Most helpful concept(s)

When it comes to considering what helped me the most in the class, it's hard to narrow it down. In the beginning, I thought the hardest part was the culture speech. Having progressed through the course, I can look back at it and realize that the culture speech was a piece of cake. Having done several speeches in the class, I have learned that the 2 concepts that help me the most were proper preparation and practicing a whole bunch. Of those two, the practice part was the most helpful. On pages 242-244, the book provides some simple suggestions that really worked for me. I would start by practicing my speech in parts, Then , once I got those down, I would move to practicing the whole speech at once. This became very time consuming. However, this over practicing compensated for my fear of public speaking. It helped build my confidence. It may not have showed in my speeches since I was unable to watch my speech at the same time, but I did feel more comfortable up in front of my audience. On the inside though, I was still quite unnerved by my own internal fears. With that said, I also felt that my preparation, and at times, my over preparation, helped my confidence by allowing me to learn things about my topic  I would have otherwise not known. So, my advice to anyone else who has to make a speech and who has not taken this class or any other public speaking class, would be to prepare and practice, practice, practice.

What I will take away from this class

What I will take away from this class for future endeavors is that preparation and practice are extremely important. I found that preparation is important for researching your topic and getting all the information together and organize it in a way that makes sense. I found that I spent a lot of time over preparing and over researching my topics. This led to a lot of wasted time because I found myself going off into areas that either did not pertain to my original concept but it also led to an over production of information that would typically put my speech over on time. This led to spending additional time being spent at working the speech down and triaging out information in order to meet the time requirements. This class allowed me to practice this process a lot. I'm able to streamline and focus my research work more efficiently. The other concept I'm taking away from this is the practice part. I've given a few speeches in the past and I had never practiced my speech before hand. This was key for me. I'm not real comfortable speaking in front of people but I found that the more I practiced my speech, the more comfortable I was speaking in front of the class. So, I'm guessing my fear is confidence related. Practicing my speech more and efficient preparation time seem to be the most important things I will take away from this class for my future endeavors.

My favorite speech

I think my favorite speech I gave was the tribute speech I made to my wife. I've never made a tribute speech to anyone before. When the concept was introduced, I thought of her right away and knew I had to do it about her. Her influence on me and my life is unquestionably the most amazing thing I could't have ever imagined. Before the speech, when we were told that some students have had to use extra time because they were "balling", I thought, what bunch of weenies. Well, call me a weenie then. Not that I was balling but I did get very chocked up and teary. That totally caught me off guard. I knew I had very strong feelings for her going into the speech but about half way through, I had this unexpected emotional response. I stopped, motioned to the teacher and jokingly said "stop the clock". After that, I thought it would pass and I proceeded on. Towards the end, that previously felt emotional response resurfaced and began to overwhelm me. I paused, covered my mouth with my hand (for some reason I don't know why) and then resorted to just reading the rest. So, apparently my wife means more to me than words alone can say. My tribute to her could not possibly do her presence in my life justice. This is why the tribute speech was my favorite. It brought on feelings in me I knew I had but un a way I had not expected.

Appeals to emotion

I know I've written many things that connect the class assignments to this years election, but, it's a current event that makes it an easy target.

Pathos, the emotional appeal, is one of the most powerful tools used in today's marketing. When it comes to politics, all political ads really are just marketing poly's. Not to sound too cynical but for the most part, politicians just tell you what you want to hear at election time. Then, during their time in office (providing enough people believe their rhetoric and vote them in) they always stray away from many things they "marketed" to you during the election. This whole marketing focuses in on pathos. They target your feelings rather than discuss the issues. I know the book spends time talking about Maslow's Pyramid of Hierarchy. Maybe I'm wandering off course. I think my main point is the POWER of emotion when it comes to argumentation. When you give a persuasive speech, you're trying to get your audience to change how they feel about something. This is very similar to how politics operates. Politicians are trying to change the way you feel about them or (or in the case of negative campaigning) how you feel about someone else. Another similar situation is when supporters of a proposition want your vote. Appealing to your fear of "what would happen if it passes or not pass" is very effective. Fear drives more people to decide a certain way than any other tactic. My goal is to try and find some kind of fear in my topic that I can use to try and persuade my audience to see my topic the way I see it.

Speech Buddy 15.1 etc

I always enjoy these videos. They are a real inspiration. Even though I feel much better at public speaking, the people you see in these videos certainly have a knack for it.

As far as the topic goes, I'm not a fan of home schooling. Even though I know many that have been home school, I think public school was the right choice for my kids. but, that's not what the assignment was about. My observations were that they really did well on delivering the preview of main points. This made it especially easy for me to follow their message. The funny thing is, it looks like they both wore the same sweater. The girl was a little too dramatic when she said something to the effect about "not coming home alive" from public school". This overly dramatic comment can almost turn a listener off. I think speakers have to be careful about that. They both seemed to have practiced their speeches a lot. This really showed. They were both smooth and incorporated their research into their speech very well. Neither of them used power point though.So, it''l be different to see how we can all do that with our upcoming speeches. One other quality of note was they both used good eye contact. That is one area I need to work on and now having seen it, I think I have a good idea on how to do it.

F.D.

Recent Discussion

This last election I spent a lot of time trying to convince some co workers that the GMO proposition was a good idea. I explained as best as I could that GMO's in our food supply may not be a good idea. They were convinced that the whole thing was getting blown out of proportion. To them, I was not understanding that food was more expensive now than it had been in a long time and if the proposition passed, it was going to get even more expensive. Sometimes I get real frustrated with the people I work with. They get a thought in their head and there's no changing it. One of the angles I tried working was that they used to think that DDT was OK to spray throughout neighborhoods to kill insects. Then, later, that same chemical was determined to cause cancer. For all any of us know, these GMO's that companies like Monsanto are using, may cause the same thing (or worse). At the end of the whole thing, I was able to convince them that first of all, organic IS better than non-organic (when you have the choice) and the other is, wouldn't you at least like to have the choice? I think when they realized that they could still buy the GMO's but it would have to be labeled. They really came around with the "choice" concept. I think we'll find down the road the as natural as possible is best for our food supply.

A Sea of Persuasion

The question is about how we are immersed in a sea of persuasion. Well, if you are awake, and paying attention then you're probably  being exposed to some kind of persuasion. Now that's a little bit of a dramatic statement (attention getter...lol) but the point is, we live in a sea of persuasion. Television is the most prominent form.  Commercial breaks during programing is basically all it is. Trying to persuade you to buy, do or think something. Even if you have a DVR and fast forward through the commercials, the programs themselves are trying to incorporate commercial like behavior. all of this, of course makes sense. T.V. stations and programs operate on money and money is generated by commercials. Outside of T.V., we see persuasion in the form of advertising all over the place. Billboards, bumper stickers and various signs on businesses are all used to get your attention. Advertising sells and selling creates success. Success creates jobs and more jobs moves the economy.

As far as "Give some examples of persuasive messages you’ve received in interpersonal, public speaking, and mass media contexts"? Most recently: 1) Interpersonal = Being asked by co-workers to vote on a specific proposition a certain way. 2) Public Speaking = Listening to a debate between political candidates in the recent presidential election, 3) Mass Media = Anytime I watch T.V.

To become a more critical consumer, all you have to do is think "how does this address my needs or wants? It also a good idea to research things online to make sure you're not being given bad information. And, most importantly, with regards to elections, READ the propositions! Don't rely on commercials for your information. Become an informed voter!

F.D.