Chapter 15 Videos

The Chapter 15 videos presented a speech on a very controversial topic: home schooling. The first speaker discussed the pros of home schooling by providing plenty of convincing reasoning. I believe her most convincing reasoning was that students who are involved with home schooling are more prepared for college. She claimed that by doing home schooling, students will come to realize that family is very important and they should always keep that in mind while attending college. This is an act of casual reasoning. The second speaker discussed the cons of home schooling, and he also provided plenty of convincing evidence. I believe his strongest reasoning was by saying that parents need to support their children, not be their teachers. I think this was a very sentimental phrase that he incorporated into his speech. I learned that using reasoning is, of course, very significant for the success of a speech and being able to connect with the audience on some sort of emotional level is useful in persuasive speeches.

A Moment Where I Used Persuasion

My friend was conducting a survey on whether or not child labor should be abolished in Africa. She specifically focused on children who worked in unhealthy facilities to collect cocoa beans. I said no to stopping child labor for cocoa by using casual reasoning. I told her that because of child labor, these children are able to support themselves, even if it is inhuman. I also told her to realize what kind of economic situation we are in. Because of the job cuts, people are going to be even stingier and less likely to contribute enough money to charitable organizations. Although people say that they want to stop child labor, it is unlikely that a majority of these people will commit to this because of financial issues. However, I did agree that no one should go through this kind of inhuman labor, but the consequences of stopping child labor would cause a more unstable economy in Africa.

Chapter 15 Topic of Interest

I thought the topic on fallacies in claims was interesting. There are four different types of fallacies in claims, but I thought “begging the question” and “ad ignorantiam” were the most intriguing. Begging the question means something is true because it simply is. When a claim is asserted, the speaker must back it up with reasoning. However, simply saying that it is true without any given reasoning or evidence is unethical. The concept of begging the question reminded me of children arguing. They will usually back up their claims with begging the question type answers because they are more concerned with having their argument being correct rather than logical. Ad ignorantiam means a claim is true because it hasn’t been disproved. I thought that this was very close-minded and no speaker should use this as his or her reason for a claim. It is also unethical and does not let other possibilities be the reasoning for a claim.

My Next Speech

The main points of my persuasive speech are: teenage pregnancy has several causes and continues to rise in many areas, there are many ways to prevent teenage pregnancy, there are many benefits if we choose to do these solutions, and the consequences of not preventing teenage pregnancy are crucial to the lives of teenagers and the people around them. I plan on beginning my speech with a picture of the main character of the popular show “The Secret Life of The American Teenager”. Although this show is not a reality show, it does resemble what many pregnant teenagers must go through and it will make an excellent attention getter. Hopefully I will be able to incorporate my acknowledgment of different perspectives on teenage pregnancy in the beginning as well. I will persuade my audience by using surprising statistics and different narratives. I will attempt to use vivid language in my narratives so that the audience can get a sense of the turmoil that pregnant teenagers must go through.

Chapter 14 Topic of Interest

A topic that I found very interesting was persuading different types of audiences. I thought about this topic a lot because I want all of my audience members to know that I have considered each perspective of my topic in great depth. The topic for my next speech is about the prevention of teenage pregnancy. Although I have many reasons and beliefs to discourage teenage pregnancy, I am aware that there are cultures that have fixed marriages and children often become pregnant at a young age. I respect that completely because it is a cultural tradition, and I want my audience to be aware of that. It is important to tell the audience the side that I am taking, but it is also important to stress the different perspectives that other audience members my have on my topic. It is difficult to incorporate these different opinions even though the book says to make it clear in the beginning. Any suggestions?

Immersed in a Sea of Persuasion

In today’s society, a lot of people try to push their opinions or persuasive messages upon me. I am immersed in a sea of persuasion through my peers, public speaking class, and especially around the mass media. My peers have many different opinions on topics that we discuss in class. I am a very open minded person, so I will usually not find myself disagreeing with my peers. This is not to say that I do not have an opinion, but I do take into consideration of everything my peers say. I tend to disagree with my peers when I believe my opinion serves my evidence to be favorable. In Comm20, I am persuaded to change my habits when people give me feed back. I take in what people say about my speeches because it will be beneficial to my next speech. The mass media has convinced me that there are many miscellaneous items sold. I enjoy watching infomercials about kitchen products that I think I need, but are unnecessary. Although I am persuaded to have a liking for these kitchen products, I never actually purchase them. In conclusion, I can become a more critical consumer of persuasive messages by considering their messages and taking time to consider what sort of action I want to take.

Chapter 10 & 12 Videos

The videos in Chapter 10 and 12 have taught me a variety of things to help my speeches. I have learned that it is extremely important to use inclusive language so that no one feels left out. It is important to use pronouns such as “you, us, and I” because it does not exclude anyone. Effective language is helpful because certain words are more influential. An effective voice is probably the most important part of the concept of language because it lets the speaker’s voice be heard. A speaker’s voice should be loud enough so that everyone in the room can hear it, but not so loud that it is overwhelming. The rate of voice is also important because if a speaker talks too fast, it may be a sign of nervousness. Having normal facial expressions and conversational gestures are also significant. Finally, practicing a speech, whether it is in a desk or on the bed, is extremely important. However, the last few practices should be done by standing up and in front of a small audience.

Flickr Discussion

I believe that language used on the web pages such as Flickr should not be taken literally unless the intention of the writing was meant to hurt a specific group of people. I agree with the author of “examples of sexist language” that “girl” and “woman” can be two completely different things. Although they both describe the gender of a person as female, girl and women are often used to describe maturity. Flickr uses the tag “girl” instead of “woman” and this can be viewed in a negative way. However, people should also realize that Flickr uses certain diction that is not meant to offend anyone. It is merely a language that is used online that has indirectly upset some people that are sensitive to word choice.

Chapter 12 Topic of Interest

I found the topic on accommodating for both the speaker’s and audience’s physical impairments very interesting. Although it may seem the physical impairments of some speakers can be distracting, I found it very considerate that these speakers prepare for the speeches before hand. They do this by adjusting their setting in order to make their impairments less of a distraction. For example, speakers that use crutches or wheel chairs will make sure that they have plenty of space to move about and nothing in front of them such as a table or podium to act as a barrier. When I read the section on accommodating for the audience’s physical impairments, I was reminded of a community meeting that I attended. There were several speakers and a large audience. The audience consisted of many different cultures and some had head phones used to translate what the speakers were saying. There were several people in the back with a head set that spoke Spanish and Chinese. It was very intriguing watching them do this job.

Speech #2 Self Evaluation

I believe my second speech was better than my first speech in some aspects. I am glad that I got to use Powerpoint because the content of my speech was emphasized through pictures rather than just words. I moved around less in my second speech, which is an improvement from my first speech because I was less nervous. I did not forget my visual aid this time. :)

My last speech was different from my first speech because of the content. I believe my last speech was easier for me to present because it was on a topic that I understood fairly well. However, my second speech was on something that I had just learned this semester, so it was a little more difficult for me to present because I wanted to gain my audience’s trust in my knowledge of this topic. I noticed that in my second speech I had very good eye contact during the introduction, but that faded because I was tempted to look at my Powerpoint. I believe I moved around less in my second speech, but I moved from different sides of the projection screen, which was distracting for my audience.

For my next speech, I would like to improve my content by using the Monroe’s pattern of organization to its fullest potential. It is very organized, so I am sure that if I gather the right facts and information, my content will be more understandable for the audience. I would also like to improve the delivery of my next speech by practicing more with Powerpoint. I want to improve on my eye contact by not only staring at my flash cards less, but also staring at my Powerpoint less as well. I would rate my eye contact at about a seven level. I would also like to improve my delivery by not doing anything distracting such as too much movement or hand gestures. I do not think that this has completely improved from my last speech, but hopefully it will improve by our third speech.

I achieved the purpose of my speech well because I presented it in the introduction and conclusion. I also used plenty of evidence to support my purpose such as clear explanations and pictures. I also included four citations in my speech, which made my evidence more trustworthy.

While doing my speech, I was less nervous than my first speech because I felt more prepared. Unlike my last speech in which I wore flats, I was much more comfortable in my sneakers. This made it easier to be stationary, even though I still moved around. I felt like Carol was a little upset because of the number of students that came to class this time, so that made me a bit nervous as well. Over all, my confidence was at an above average level because I practiced many times to understand the content of my speech.

If I got to do this speech all over again, I would definitely work better on time management. The program that I needed to use for my histograms (SPSS) was only available in Dudley Moorhead Hall, which is all the way across campus and only open on certain times and days. I needed more time to use SPSS so I could get more practice in. I would also practice more with Powerpoint to ensure that I would not stare at the screen and focus more on my audience. On a scale from A to F, I would give myself a solid B because I improved from my last speech. In my second speech, I did not forget my visual aid and I actually included four citations this time. I also moved around less, but not enough to make it seem less distracting. Much of my feedback from my peers stated that I spoke a little too quickly, which still did not compensate for my extended time of six minutes and twenty seconds. I am content with whatever grade I get, but I know that I did better than my first speech (enough to get in the A or B range). :)

Presenting to Five People

I presented my second speech again to five and these five people are: Steven Tran, Steven Liao, Alison Huang, Vanessa Alim, and Michael Cronenwett. In my second attempt, I definitely slowed my speech down. I believe this made the content of my speech more understandable I also had more eye contact with my audience rather than with my Powerpoint. I also did less moving of my arms and I stayed more stationary. I am glad that I did not walk around as much. This was probably due to the fact that there was no big project of my Powerpoint behind me. However, I sounded less enthusiastic this time, but I still sounded very knowledgeable of my topic. I believe I improved in some ways because I moved around less. I walk around during my speech because I feel nervous, so I feel like I need to pace around. I also focused on the audience more instead of my visuals. If I got to do the speech again, I would definitely slow down the pace my speech and focus more on the audience rather than my pictures. I would also try to stop walking back and forth or shuffling with my arms and feet. Receiving feed back from my audience helped me improve because they were honest. I noticed that most of everything I improved on made me have fewer improvements in the areas that I was strong in, such as enthusiasm. This exercise was useful, but I was ready to move on from this speech so maybe that was why I felt less enthusiastic.

Chapter 11 Concept

Something that I would really like to incorporate into my next speech is a small video clip. Brief videos in a speech really intrigue me because it is something different to look at and listen to during a long and engaging speech. I agree that videos should not be extremely long because it takes up a lot of time, which can bore and distract audiences. Videos should be perhaps at least fifteen seconds long and get a simple point across. With the availability of Youtube, I can find almost any video. I will definitely embed the video within my Powerpoint presentation because it will make the flow of the speech smoother. I will definitely have to check ahead of time to see if embedding the video will work before the day of the speech. Hopefully I can find a short and decent video on the prevention of teenage pregnancy.