Week 5: Discussion Question 3

It is so important to have good organization when doing a speech. If it's not organized, how is it to be effective? As most of us know, a speech is comprised of an intro, body and conclusion. It may seem that one of these parts are more important than any of the others, but that is not true...they are all equally important, I think.

The introduction is what invites the audience to your train of thought, what opens them up to your speech. It is important to introduce one's main points at this part of the speech, as well as in the body. The body is the core of what one will present. How will the body be organized you may ask? By using an organization pattern. The choosing of an organization patter depends on the type of speech but they include the spatial, topical, narrative ad problem-solution, among others. Also, it is necessary to transition smoothly in the speech, mainly the body because this is heart to the speech. The conclusion is what you want the audience to remember the most, and what you want to leave your audience with is your main points (yes, again). The conclusion should summarize everything that was presented and highlight the main focus, the points. This will ensure an organized whole, a complete presentation.

Week 5: Discussion Question 2

Facts and statistics can be a huge help in speeches. They are effective most of the time, if used properly and can easily be used to persuade and make the audience agree with oneself. The thing is, facts and statistics appeal to peoples logic; it's simple for most individuals to understand, hence they can buy into whatever is being told at them. Of course this is not always the case though. Statistics and facts can be most effective in a persuasive speech because one would state a stat or fact like this, "Because X shows X', you should become Y and do Y'." That's a terrible example, but hopefully you get the idea. Like our textbook mentioned, most people believe statistics and facts to be objective, which they should continue to strive to be, but they are also used for other means, for example manipulation. They can become distorted and misinterpreted, depending on the speaker's ability to persuade a crowd.

Stats and facts can be appropriate and very useful for persuasive speeches (which I'm looking forward to), but they aren't always useful or appropriate to use. Statistics wouldn't be good to use if they are wrong, meaning that the sampling method wasn't reliable (I'm in statistics now for math and it's definitely not a favored class of mine). Data can become misrepresented or skewed easily and the speaker must be ethical to report the information correctly. It would be wrong to use false data and facts.

Week 5: Discussion Question 1

In watching videos 7.1, 7.2, 8.1 and 8.2 I learned about materials to support and inform in a speech. In one of the first videos it was advised to not overdue personal narratives. They are great in many cases, however they may become too long and distract from the main points in one's speech. I have experience in doing that during public speaking class in high school, but it didn't compare to one of my friends speeches who was talking about their family. His speech was practically a narrative from his birth on. It was incredibly boring and hilarious (the fact that it was so boring made if funny). I can't even recall the point of the speech, so that proves that personal stories shouldn't be lengthy.

What stuck with me most from the videos was probably transitions. It's always been a challenge for me to transition smoothly, orally and in writing. A few of the different types of effective transitions include ordering, chronology and summarizing. I think that to improve my transitions for speeches could be to incorporate the words that the video recommended, depending on the different transition type (e.g. however, although, in summary, therefore, etc.).

Week 4: Discussion Question 3

Speaker credibility encompasses more than just integrating credible sources in a speech or presentation. There is a "wheel of credibility" you could say, which includes competence, sociability, dynamism and trustworthiness. All of these tie together to make the speaker credible because the audience will have been able to perceive and understand the speaker's credibility by assessing these different observation/perception tools.

Competence refers to being able to talk about one's topic with qualification, knowing about the topic, having done research. Being able to carry out the speech in an appropriate manner is being competent. Trustworthiness is being honest and reliable. How accurate is the speaker's information? Is it demonstrated as being put to improve the greater good, but more importantly, to the benefit of the audience? Dynamism is one's ability as the speaker to demonstrate a charismatic, bold, courageous front, being confident in the message. Most people have seen or heard excellent speakers. I think by beholding and observing good speakers (e.g. Bill Clinton) one can better their speaking abilities. Lastly, sociability is very important because that is what brings the audience and speaker together. However, the audience and speaker must work equally to connect. Like our book stated, it's good to find commonalities when beginning a speech. These are important audience adaption principles which will assist in being a more effective speaker.  

Week 4: Discussion Question 2

Audience analysis and audience adaptation is very important during the speech development process. Knowing and planning on how one is to approach their audience is crucial because it gives one an edge on how to relate to the audience. Like the chapter stated, it is important to take a diverse approach when speaking to audience because of differences. The main points to remember when addressing audiences is to know commonalities, have credible sources, support materials in accordance with specific audience groups, use common or appropriate language and make sure to keep the audience engaged throughout.

For the upcoming speech, my demonstrative speech on how to make a smoothie, I think audience analysis is fairly easy to do because we all have a few commonalities in this case. For example, we are all college students and as students, we must eat well to learn and retain information as best as possible. One way to do this is by eating healthy foods such as fruit and/or vegetables which often go into smoothies. This could be one point where most classmates might agree. I don't necessarily plan on doing a questionnaire on students' views on smoothies, but perhaps asking open-ended questions such as "Do you think smoothies are healthy?" or "Do you think incorporating fruits and vegetables is important to a balanced diet?" could be beneficial to getting more information from our classroom audience.

Week 4: Discussion Question 1

Matthew, the speaker who promoted responsible drinking, had a pretty well formulated speech. Foremost, I agreed with him on how citizens must be responsible and safe if they are going to consume alcohol. Matt's use of many statistics were fascinating to hear and are important to use in speeches, especially in persuasive ones, because that informs one's audience of true information that has and continues to happen regarding whatever topic. The overhead visuals were helpful because it allowed the audience to read some of what he was saying. In watching this video I learned, or rather was reminded, to incorporate statistics and current data into a couple of the upcoming speeches; having facts about a subject makes the presentation more effective.

The speech on pollution by Courtney was nice. Since only the introduction was given it was obviously short, but in those few seconds I saw and learned how stating one's main points in the introductory paragraph is important. She laid out her three main points, with some of those main points having sub-main points. I think that's what Courtney did well. What I don't think was very necessary for her to say was, "I'm not making this up." Thank you Courtney, but did you really have to say that? We as the audience expect a speaker to speak ethically, the audience most likely assumes one is speaking truth. But, I guess it's not always so, for example politics. Enough said.  

Week 3: Discussion Question 3

The concept that stood out to me most during the reading of chapter six was the fact that one should seek multiple perspectives and sources for a presentation/speech. I suppose it stems from being selfish, but for most of the reports and speeches I've done for previous schooling, they all seem to have been rather biased, I did not try to integrate diversity into my presentations. I can now see how effective a paper or speech could be if multiple perspectives are incorporated; it calls for an open mind, a claim that states, "Not only did I do my research on my viewpoints, but I bring out other arguments from other sides which may..." This is because it informs whoever is reading or listening to you that you are up for a challenge, as well as challenging the ideas which may be going against one's own topic. Also, as the book mentioned, it helps to speak ethically. Finding more sources aides in the integrating of different perspectives.

Week 3: Discussion Question 2

The videos pertaining to chapter six were beneficial. The first video informed me to do substantial research for whatever speech topic I am working on. I've obtained help at our campus library from a couple of the librarians there; the librarians really look forward to helping students, its funny! Dory's speech on how she values family very much was cute. The story of her grandparents was organized well and it flowed very steadily. I liked how she repeatedly mentioned her main points during the whole speech, something I need to incorporate more. Also, the outline of her speech posted on one of the side tabs was good because I could follow along with her easily.

The informative gastropod speech was so cool! I think Shaura did a good job with her slide show because her the visuals on her slides were not too distracting from her speaking. I was able to follow her speech because it was interesting, very informative and entertaining (to me anyway). And for the record, I completely agree with Shaura that people should not eliminate slugs by methods such as salt. Its so sad to kill them that way! Why not just pick them up and move them somewhere else, somewhere where they won't bother you? Just an idea.

Week 3: Discussion Question 1

My experience in conducting research interviews is very limited. I have never actually performed a formal interview of any kind. Well, when I was vice-president of student council in high school, I remember asking a few quick questions to a couple of members on the council regarding who could organize an event better, but that probably doesn't really count.

If I did have to conduct a research interview though I would be sure to use the tips our textbook uses. On page 110 is listed six easy to follow steps. First, one must determine the interview's purpose. What is the reason I am interviewing this person? To enhance the subject matter that will correlate with my speech, obviously. The second step is to select interviewees. The best interviewees are those with the most information and credentials, experience. Developing questions comes next. One needs to ask specific, relevant questions and remember to focus on the purpose. Organizing and conducting the interview are the following steps, respectively. Finally, the last step is to integrate the information. Using an organized scheme is necessary in order to tie everything together well.

Week 2: Discussion Question 3

Choosing a topic for both oral presentations and written reports has always been a challenge for me. When brainstorming I normally have many ideas fighting each other, but the act of pointing out the best takes forever. The fourth chapter of our textbook listed a few simple, effective ways on how to narrow ones choices when preparing for a speech and knowing the specific purpose of a presentation.

The important things to remember when choosing topic ideas are ones personal interests, audience, available resources, timing and setting. Obviously most individuals choose topics which are related to them, meaning that the subject matter is at least somewhat interesting to them (in some cases not though, e.g. getting an assigned topic). It is crucial to know who your audience is because interests change drastically in different groups of people. The odds of speaking to senior citizens about the latest video game development are pretty low. Of course knowing the setting, time limit and the resources which will be available to oneself are good to know for a myriad of reasons. Considering the time aspect, you might choose a broad topic such as global warming in the Amazon, but it would be difficult to cover that in four to five minutes.

Having an idea of where we want to go with our speech, what our purpose is, is the whole theory behind giving a speech or writing a report. One must know exactly what the goal is. Is the speech to inform, persuade or entertain? Questions like that must be asked continuously. When the purpose is clear, one will know, or at least estimate well, how the audience will respond. Therefore, it is necessary to weigh topic choices and to know the reasoning and purpose behind ones presentation.