another additional weblog entry
Have you ever watched the president give a speech? It always amazes me how well he does reciting a speech, and even though he is probably reading it off the teleprompter, he always gets the proper pathos into the speech to make us feel he really feels what he is talking, and Im sure he relies on his competence and character (ethos) to help get his points to us the audience. It is usually interesting to compare a rehearsed speech to an interview session, or some other situation where they don't have an opportunity to rehearse what thye're going to say. And sometines it get them into real trouble....
My experience with speech 111
At the beginning of this class, I was just about petrified to stand in front of a camera and think that someone was going to view my performance and critique it. It made me so nervous, I just had to put the camera out of my mind. During this last speech, I turned the viewing screen around so I could watch myself while doing the speech. Apparently, I was feeling much more comfortable with the camera. I think this class would be much more fun in the classroom, but in some ways more stressful also. I told my wife that those standing in front of the class only get one shot to present their speech, while we have unlimited tries due to the rewind button. It was to easy to get wrapped up in trying to do a perfect speech. I would still be very nervous standing in front of a crowd, but at least, I have the confidence now to write a speech that I could believe in.
another additional weblog post
An interesting thing I have noticed while watching tv, is that during the commercials, I find myself comparing what I have learned about persuasive speeches to the speakers on the commercials. They seem to repeat themselves frequently, which I did not do on my speech, and they talk quickly, which is in part due to the time constraints, and in part due to trying to convince us to -ACT NOW - before we come to our senses and change our mind. Also, whenever I listen to a speaker, such as a tv evangelist, I try to figure if his speech is informative style, of persuasive style. Perhaps, someday I will get over this, but for now it's interesting to commpare. I also wonder if anyone ever yells during their speech.
Nelson community play
This last Friday, I attended a presentation sponsored by the Nelson Community Club. Every spring this club does this as a fundraiser for their community projects. Generally, they have 2 skits/short plays that they present. The actors are members of the club. They also have a local band that performs, and some of our local singing talent also participate by singing some songs. I always marvel about how easy it seems for some of them to get up in front of a crowd and sing. I am sure it is much harder for some than others. One young lady that usually performs with the local band was singing a song that she wasn't totally familar with, and about halfway through, she forgot the words. If that would have been me, I would have been awfully embarrased, and probably ran off the stage, however, she just kind of laughed it off, stated that she "hates it when she forgets the words." Then she just waited until the band got to the chorus and she started singing ; she was really smooth about the transition; I thought it was neat how she managed to get through that mistake.
passive agreement speech type
I understand that a speech to gain passive agreement is designed to convince an audience that a given policy is acceptable without audience action taken in support of the policy. What I don't really understand is why a speaker would use this type of persuasive speech. I think the speaker would want to get the audience involved in his persuasion. It seems to me about all the speaker would accomplish is gaining self-affirmation, and perhaps present a forum for discussion, which would probably fall under the category of informative speech.
P and P of persuasive speech #2
My original idea for this assignment was to research and present the flip side of my helmet law speech, however, I decided to persuade everyone the importance of having a disaster plan, supplies, and knowing what disasters may present in our area. As I was researching, the virginia tech massacre took place. This immediately helped reinforce the importance of my speech ideas, especially communications, and awareness of surroundings. I must admit the ideas of speaking in front of a camera is not near as intimidating now as the first time was. Seems like we had about 20 tries on that first one, before we decided it was presentable. And to think, probably no one but the instructor ever viewed it. These last 2 speeches only required 3 tries for the first one and 1 try for the last one. I think this points out that the class was successful in getting us in front of the camera and feeling comfortable.
Ron Willis as a speaker
This speaker usually adds a good mix of humor to his seminars. This helps keep the subject interesting, however, I feel that he needs to do some research and add more outside sources to his "talks." Most of the examples that he uses concern either himself with previous workplace experiences, or him and his family relationships for examples. Depending on how interesting the subjects are, it almost seems at times as though his presentations are all about himself, and this causes me to loose interest in his subject very quickly. I have attended approximately 5 of his seminars and this last one "Recognizing your nature" was the most interesting one.
Ron Willis Motivational Seminar
I recently attended a seminar that was a mandatory requirement of my job. The speaker, Ron Willis, a motivational speaker from Kansas, comes one or two times a year to improve moral in our workplace. The title of this seminar was Recoginizing Your Nature, "It can be a Real Zoo around here." He developed a list of 60 personal attributes of people and catigorized them under names of four animals: lion, otter, beaver, golden retriever. We went through the columns of attributs and ranked them as they applied to our own persoality. Added them up, and that resulted in us being categorized as one of four animals. Obviously, the lion is the strongest willed, after next, beavers more into doing a job well, and golden retrievers more into relationships with people. This seminar was about three hours long. The purpose was to help identiy a category we fit into and consequently haw we interat with people in other categories. The seminar also showed how each categoring of people changed as stress was added to their jobs, and then when the stress of the job was at crisis level. The focus was to help realize the problems that develop and how we often deal with them and as a result how we could better deal with then without hurting our relationships with our co-workers.
Preparing Persuasive Speech #1
My speech was about maintaining Nebrask's current motorcycle helmet law. Since it has been approximately a year since I worked on the first 2 units of this speech class, I found it difficult to work through the citations. I found large amounts of information supporting the helmet laws that are in effect throughout the united States. Even common sense tells us that a helmeted motorcycle rider is safer than an unhelmeted one. Information concerning costs of healthcare of helmets verses unhelmeted riders involved in accidents was also plentiful. The biggest dilemma I experienced was my beeling of having the right to choose whether or not to wear a helmet versus that being mandated by law. However, I feel that peer pruessure would result in some riders going without helmets, if they had a choice; when they might otherwise be inclined to wear a helmet. I chose not to address this issue in my speech because I felt it would develop into a separate issue concerning rights to choose versus laws -- such as helmet use, seat belt use, cellphone use while driving etc.
TV ad follwing Monroe's Motivated Sequence
Hip Hop Abs on Celebrity Shopping Network with Monroes Motivation Sequence
Attention: Male and female dancers with slim bodies and 6 pack abs doing a high energy dance, having a fun time; a sign flashes: "No situps."
Need: to loose weight, abs are always a problem. Working out is tedious and no fun. Testimonial from a lady discussing the feelings of being overweight and tired, no energy, how her abs were always a problem, and the lack of support by exercising alone.
Satisfaction: The solution is "hip-hop abs" a fun workout, depicted as dancing to hip hop music, with a few testimonials showing how easy it is, how great it feels and a testimonial discussing 24/7 support via internet or telephone to stay motivated. The idea of learning new dance moves with SeanT, the fact that it is also a great cardio workout, and that it won't cause neck and back strain like abdominal crunches are also presented.
Visualization: Comparison pictures of people before and after with statements such as, "I lost 4" off my waist," "I lost 57 lbs in 6 months." Throughout this program the audience is repeatedly prestented with testimonials and pictures depicting the undenialble proof that this program works. The program in fast paced and "happy" to build the audiences confidence in the speakers. They also show a clip of a person shopping for new clothes later.
Action: Order Now Only Three Payments of $19.95. Credit Cards excepted. Call Now. Money Back Quarantee. A promise that you will have fantastic abs. A free gift for ordering 'now." Express delivery --why wait any longer. Receive 2 CD's, a nutrition guide, 24/7 support, a free gift, if you order now.
TV ad appealing to Maslows Need Hierarchy
Duralast brake pads at Auto Zone claim to make your brakes the safest they can be. this applies to Maslows second level of heirachy; safety for us and our family. This commerical also applies the 4th level; esteem by building our confidence in their company and product. They use very bold graphics, the brake rotor spinning very fast and then applying the pads causing the rotor to glow as evidence to build their creditability. They establish common ground with the television audience because the commercial is during the Nascar race, which ties in with excessive brake wear and safety. The speaker delivers with confidence to attempt to make us feel we are getting the best quality. Near the end, the speaker directs us to the nearest Auto Zone dealer to buy these "great" brake pads; an example of the "action" phase of the ending.
informative speech #2
It's late, I'm tired, and I just finished recording informative speech #2. I kind of rushed myself getting it recorded; I will probably get docked points for excessive use of notes; but my deadline is here. I should have heeded that bit of advice on the front page of the course syllabus: Start this course now!, and kept it going a little faster. Tomorrow, I help my daughter move from Hastings to Wichita, a move that brings sadness to my heart, but I'm excited for them. My school shooting speech is by far the most interesting speech for me. I enjoyed reading and learning the information, trying to understand what causes children to do these things. This would have been a good speech to do in front of a group, just so I could see their reaction, to see if it was the same as mine. My wife thought it was kind of boring with all the statistics,but I thought it was pertinent information. After I realized that I forgot to add my final notes to the speech, and added them, the speech was almost to long, but I felt the information I presented needed to be in the speech.
citation
I had a hard time citing a survey on the Alfred University website . No author was available. I started to use the example for online scholarly project on pg 275, #85, but decided that was incorrect. I went back and used the main example on pg 273, and omitted the author's name info.I also had a hard time finding the date off some articles, but eventually typed the title of the article on the website search box, and a date came up with the search results.
how ironic can that be
I chose to speak about school shootings for my second informational speech assignment. The article in the Hastings Tribune about the kids in Riverton, Ks. reminded me how I felt about this subject, and some of the classes I have attended as an EMT dealing with this subject. Anyway, as I was working away, with CNN rolling in the background, when they announced that some kids in Alaska had just been arrested for plotting to shoot-up a school. Six kids,
IN SEVENTH GRADE, were going to cut electricity to the school and start shooting. They cited revenge for being picked on, imagine that!!! A parent heard rumors and foiled the process. In my research, it was noted that only about 50% of kids would tell an adult if they heard about a shooting plot. Now I wonder, How many people reading this blog have heard someone threaten to shoot someone at school, and did they have the means (a gun) to do this??
mod 8, participation in small group discussion.
In February, I volunteered to do the application for the fire grant. Just another reason among many why I am behind in Speech class.We discussed some ideas that we as a department thought might benefit us. As it turned out, this small group turned out to be just one person, me. Anyway, after reading chapter 18, I have realized that having 3 people working on this would have made it much easier and less time consuming. As a small group, we could have sit down and discussed some equipment problems, brainstormed some solutions,developed a list of goals, and then applied for what was eligible, and what we needed. With the right personnel, we could have avoided interpersonal conflicts, eliminated any hidden agenda that may have been present, and worked through this tedious process. The reflective thinking method of discussing problems would have worked well. Some of the problems that we could have defined would be: 1) air pack equipment for the pesonnel in the Oak station, 2) a reliable source of water for the Oak station, 3), and composing a list of equipment for the Nelson station. Some of these ideas were presented to me after the deadline for submission of application. Next, we could have analyzed the problems, and prioritized a list, based on need and eligibility. Third, we could have established criteria for solutions. We would need to make a budget to establish what the equipment would cost, determine how much the cost-share would be, and ensure that the solutions would alleviate the problems we were addressing. Fourth, we should have generated potential solutions. We could have derived a list of equipment with bids from different manufacturers, with the different prices listed.Also, with more than just my perspective, we could have developed a much better list than I did, and the need expressed in the grant could have been more clearly defined. Last, we should then select the best solutions and present the recommendations to the entire squad. We could have done this via an oral report, explaining the purposes, procedures, and recommendations of our group. Then we could have answered questions. We could have held a symposium, and each member of the small group could have presented an aspect of our solutions to the squad. Then each person would be able to answer questions that pertained to their subject. A panel discussion would probably have been to formal for the needs of this group. Instead of all that, I came up with some ideas, obtained pricing, submitted the requests, researched the answers to the questions on the application, and am now hoping that all goes well.
module 8 speaking event, small group
I attended a storm spotter meeting at our firestation. Represenatives from approximately 4 other departments attended this meeting. It was presented by meteorologist Cindy Fay. Her agenda was to organize the weatherspotter network for the year, tell us what information they wanted from us, and tell us what they could do to help us prepare for the storm season. She began her presentation with a slide show and narrative on how thunderstorms form, different type of thunderstorms, tornado formation, etc. Then she showed us how they try to determine tornadoes on radar, and showed us how to verify what they assume is happening. I know from personal experience that each member of the group is committed to their responsibilities of understanding storm formation, maintaining personal safety, and reporting what is happening through the appropriate channels. We do not have any individual assignments, except a schedule of when we are to go out and storm spot. Cindy provided numerous real video recordings of tornadoes and storms, some of which we remember from years past. She also provided statistics for storms and tornado events in Kansas and Nebraska for the previous year. Her presentation was inteesting and informative.
additional post regarding cruise ships
We once went on a cruise to Jamaica and Cayman Islands. It was quiite an experience for me, as I never expected it to happen. A lot of the experience was almost overwhelming. Flying to Miami, boarding a huge ship with about 30,000 strangers, going to faraway places outside the safety of our country,seemed like a huge risk to me, even though it was exciting. Now I read about and see on television about people disappearing on cruises and never heard from again. Kinda makes one wonder, doesn't it???????
preparing and delivery informative speech #1
I had a real hard time getting back to speech class after vacation, and then spring brings so many opportunities to procrastinate. The subject I chose to write about was on severe weather, and I attended a weatherspotter's workshop to reinforce my knowledge about this subject. It seemed kind of ironic that while I was developing my ideas for my speech, we were in severe weather watches and warnings. I even took a break once and went out for about half an hour to spot for tornadoes. Nothing developed here, Hastings had lots of wind, but no real damage.I did not have any trouble finding information to discuss, in fact, I had to eliminate some information to maintain the time frame. I think I could have written a speech on each of my main points. One thing that confused me was the fact that FEMA redone their website after I done my speech outline, but before I had my citation list finalized. The website address I had copied no longer worked, the "page had been moved" and no forwarding address was present; it said to search the website. I eventually found the new page. Presenting the speech still seems to be a challenge, but it is a little easier than it was in the beginning.
georgia
we made it here relatively safe and sound, driving in traffic around Little Rock, and Memphis and Atlanta was quite exciting, probably more so from my wife's perspective,(darn backseat drivers) but we made it through. Lots of trees and hills here, and the weather is lovely. Seeing our new grandson is wonderful, and it is nice to see my son and daughter in law. Battery getting low, gotta go.....
