Self Evaluation Demo Speech

I feel I did OK on my speech. I did better than I thought I'd do but not as well as I had hoped. I felt a little more comfortable than lst time but I was still nervous. I felt better prepared though. If I was to do it over again, I may have done a few more practice runs. I need to decide what is and is not important  with the content. I hope to improve o my timing. I went WAY over on time. I would give my self an 8 for eye contact. I only mentioned 2 of my four sources. As to the last question, As far as trying to give a speech on an important topic, I'd say my grade was worthy of an A. However, when it comes to following instructions, I went over time by quite a bit. That means my B+ was a generous grade. I'm happy with that. I now know to focus more on citing my four sources and staying within the timeline. I think I can do it next time now that I have a better feeling for it.

FD

Transitions (concept)

One of the many issues I have with public speaking is that of staying focused on what it is I'm trying to say in an organized manner. I think going through this course will definitely help me. One of the topics that caught my attention was that of transitions. By not staying focused and organized in the past, I feel that the coherence of my topic gets diluted or at times lost. This creates boredom in the minds of the audience and they seem to mentally check out. being able to flow effectively from one area of the discussion to the next through proper use of transitions is going to be challenging for me. Especially since we are supposed to do these speeches extemporaneously. By not reading right off the card, I may loose my transition words. I may be over thinking this entire thing. By reading through the chapter section on this (page 158) I'm finding myself get caught up in the specifics at the cost of losing the idea of how to use transitions. It all makes sense when I read it, but applying it may be more difficult. The research part is easy. Putting it on paper in an organized manner is not too difficult but for some reason I'm coming up with a mental block on the transitions. I'll go back over it and maybe repetition is the key. I think the phrases on page 158 are the key. I think if I can plug those in the right places, it'll all make sense when I give the speech.

Facts and statistics

When I listen to a speech, many times I hear facts (an observation based on actual experience) and statistics (numerical data or information) tossed around. For the most part, I enjoy these elements of a speech. I like hearing new information that has real meaning. Speeches given using a lot of facts and statistics are most effective, I think, when you're main purpose for giving the speech in the first place is to inform your audience. It seems like if you are trying to effectively inform your audience on a place, or a thing or even some event that has occurred, then using facts and statistics are the ideal ingredients to have in that speech.  When properly used, facts and statistics are effective tools in a speech. There are, however, times where facts and statistics are not as effective. I find that many times, facts and statistics can be manipulated in a speech to not inform but to persuade and audience into thinking a certain way. This manipulation is on display now in the presence of political speeches. Every politician of every party often uses facts and statistics in a way that distorts the truth in a way that tries to get an emotional response from the audience. This response is then used to try and persuade the audience to vote in a certain way that would benefit the speaker. It is very frustrating because the truth, the real truth, is almost never found. When this occurs as often as it does, it directly affects a speakers credibility.

Speech buddy videos Week 5

    I finally got on with the speech buddy program. I like these videos. I watch, pause take notes and watch some more. I like watching the speeches from the other students. It's great to see what can be learned in a speech class.
   As far as this week's videos go, I watched them and some good information out of them. The ones in chapter 8 were more like an English class than expected. However, if we're giving speeches, it obviously involves English. So, knowing many of the words and phrases discussed actually help. When a person gives a speech, knowing these phrases would allow them to not only deliver their information in a better organized manner, but they will sound a lot better too. This sounding better will help the speaker with his audience connection in the form of credibility. When a speaker understands "Patterns of Organization" and "Linking Effectively: Transitions", they can take their speech, craft it in an organized manner and link all the bits of information within the speech so that the audience hears it and understands it.
   These videos help me by allowing me to see speeches from other students. I hope I can apply this technique next week in a similar way.

I think one concept that I have a connection to is the one about competence. I think that has been a blocking force for me. I always feel that whatever I'm supposed to speak on makes me nervous because I feel that someone in the audience may think I'm not as knowledgeable on the topic as I should. That comes back to credibility that we discussed earlier in the course. I t also plays on my fears of public speaking. Now, having studied a  lot about research-interviews, I feel that the obvious answer to this dilemma is about knowing more about my subject. Having this knowledge will allow me to have more confidence. With this confidence, I know my speeches will be better just because I can make more eye contact with the audience. That will hopefully work with the audience-connection I blogged about already. So, you see, this is all coming together for me. What I need to do now is put it all together. I'm looking forward to this next Demo speech (kind of). I want to see what the result will be once I do these things I've read and wrote about. Wish me luck! I will also be looking for pointers from you presenters. thanks for reading

Audience Analysis

The reading of audience analysis had some very interesting points. The part of the reading titled "The Audience-Speaker Connection" sounded bland and boring, but, when I read it, it made so much sense to me. It reminded me of other readings we had in a previous chapter about "noise". If you'll recall noise is the internal and external distractions to a listener that blocks the message. To me, getting that connection to the audience would automatically remove the threat of the internal noise. You know, the "I'm thinking of something else while I should be listening to you talk and now I have no idea what you are talking about" noise in your head? Well, if you can make that connection the book talks about on page 78, then I think my speech will be so much better received.

  Why are you making a speech to begin with? You're there to deliver a message. If they can't relate to what your saying then they won't pay attention and your message will be lost. So, when I prepare my next speech (demonstration speech) I have a whole new way to deliver it. I have a couple ideas about  how I can use some of the information I gained about some of the students through their culture speeches and connect that with my upcoming speech. This whole idea of audience-centered approach is very helpful. I thought my culture speech was just OK. But now, coming from this angle and knowing my audience better, I can draw them into understanding why it's important to listen to what I have to say. My speech will now stand a chance of being a little more successsful because it will be about them, my audience. Besides, aren't we all a little bit narcissistic?

A story about the living and the dead (what a concept)

  Chapter 6 is called "Researching Your Topic". This weeks question is to find a concept within this chapter and discuss it. I've recently been exposed to a situation, not necessarily covered in this chapter but related to research that I'll blog about. Hopefully, I'm still within the confines of the academic expectations for the week. If not, maybe this is more of a group therapy blog than anything.
  My mother died about 10 days ago. We were an estranged family and I was the only member of the family that stayed in touch with her. I had agreed to be her executor (the one charged with handling her affairs when she dies). This has become a monumental task. See, mom was a hoarder. Yes, just like on TV, she collected crap and even other peoples crap. My wife and I went up to Oregon last week to start the process of what to do when someone dies and you have to sort out their affairs. This has been the worst case scenario for such an event. Not only did she not have a will, whatever and whoever she was was buried in an ocean of boxes, stacks of paper and magazines and animal excrement. UGH!
  How I'm relating this catastrophe to our class is this; even though my mom kept everything, we have found many items of our families heritage never known before among all her saved belongings. In a sense, we are doing a reverse research project (kind of) into who my family was. It may be more of an archaeological dig (my sister calls it "The Big Dig") than research. But whn you look at how the word is defined, maybe this does apply. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines research as:

1: careful or diligent search

2: studious inquiry or examination; especially: investigation or experimentation aimed at the discovery and interpretation of facts, revision of accepted theories or laws in the light of new facts, or practical application of such new or revised theories or laws

3: the collecting of information about a particular subject

   Part of our research was that, among so many pictures, documents and files, we found my mother's journals. What a tortured soul she was. She shed some light on how she was treated by my dad. What a jerk! But, she's not an innocent person either as she well documented. Kind of explains the alcoholism she had and the disfunctional way of life we all had growing up.

  About a year before my wife's grandmother died in 2007, my father-in-law took my video camera and did an interview with her about her life. We researched what questions to ask, told her what most of the questions were (he wanted to capture a couple candid responses) and set about recording her "life" for future generations to see.What a great idea. What a video.

 My advice is  that it's easier to research your lineage when people are alive than when they're dead. Read chapter 6, go "interview" your family before it's too late. Ask questions about who they were or wanted to be? Were they happy growing up? What were their favorite memories,? What do they want done when they die? Do they have a will or a trust? Do they have any special wishes with their stuff when they're gone? Or, whatever you can think of.  Write all the information down you can so you can pass it along to those who may be interested.

   Thanks for listening.

 

F.D.

Speech Buddy video's chapter 6

I was fortunate to be able to watch the chapter 6 speech buddy videos recently. The first one discussed the research process. This one was good and discussed the things you know and don't know. The next one was an impromptu speech. I thought this speaker was pretty darn good for being pulled from the audience and asked to do a speech right on the spot. This speaker was smooth and did a great job making eye contact with the audience. What really got me was the lady who spoke about the slugs. What an amazing speaker. Her class was titled "introductory to public speaking". At some point, I felt like I had missed that class and that I was in the wrong class. She was no novice. Her delivery was not only amazing but she actually pulled me into her presentation. I found myself interested in listening and learning about slugs. I came away from it feeling bad about all those years I spent as a kid, spreading salt on slugs. I grew up in Oregon and like she has said in her presentation, Oregon has slugs. She showed a few slides in her speech that I couldn't see too well but they seemed to be well timed and appropriate. The good thing was she did not overwhelm me with slides. I'll bet this can be a problem. It was her speech that made it worth watching. I may even consider showing this to my kids as an educational presentation. If this is the level at which we are expected to perform, than I have my work cut out for me

Experience with research interviews.

To put it honestly, I've never done a research interview. Unless you count to interviews I do at work. As a fire captain, I have to "interview" patients, family members and/or bystanders as to what happened or what they can tell me about the individual we are there to take care of. If that counts, than I have lots of experience. However, in the book on page 110, it discusses and outlines something much different. I have done research online and at a local library in the past but that was only for an English class I took at Sierra College. I did help my father-in-law do a video interview of his mother before she died. All we did back then was prepare some questions to ask her about her life and experiences and any advice she had for her children and grand children. We wanted to get her on video so future generations could see and hear her. It was kind of neat to do and we plan on doing more with additional family members in the future. Unfortunately, finding people who are willing to do it is difficult. Applying that to research interview environment sounds like it would not be much different. The six steps outlined seem to really make sense and I can see where, if you followed them exactly, you would be in great shape to have a successful interview. That is the only advice I can provide.

Visualization, anxiety and nervousness

The Speech Buddy videos were short. It's hard for me to get a lot of detail out of such a short presentation. The videos talk a lot about techniques to address anxiety. These techniques involved breathing exercises. I've never thought that a breathing exercise could help me out with my anxiety with public speaking but I'll try it. The demonstration was helpful but I have tried it and it did not seem to work. I'll keep trying and hope I can get it right. The other video about nervousness had some suggestions that I don't think are very practical except one. Visiting the location before seemed difficult to make happen just because that requires a little more planning than I typically have time for. however, the suggestion that you "don't comment on your nervousness during your speech" is good. I've seen that and it's not a good idea. Later, the video suggests "choosing a topic that interests you". This seems to make sense since talking about something you don't care about would be difficult to really get into. The last video, the introduction of Jessica, was just  good to watch. She was so smooth and and great eye contact. She almost never read her speech. She just looked up and spoke to the audience. That is the part that is difficult for me. I hope I can somehow work my way towards that type of speaking ability.

Noise and effective listening

One of the concepts from the assigned reading that definitely caught my attention was the one on page 17 of chapter one called noise. It states that " ...something that interferes with understanding the message". It can be either internal or external distractions. What they're referring to is something that happens to me all too often. I am either engaged in a discussion or listening to a monologue when my mind tends to wander. I'm finding that the older I get, the more stuff I have to try and keep track of. This seems to be OK most of the time. I used to think it was just me. But, as I found out, it's not.

   Chapter three discusses listening effectively. This can sometimes be more important than speaking effectively. I have had many conversations with people that when they stop talking, I have no idea what they said. What's worse is when they expect me to respond to what was obviously a question at the end of their statement. This has always been an awkward moment for me.We have two ears and one mouth for a reason. We should listen twice as much as we speak. Chapter three mentions that the brain can process information 3 times faster than someone can talk. This made me feel a little better. Not sure they were talking about my brain though. My goal in this class will be to work on my effective listening abilities.