The future

For the future, I believe this class has given me good experience and practice for when I need to give some kind of public presentation whether it's for work or even for another class. It has also given me good practice in writing outlines which we did plenty of! Certain speeches, like for example the persuasive speech, have given more of a structured way of presenting something to another person to give them a better understanding without forcing something on them but at the same time educating them. Most of all what this class has helped me in is speaking in public, in front of an audience. Since I get extremely nervous speaking to large groups of people, this was great practice for me. It helped me get not completely over this fear but get better with time!

Favorite speech

My favorite speech was probably the informative speech. Mostly because all you do is give information. I don't particularly like persuading people and although the demonstrative speeches were very interesting to watch, it was a bit of a hassle. Also in the informative speeches I liked hearing all the different topics and learning about them. There was a lot of new things that I had learned because of the informative speeches that I hadn't known before. Over all, out of all the speeches, I was least nervous in the informative speech. I was able to do it on a topic that I knew a lot about, that I was comfortable with and actually excited about it too. So that's why the informative speech was my favorite.

Concepts

There have been many helpful concepts in preparing for my speeches. I definitely like the speech buddy videos because instead of just being told what to do and how to say our speeches we were able to actually see it. That helped a lot I think because we were able to see what looks good when saying a speech as well as see what not to do in a speech. It also showed us the different ways to sat the speech. I remember one of the videos showed me how to incorporate visual aid into the speech and make it more smooth. I also like that we had many outline examples. It made it more enjoyable to do an outline knowing that I was doing it right! I was able to do it with ease as well as include everything that the teacher wanted in it. Lastly, the thing that helped in preparing the speeches I think were the mini speeches in between the major speeches. I like that particularly because I get extremely nervous going up in front of class and doing the little speeches in between helped me "face my fear" you could say. Just gave me more practice in front of the class.

Persuading

In most recent experience, I had to persuade more than just one person. It seems that I have this experience quite often because each time someone finds out I'm a vegetarian, I not only have to explain to them why but persuade them that it is a good idea. I found that if I don't persuade them, they look at me doubtfully. First I tell them my reason, next I go into some of the pros of being vegetarian. I also tell them that if I raised my own animals then I wouldnt mind eating meat because then I become more level with them. I never try to force anyone into it because I feel that it is everyones own choice. I do like being able to tell them the healthy side of it so that they can think about it for themselves. I find that it also is good not to tell someone that they are eating wrong and harming themselves because then that just puts the person into defense mode and makes them want to argue with you.

Speech buddy videos

In the speech buddy videos, the girl talked about home schooling and public schools. I understand a lot of where she is coming from because I had homeschooling but I also went to public school. From what I know and heard, there isn't that much violence in public school. It seems that if someone is looking for a fight, they'll find anywhere whether or not in school. I did like that she had both pros and cons. She did a good job of talking about both sides. Addressing questions/arguments that the other side is important. Like having a problem and solution to the questions/arguments. I do think that she needed something more like statistics and more facts than stories and opinions. In my opinion it is the best way to persuade and get your audience to agree with you. Overall it was enjoyable and good example of how to show both sides in our speeches.

chapter 14 reading

In chapter 14, it talks about Monroe's five step pattern as well as the problem solution pattern which we talked about in the earlier post. I found most helpful reading about what kind of audiences there are to persuade. I guess that its true that you get a variety of different audience types when giving a speech so it is important to make sure you can meet or at least try to meet the needs of each person to get your point across. there are negative, positive, sympathetic, divided, apathetic and uninformed. I liked how this chapter went over how to deal with each type of audience, showing what techniques to use and what kind of questions to answer for each group. Very helpful and I shall be taking that into consideration.

Sea of Persuasion

I think that persuasion is a part of our every day life and in everything we do, see and hear. If you are watching a television show, you are going to see a bunch of commercials in between. All those commercials are made to persuade you in something. Whether its to persuade you to buy something or with the recent elections, vote for someone. I remember reading a magazine and after wanting to buy that miracle lotion they were writing about. All of the ad campaigns for the election are also still burned into my skull because there were so many of them. There were negative ads and positive ads, so you can also get persuaded to dislike something. While it easy to get caught up in all of this, it's important to look into whatever it is you've decided to purchase or believe through an ad. When you research it, it will make you a better consumer.