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Chapter 16 - Ceremonial Speaking

Ceremonial Speaking  celebrates the meaning of special occasions. Regardless of the situation, the best ones celebrate the moment by paying tribute to the values that bind people together in communities. Ceremonial speeches seek to address four eternal questions of “who are we?”, “why are we?” , “what have we accomplished?” and “what have we become?” (Turner et al, 2018). 

The different types of ceremonial speeches that our book mentions are: 

Tribute, Acceptance, Introduction, After-dinner, Master of Ceremonies (Turner et al, 2018).

For the purposes of this post, I will elaborate on Speeches of Tribute.

A speech of tribute recognizes the achievement of individuals or groups, or commemorates special events.The focus of this speech is typically the values of individual responsibility, striving and achievement. Examples of this speech include toasts, award presentations and eulogies. Toasts are short ceremonial tributes. They should be brief, and so, every word must  count. It can be memorized so that one can say exactly what they want to say. In this hilarious video, the speaker gives us some do’s and don’ts  for a toast, particularly holiday season toasts. I found them relevant to any toast and wanted to share it on here.

1)Get their attention - one can ask for assistance from friends sitting in the crowd or simply stand up and raise your glass 2) Keep it brief  - make sure it is sincere and original, no long monologues, roasts allowed. 3) Knowing your audience  - being mindful of “who” will be in your audience to avoid hiccups. One can use humor but not nothing inappropriate. 4)You can use a cheat sheet, something small like a 3” by 5” index card but it is best if memorized 5) Don’t be drunk! - Funny but true. I believe this is something to be careful of since there might be alcohol depending on the occasion of course. I found this video by Michelle Patrick funny but helpful.

References

Osborn, K.J.T.R.O.M.O. S. (2018). Public Speaking. [VitalSource Bookshelf]. Retrieved from https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/#/books/9780134401355

Patrick, M. Giving the Perfect Toast. Denver Center for Performing Arts. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CARfWj-kfzY

Khan, I (2014). President Obama delivering Commencement Speech at UC Irvine in 2014. Retrieved from https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2020-05-16/how-to-watch-barack-obamas-commencement-addresses-today.

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Chapter 14 & 15

Chapter 14 - Persuasive Speaking

This chapter discusses how a speaker can influence the beliefs of attitudes, values and sometimes actions of listeners. Where informative speeches might reveal and discuss options, persuasive speeches encourage us to make specific choices (Turner et al, 2018).

Our text mentions five phases that a persuasive speech goes through. They are awareness, understanding, agreement, enactment and integration.

Awareness is calling to attention the existence of a problem; Understanding is developing a broader comprehension of the issues and the scope of the problem; Agreement occurs when the audience moves from understanding to accepting the speaker’s position; Enactment  - this fourth stage involves getting the audience to act on your appeal; and the fifth stage is Integration which is having the audience connect your message to their core beliefs.

 In this example I found on Youtube, the speaker created awareness with the audience by telling them why she thinks the death penalty ought to be abolished, and gave the reasons why  - which helped the audience understand her point of view, at this point, I was in agreement with her thesis and was eager to know how I could act. She then urged the audience to vote and this meant she was encouraging them to enact on her thesis and finally she integrates by adding that states without the death penalty face lower crime rates and challenges the audience to decide “what makes sense” - to leave the death penalty as is or know that abolishing it can help reduce crime as well. This sort of jogged my conscience. Overall, I think it was a great speech!

References

Osborn, K.J.T.R.O.M.O. S. (2018). Public Speaking. [VitalSource Bookshelf]. Retrieved from https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/#/books/9780134401355/

TS149 - Excellent Persuasive Speech Example. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUeTDKsfGc8

Persuasive Speaking Slide image. Retrieved from https://www.slideshare.net/abdulhadi78693/persuasive-speaking-60443523

Chapter 15  - Building Persuasive Arguments

This Chapter deals with how to gather evidence; how to use it to construct coherent, well-reasoned arguments and various patterns of reasoning. It also addresses how to engage skeptical listeners as well.

For the purposes of this post, I want to concentrate on gathering evidence. Once you have determined the specific issue you want to address in your speech the next step is research this issue and diligently understand arguments for and against it. While checking for information always remember to consider the credibility and timeliness of the sources. Try to cross check information derived from activists sites with reputable sources of news and information Turner, K et al, 2018).

In this post at the Communispond, Bill Rosenthal talks about these five types of evidence used to persuade an audience -

1) Data - these are statistics and facts used to back your evidence. The author pointed out that it is good to gather some facts and then select the most powerful of them to present.

2) Expertise  - An expert opinion of someone who has an authority in the subject will add weight to your argument.

3) Cases -  Using examples or cases that your audience can resonate with so that it has more impact.

4) Image  - this can be used to relay a new thing  - speaker recommendation to something familiar to the audience.

5) Story (Testimony) - this has the potential to be the most powerful form of evidence when handled with authenticity.

One can use all or some of the above types of evidence in a speech. The speaker will ultimately choose the ones that will be most effective to use with the topic at hand.

References

Osborn, K.J.T.R.O.M.O. S. (2018). Public Speaking. [VitalSource Bookshelf]. Retrieved from https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/#/books/9780134401355/

Rosenthal, B. Five Types of Evidence Used to Persuade Your Audience. Retrieved from 

https://communispond.com/insights/blog/139/5-types-of-evidence-used-to-persuade-your-audience/

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Chapters 10, 11, 12 & 13

Chapter 10 - Presentation Aids

Presentation Aids are visual, auditory, and tactile supplements that can enhance the clarity and effectiveness of your presentations (Turner, K et al 2018). They help portray your message in a colorful, and easier way to comprehend. Virtualspeech.org explains some different visual aids and how it is to be used.

For instance, according to this article,

Powerpoint presentations should have a clear and simple background, animations should be used with bullet points, avoid adding too much on a handout as it makes it difficult to read among other important points. 

Flip charts offer low cost to low tech solutions to convey information as you speak (Beqiri, G 2018). 

White boards are great to use when needed to provide further explanation such as showing the order of process, creating diagrams, explaining complex words or phrases (Beqiri, G 2018).

Handouts - these contain key information about the presentation. As helpful as they might be, it is can be a source of audience distraction too. So the author suggested that it best be given with partial information so that the audience will have to listen to the speech to fill in the information (Beqiri, G 2018).

References

Turner, K., Osborn, R., Osborn M., Osborn, S. Public Speaking : Finding Your Voice retrieved from https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9780134401355

Beqiri, Gini 2018, Using Visual Aids During a Presentation or Training Session retrieved from, https://virtualspeech.com/blog/visual-aids-presentation.

Chapter 11  - Putting Words to Work

Speakers can use the power of words to shape perceptions, arouse feelings and unite listeners and move them to action. 

Arouse feelings - when speakers choose the right words they can arouse strong feelings and even change attitudes with the message and purpose for speaking. In this speech extract, this Speaker - Mark Mero is using emotional appeal to inform these teenagers about drug abuse. You actually see that  his audience is moved to tears with his personal story of using drugs and how it affected his relationship with his mother. I confess that I was in tears while watching this video. It is truly moving. 

References

Turner, K., Osborn, R., Osborn M., Osborn, S. Public Speaking : Finding Your Voice retrieved from https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9780134401355

Goalcast: This heartbreaking Story Will Make You Love Again, speech extract by Mark Mero retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEdybX-kKZg

Chapter 12 - Delivering Your Speech

This Chapter is all about preparing speakers for the presentation. It discusses the power of effective delivery and the different methods of delivery. The four common methods of delivery are Impromptu, Extemporaneous, Manuscript and Memorized. I will discuss the Impromptu Speech for the purposes of this post. 

Impromptu Speech is a speech that one has no preparation for. It is given at the spur of the moment. Its advantages are it allows spontaneity, permits responses to feedback, and enables speakers to rise to the demands of the situation. The disadvantages are that it is less polished, limits research, and use of supporting materials. In this Impromptu Speech Finals, the speaker eloquently rose to the occasion. In my opinion, he gave a good opening that piqued interest and he consequently used examples to back his thesis up. In his conclusion, he restated his thesis and recapped on his opening story. He did not win this but he won 3rd place.

References

Turner, K., Osborn, R., Osborn M., Osborn, S. Public Speaking : Finding Your Voice retrieved from https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9780134401355

Viraj at US Nationals Impromptu Speech Finals retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq3hNXPDh4g

Chapter 13 - Informative Speaking

This Chapter reiterates the importance of finding one’s voice through making ethical and informative speeches. Informative speaking enlightens listeners by sharing ideas and information so that they can make better decisions (Turner,K et al 2018). The aim of an informative speaker is for your audience to hear the message and understand it (Turner,K et al 2018). This chapter mentions three types of informative speeches - description , demonstration and explanation speeches.

I will discuss what an explanation speech is  for this post. An explanation speech offers information about the nature, workings and implications of subjects that are abstract or complicated (Turner,K et al 2018). Speeches of this nature are typically complicated so it is important to develop a clear focus to provide the audience with new information.

In this example, the speaker explains new technology that “smells” cancer in patients. The experiments leading to this discovery, analyse the two prototypes, that were being developed at the time of her speech and what the implications of introducing this technology into society.

References

Turner, K., Osborn, R., Osborn M., Osborn, S. Public Speaking : Finding Your Voice retrieved from https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9780134401355

Belmont Speech Lab. Informative Speech: The Smell of Cancer retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_t5Rb1UPvY

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Chapter 7, 8 & 9

Chapter 7 -  Building Responsible Knowledge

In this Chapter, the topic of how to conduct personal interviews was discussed. I found this section interesting because conducting interviews adds to the interviewer’s knowledge of the topic (Turner, K et al, 2017).

According to our text, personal interviews can provide stories, opinions not available to internet or library research (Turner, K et al, 2017). According to some interviews I have seen, personal interviews give a first hand narrative of events and an opportunity to clear the air on certain misconceptions the general public has. I watched Oprah’s MJ (Michael Jackson) interview in 1993 and was able to identify some of the tips (given by our text) on how to conduct personal interviews. This was a long interview (90 mins) but a good one and Oprah considers it her best interview. Around 3:49 mins, she asked about Michael’s childhood and mentioned the name of a lady that she already spoke to  who knew young Michael while he was working at Motown. This shows that she did her research before the interview as she prepared her questions. Which is one of the tips our text mentions. Another tip is to Act professional, be on time, dress appropriately and be courteous.  Oprah was dressed appropriately and was courteous throughout the interview.

Another tip is to let the interviewee do most of the talking but to ask questions whenever further clarification was needed. Oprah asked about MJ’s adolescent years at 9:48 mins on the video . This was a clarification question based on another answer he had given. The last tip states that the interviewer should summarize the main points of the interview and thank the interviewee. So, because the interview was a long one, Oprah would do a recap everytime they came back from a break to remind people of what they already discussed and in the end, yes!, she thanked him for the interview.

References

Turner, K., Osborn, R., Osborn M., Osborn, S. Public Speaking : Finding Your Voice retrieved from https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9780134401355

1993 Michael Jackson Interview (Oprah) retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFVm_3QJrEQ

Chapter 8 - Testimony

Testimony is a quote or a summary of ideas by other people that one uses to add weight or to illustrate their talking points. Using testimony is like quoting other people to add more credibility to your speech. Our text mentions three forms of testimony: Expert testimony - which is testimony by people who are trained or experienced to speak on the subject (Turner et al, 2017); Lay testimony - this one represents wisdoms of ordinary people. These people might have had a first hand experience of the subject or simply strong feeling about the subject. Prestige testimony - this kind of testimony associates one’s message with the words of an  admired figure or text (Turner et al, 2017). Regardless of which testimony one uses, we should make sure to use it effectively and avoid modifying it just to fit in the context of our speech.

In this example, the speaker - Megan Francis quotes her dog trainer as saying “Fixes that do not address the root causes of an issue are not really causes at all”. The trainer was talking about Megan’s wish to “fix” her dog  - who was an abused dog acquired from a shelter and was dealing with aggressive behavior. This is expert testimony that she applied to her interpretation of the US’ way of addressing racism.

References

Turner, K., Osborn, R., Osborn M., Osborn, S. Public Speaking : Finding Your Voice retrieved from https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9780134401355

Tedx Talks - Let’s Get to the Root of Racial Injustice, Megan Ming Francis, retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aCn72iXO9s

Chapter 9 - Structuring and Outlining your Speech

This chapter covers structuring the layout of the speech and this is from the thesis statement, opening, main body to the conclusion. This chapter elaborated on the different ways to set up the speech so that one can send out the message in a clear, understandable and easy to follow manner. Although the chapter’s content contained a lot of information, I found the topic of “how to arrange the main points” the most interesting. The book mentions that there are different organizational patterns for speech, and they are categorical, comparative, spatial, sequential, chronological, problem-solution, refutative and narrative. 

For the purposes of this post I want to discuss the narrative delivery pattern. This pattern tells a story. It follows a dramatic pattern that flows from prologue, plot, to epilogue (Turner et al, 2017). Using stories helps the speaker connect to the audience while sending their message across. It will be easier to follow the message if it is a story that really speaks to the listeners. 

In this video, Stacey Flowers informs her audience about the five people one needs in their life to be happy. Her delivery pattern is in a narrative form because she uses her life story to  explain how having some of these five people in her life contributed to her happiness as well as her son’s life. 

References

Turner, K., Osborn, R., Osborn M., Osborn, S. Public Speaking : Finding Your Voice retrieved from https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9780134401355

Tedx Talks, The 5 People You Need to be Happy, Stacey Flowers, retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZRCFK1n-NM.

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Chapter 5 & 6

Chapter 5

This Chapter expands on  Understanding Audience Demographics. I took particular note of the fact that we need to be wary of using sexist language in public speaking. This was mentioned under the Gender consideration. Sexist language is defined in our text as “disparaging labels and references to gender or using masculine pronoun or noun references when talking to both sexes”. (Turner et al, 2017). I believe I have caught myself several times referring to a group with only females as “guys”, so this is a note to myself to be careful of this. Many a times we do not really do this intentionally but more out of habit. 

Our text noted that sexist language can be offensive especially when used as at a public setting (Turner et al, 2017). In this article by Margolis, H (2017), she mentions different times that politicians used sexiest language in their speeches. The president of South African AmaXohsa King Mpendulo Zwelonke Sigcawu said “ The country’s problems have overwhelmed leaders who are male, how much more for a woman”, meaning women will not be able to run a country since men were struggling with it. Another example she used was that of a European parliament member who said, “women must earn less than men because they are weaker, they are smaller, they are less intelligent.” Both these quotes show sexist remarks and should be avoided in general especially when making public comments or addresses.

References

Turner, K., Osborn, R., Osborn M., Osborn, S. Public Speaking : Finding Your Voice retrieved from https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9780134401355

Margolis, H. (2017, March 13th) 17 Times Politicians have Resorted to Wildly Sexist Speech Over the Last Year retrieved from https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/03/13/17-times-politicians-have-resorted-wildly-sexist-speech-over-last-year.

Chapter 6 

In this Chapter was all about discovering and choosing topics for speeches. In the first part of this chapter, we explored with what a good topic is. A good topic is one that involves the speaker, engages the listeners and is manageable by the speaker.(Turner et al,2017). As I looked into what would be a good example of a speech that embodies all these pointers, I found former President Obama’s keynote  speech at the Democratic Convention in 2004. He was energetic, he used stories that the audience could relate to including his life story and the speech was inspiring and hopeful. He did all this within 16 mins. Although John Kerry did not win the presidency, Obama won in the next Presidential elections in 2008. I can safely say this speech sealed his fate.

References

Turner, K., Osborn, R., Osborn M., Osborn, S. Public Speaking : Finding Your Voice retrieved from https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9780134401355

Former President Obama’s Keynote Speech at the Democratic National Convention, 2004 retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueMNqdB1QIE.

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Chapter 3 & 4

Chapter 3  - Step 4 of Major Steps In Speech Preparation

Step 4 of Speech Preparation according to our text, is where the writer adds the introduction, transitions and conclusion. This step comes after step 1 - finding and focusing the topic, step 2 - gathering supporting material and step 3 - organizing the body of the speech. Step 4 is where one actually designs their speech, Turner et al. (2018).

Since the body of the speech has already been developed it is now time to work on  a great introduction. The introduction should be one to hook your audience and keep their attention through to the conclusion. This means the introduction should be credible and able to arouse interest. If one uses statistics, then have stories/examples to back these facts up. Next, one should consider having good transitions to connect and flow from one point to another. The text suggested phrases such as “For my next point, .......”, “Having said that,.....”, “In conclusion.....” or simply pausing or changing your vocal inflection works well too, Turner et al. (2018). Then, the conclusion should reinforce your message, summarize the points and give your audience something to think about.

In this speech, the presenter’s thesis was well delivered in that he used statistics and quite interesting ones too because I was curious about what he was talking about especially when he said 3.5 million of them. He clearly stated his thesis in the introduction as well. He used transitions such as “which leads me to.....” and “ as we’ve seen.....”. To conclude, he finished strong with a recap  of his presentation, add some quotations as well as food for thought material. It was a good speech and won second place at the Fall ‘08 Speech Contest.

References

Belmont Speech Lab, The Causes of Homelessness, extracted from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XeDDG4UqUQ

Turner, K.J,Osborn, R., Osbron, M, Osborn, S. Public Speaking: Finding Your Voice retrieved from https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9780134401355

Chapter 4 - The Golden Rule of Listening

Now this Chapter was one I enjoyed reading about because listening is something I struggle with. My takeaway from this chapter was the “golden rule of listening”, which states that we should “listen to others as we would have them listen to us”. These words sounds easy enough but hard for people like me who have words, answers and questions bursting out as we listen, instead of listening to the end, before we talk. Our book mentions that when we become better speakers, we learn to be better speakers ourselves. Good listening skills is a plus for anybody because it will benefit us in different aspects of our lives such as marriages, work and school. I came across this article in which the author mentions the importance of listening to other people especially in a workplace setting, Miller, J. (2011). The author said that when you talk less and listen more, it means that i) you value other people and their opinion  - this helps the person speaking in that they are more confident and forthcoming about information when they recognize that you are listening, ii) you are mature and professional - being able to show that you listen to someone else’s opinion instead of babbling about yours, iii) you have important things to say  - meaning that you should limit what you say as you listen more and become selective on what you verbalize. These points as well as two more were mentioned as what it meant to be a good listener. It was a good read and a great reminder.

References

Miller, Jennifer. (2011) The Golden Rule of Listening: How to Speak Loud and Clear without Opening Your Mouth retrieved from https://people-equation.com/speak-loud-clear-without-opening-your-mouth/.

Turner, K.J,Osborn, R., Osbron, M, Osborn, S. Public Speaking: Finding Your Voice retrieved from https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9780134401355

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Chapter 1 & 2

Chapter 1  - Finding Your Voice

This chapter had some important concepts to introduce us to Public Speaking. The one that stood out the most to me was about the Public Speaking Ethics. 

Public Speaking can be beneficial to all if done the right way when done the right way. For this reason, there are guidelines called Public Speaking Ethics which are used to measure the “rightness or wrongness of public communication behaviors - both in speaking and listening” (Turner et Al, 2017) . This is important because it helps people to be considerate of their words while exercising their freedom of speech right. The NCA (National Communication Association) set up a Credo for Communication and I have listed below some of the points mentioned on it. The full list is attached in the reference section . 

* the advocacy of truthful, accurate, honest and reason as the essence to the integrity of communication.

* the endorsement of freedom of expression, diversity of expression, tolerance of dissent to achieve the responsible decision making fundamental to a civil society.

* commitment to the courageous expression of personal convictions in pursuit of fairness and justice.

* accept the responsibility for the short and long term consequences for our own communication and expect the same of others.

This code guides and  protects the rights of those involved in the communication process because if communication (especially one done in a public forum) is given a free for all it can have disastrous effects. During President Donald Trump’s  presidential campaign 2015, he sometimes used language that was used to incite violence at certain times. The New York Times made a compilation of some of them right here:

https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000004269364/trump-and-violence.html

This video shows that he broke the ethical code stated on the Credo as  “communication that degrades individuals and humanity through distortion, intimidation, coercion, and violence, and through the expression of intolerance and hatred.” It seems like these speeches were made with total disregard about consequences. 

References

Turner, K. J., Osborn, R., Osborn, M., Osborn, S. Public Speaking. [VitalSource Bookshelf]. Retrieved from https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/#/books/9780134401355/

Tiefenthaler, Ainara(2016). Trump’s History of Encouraging Violence culled from https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000004269364/trump-and-violence.html

Chapter 2  - Visualization

Visualization is “systematically picturing yourself as a speaker and practising your speech with that image in mind”  (Turner et Al, 2017) . Visualization is one of the ways to keep your anxiety in check. It also doubles up as a speech preparation tool. It enables the speaker to have a mental image of the “audience” and prepare accordingly. I saw this video where the speaker the Cool Communicator explains that visualization helps us have an indirect feel of what it would be like presenting for an audience of X amount of people. He even goes as far as googling to see how large a crowd of 500 people or less will be. This makes it as realistic as can be for him.

Our text further explains that visualizing helps calms the nerves. This method is used by actors, singers and athletes. The Cool Communicator even suggests visiting the venue before time (if possible) this is just to familiarize yourself with the place. Also practice, practice, practice to make the presentation flow nice and easy.

References

Turner, K. J., Osborn, R., Osborn, M., Osborn, S. Public Speaking. [VitalSource Bookshelf]. Retrieved from https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/#/books/9780134401355/

Visualization for Public Speaking, Cool Communicator, Retrieved from 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdrL7iuTHPU