Week 14 Post 3

I believe I will benefit from this public speaking class more than the average. We have weekly meetings in our office and have to report to a large group. I have to present information such as how much business we are getting, or what we can do to improve it, and listen to many comments and questions. I have dreaded the thought of going, especially since I am somewhat new in this field. When I first started, I was told I would eventually have to attend them by myself to represent our company location. Just the thought of being in front of a large group freaked me out. Now that I have taken this class, I’m less worried about the crowd and more worried about the information I will be presenting and the questions to come along with them. This class was my most dreaded, but I am glad it is over with! It really was not as bad as I thought it would be, and I am very glad to be taking half of it online. I have never taken a class half on campus and half online, in fact nothing online.

Week 14 Post 2

My favorite speech was my tribute speech. I enjoyed the fact that it was about someone close and who we wanted to pay tribute to. It seemed more natural to me, and I actually enjoyed writing it which made it easier to speak about. There are other speeches that I have little interest for, like for example our informative speech, I didn’t enjoy writing. Often times I second guessed myself, or had to rewrite many parts to get what I wanted. With the tribute speech, there were many things I wanted to say, but couldn’t fit them all in. I had many directions I could go with, and lots of options. Research papers, like our informative, can be hard especially when developing body paragraphs. You have to find the correct information to go in them, and if it’s slightly off it may not work for the subject or under the thesis. Even though it was short and simple, our tribute speech was by far the most genuine and my favorite.

Week 14 Post 1

I believe the most helpful concept I learned from this class were the techniques used to calm down while giving your speech. For example, channeling your nervous or anxious energy into something positive, such as excitement. Every time I would go up in front of the class, I would tell myself it would be alright and how excited I was to give this speech. Even though it was never true, it helped feeling that way instead of me thinking how nervous and terrible my speech would be. Another technique I found useful was relaxation breathing. When I start to feel nervous I take a couple deep breaths, especially before I go up in front of the audience. To me, these two techniques were the most helpful out of everything we learned. We learned many helpful writing tools to help develop our outline, but my main concern going into this class was my nerves.

Week 13 Post 3

In the speech buddy video 15.1, it covered the four parts in arguments which are the thesis, claim, evidence and  reasoning. Your thesis is always supposed to support your claim, evidence and reasoning. All of this information is review to me, and been the guidelines for speeches and essays for many years. It was nice to see it pinpointed directly in the introduction of a speech though. The speakers in the video had all of those main four points and were all clear. In the schooling pro video, the speaker was very relaxed. She seemed to have been practicing, only looking down at her note cards when needed. She gave many examples, and referenced them properly. Her voice is soft, but seemed like her tone and volume was on key. In the last video, schooling con, the first thing I noticed was his voice. It was very lively, and did not come off boring. His volume was nice and loud as well. He looked at his note cards more than the last speaker, but still made good eye contact with the audience. One thing to me that was distracting was his hand movement, but it wasn't over dramatic.

Week 13 Post 2

From chapter 15, I found the using reasoning effectively interesting. As I mentioned in my first post, mine did not work! There are four different types which I will break down by definition, strengths, and weaknesses. The first type is deductive, which is when the speaker argues from a general or precise case. Its strengths rely on logical reasoning, and weaknesses and invalid premises leading to false conditions. The next type I would like to explain is inductive reasoning. For that you use specific example to general principal. Its strengths are that is visualizes and personalizes the argument. On the other hand its weaknesses and that it might lack representation sufficiency or relevance. Another type of reasoning is casual, which is when you explain how one event causes another. Its strengths are that its useful for explanation and prediction, and weaknesses are it may be incorrect cause and an effective link. The last form of reasoning is analogical. Its strengths are that it draws similarities between two distinct cases, and weaknesses are it might be ignoring key differences.

Week 13 Post 1

Just recently I tried to discuss politics with my friend Shelby. I didn't know she could be so hostile! I am not an Obama fan, and she is. I tried to persuade her into voting for someone else. To try and do that, I continuously asked her what contributions Obama has made to our country, and she couldn't answer. I then later proceeded to tell her how much debt he has put America in, more than all of the presidents combined. That still didn't faze her! On top of that I told her how his last four years in office, unemployment rates have been the highest in the past ten years. After I told her all of this, she only got more defensive. She has a very bias opinion and is too stubborn to change it. Even though I only gave facts, from very credible databases online, I couldn't even at the least open her mind about it. Now I have learned my lesson to never talk politics with her!

Week 12 Post 3

Every day we are being persuaded. Whether it’s our parents telling us which route to take in life, or someone trying to get you to go somewhere when you really can’t, we are all persuaded and persuade others. The biggest form of persuasion however, I think is media. Magazines, internet, TV and bulletin boards all persuade people where to go, what to buy or how to look. In an English class I took here at Sierra College, my professor spent a good amount of time teaching us how we are all persuaded by media. If you see an ad for drinking or smoking, you usually buy into it by the images. The background is usually filled with models surrounded by wealthy people or places, when in reality advertisers use those to bring people in. Or another example would be those Carl’s Jr commercials. Come on, who really rides a bull, eats a cheeseburger, and looks that good all at the same time? I could go on about the various ways that sex sells, but that’s only one technique the media uses to persuade. To become a deeper thinker about these things, examine the background, colors, language, values, and actions and asses why they use them.

Week 12 Post 2

In the chapter 14 reading this week I found persuading different types of audiences interesting. The types are, the negative, also called the hostile, and the positive, also called the sympathetic, divided, uninformed, and apathetic audiences. The negative audience is informed about your topic but unfavorable towards it. Even though they may have their minds made up there are a few things you can do to help your speech. You should always establish credibility, take a common ground, help your audience visualize your topic in a positive way, prepare for your audiences unenthusiastic reaction, and keep your persuasive objectives within reason. For the positive audiences you must also have strategies which are to incorporate engaging evidence that reinforces the audience’s commitment, use both vivid images and language, rely on narratives to elaborate your points, and reinforce them to take action if they already agree. For the divided audience you need to demonstrate that you recognize the legitimacy of the arguments for and against the issue, establish credibility and common ground among all audience members, and integrate strategies for both the negative and positive audience members. To meet apathetic audiences’ needs you need to gain their attention and attract their interest, show how the topic affects them specifically, shows your commitment to the topic through energy and enthusiasm, take a one-sided approach, and use presentation media.  

Week 12 Post 1

The San Juan School District defines the Monroe’s Motivated Sequence (MMS) as an “organizational pattern used to develop a sense of want or need in the audience, satisfy that want or need, and to help the audience get enthused about the advantages of that solution”.  One example they later showed was a speech about becoming an organ donor. Personally, the thought of people cutting me up after I’m dead and taking my organs, creeps me out. After reading the outline, my mind changed. It made me changed my mind about donating my organs, made me understand, and made me want to do it. Obviously not right now. That is what the MMS is all about, getting your audience to understand, want it, and see the benefits.

On the other hand, the Problem Solution Pattern is when you give a problem and explain thoroughly where, what, and why it exists. You need to show how to problems effects us or how we are connected to the issue, and then give a specific way to solve the problem. Even though it’s overused, one example would be global warming.

Out of the two strategies, it’s hard for me to pick one. It really just all depends of what topic is, but if I had to go with one it would be Monroe’s Motivated Sequence.

Week 11 Post 3

Both the text and speech buddy videos for chapters 10 and 12 were very similar. In speech buddy video 10.1 the discussion was about audience centered language. To use this language you are supposed to refer to current events, use words like we, us, you and I, use inclusive language and spark imagination. The 10.2 video is about effectively using spoken language in your speech. This means to use meaningful words, balance between clarity and ambiguity, be concise, avoid offensive language, build in repetition, and don't get attached to the words. In the 12.1 video it was all about reviewing vocal delivery. The five main concerns were volume, pitch, rate, variety, and articulation and pronunciation. The 12.2 video was about physical delivery of your speech. To do that accurately you must have good eye contact, facial expression, appearance, movement and gestures. The last video 12.3 was about practicing for your speech. There were many helpful tips given in order to prepare for it. The most useful was to practice your speech in sections. Out of both of the chapters, I found 12 the most helpful because it pointed out a lot of stuff that I am doing incorrectly in my speeches.

Week 11 Post 2

In chapter 12, I found the “selecting a delivery” section both helpful and interesting. It seems by the way my last speech went; I used impromptu speaking which is defined as little of no preparation for a speech. I didn’t think I would need that much practice, since it was written down word for word. When you write your speech word for word that is called manuscript speaking. When I read off my cards I am way more comfortable. I cannot seem to even memorize my speech, which is called memorized speaking. There were a few people in class who didn’t even need note cards, but I’m not sure I could ever do that. If I had planned, researched, organized and practiced my speech, extemporaneous speaking, I would have definitely gotten a better grade. Extemporaneous speaking is what everyone should bring to the class but there a considerable amount of things that get in the way of the overall delivery, like nerves and such things.

Week 11 Post 1

In the "flickr" discussion many words were talked about being ban and such things. Some of the people who commented didn’t seem to mind, so called, sexist words and even used them daily. I don't see the big deal when it comes to using those words. There were some comments of Flickr talking about banning those words, as I mentioned before. While this is all going on, I think negative sexist language and racist language should be recognized more than describing a boy as a man or girl as a woman. In the chapter 10 reading I was confused over the tag questions. I don't notice different impacts whether it comes from a man or a woman. However I do believe non-sexist language can be overlooked. For example, male nurse, stewardess, chairman, freshman, career woman, boys, girls and such words may be sexist. While I don't believe most of it is sexist or a big deal, it seems to offend other people.