false, so the speaker has an ethical responsibility to check the validity of any media they are choosing to use. Video and audio clips are sometimes used to elicit an emotional response. The speaker must choose carefully and make sure that while eliciting this response the clip is not offensive or too strong of a message. As far as being able to alter visual, audio,or taped media it is clear what the ethical responsibility is. The speaker has a message to offer the audience, and the purpose of presentational media is to enhance the message. The audience needs to be able to trust that any audio, video, or taped conversations incorporated in the speech are true to their original intent and content. Anything that needs to be altered to fit a speech should not be used in the speech. When using citations within a speech the audience is under the impression that you are directly relating what you learned from your source. In the same way your presentational media should be passed on conveying what the original content was. Any alteration makes the source invalid. In order to give an honest, strong, clear message the speaker needs to make sure that any videos, sound bytes, or taped conversations have not been altered to fit the speech.

Chapter 13 Thoughts

With our next speech being our Informative speech, Chapter 13 was very helpful to read. I was having a hard time coming up with a topic and trying to define the difference between an informative speech and a persuasive speech. In my brainstorming process I kept mixing the two up by trying to convince my audience to do what I was speaking about. The Chapter mentions this as being something that often happens with informative speeches. I also liked reading about the different patterns to use for writing an informative speech. I tend to just go for topical, but chronological, cause and effect, spatial, and narrative are also choices. Choosing a pattern that fits your topic is important. For instance, if you are doing a speech on something that happens over a period of time chronological is a good way to organize you speech. A narrative speech is a creative way to inform your audience, using a story or a few shorter stories to convey your topic. Cause and effect is good for speeches about events. It can show what caused the event to happen and the relationships among the occurences that led up to the event. Spatial is helpful if there is a geographic element to your speech, such as when your topic is about people of a certain region or animals in a particular country. Topical to me is the most basic structure. It is simple dividing your speech into main topics that serve to help explain your overall topic. It is important to choose a pattern and stick to it to give your speech a flow of events that fits your topic. My next speech is going to be topical, because it is the pattern I am the most comfortable with for now. 

Introductions and Conclusion

An effective introduction begins with an attention getter. This aspect of writing a speech is one of my favorites because it involves being creative and thinking outside of the box of how you are going to arrive at your topic. Introductions should also indicate your purpose, establish credibility and review your main points. Achieving each of these steps is crucial to how much the audience is going to get out of your speech. Having an idea about what you are going to talk about helps the audience tune in, while reviewing the main points gives them a framework to be ready to listen for. Without credibility they would have no reason to listen to what you have to say-- providing evidence that you know what you are talking about will get their attention. For my informative speech my intro begins like this:        Who doesn’t miss the joy of being a child and digging in the dirt, feeling amazed at learning how the world works, and being completely at peace just being outside. (Attention Getter) My purpose is: Starting a vegetable garden can be overwhelming, but using the square foot gardening technique can help you start your own simple, affordable, low maintenance and productive garden. (Thesis) To establish credibility I wrote:  From 1982-86 he had a gardening series which aired on PBS and had the highest rating of any garden show of that time (Bartholomew, 1981).(Establishing Credibility)  My preview of main points is as follows:

Today I am going to teach you the basics for starting a square foot garden: a raised bed, the right soil, and most importantly the square foot organization for planting your vegetables. (Preview of Main Points)

        Conclusions are basically retelling what you told the audience in your speech. When you end the speech you want to review your main points, reinforce your purpose, and let the audience know that you are finished. My conclusion for our next speech is:

     There are many benefits to having your own vegetable garden. Square foot gardening is an efficient way to use the space you have for vegetables, it is economical and easy to get started.  As I have shown you today all you need is a box, the right blend of dirt and compost, and the square foot organization for planting your vegetables. With square foot gardening you can start small and have plenty.

I review my main points, reinforce my topic, and have a closing statement. Ending the speech effectively is just as important as setting it up well in that it is the last impression the audience has of your intentions.