Self-Evaluation Assignment #1

        I feel that I achieved the purpose of my speech fairly well. I believe I presented the demonstration as effective as I could considering the time constraint, and that I did a decent job conveying my main points.
        During my speech I felt pretty confident and comfortable in explaining and demonstrating my topic. I don't have a problem speaking in front of the class. However, my confidence did wain and I felt  a sense of utter panic and terror after each time card was held up once I hit the 3 minute and 30 second mark.
        If I had it to do over again, I would've come better prepared and would've made sure to include oral citations for all of my sources. Because I was not as well prepared as I should've been my brain could not handle delivering all of the information as well as adding the proper citations. I also would've been more aware of my body positioning in regards to the audience. I realize at one point my back was to the audience, and that is never effective when delivering a speech.
        One goal that I have for improving the content of my next speech is making sure I give myself ample time to research, make connections, organize my information, and study my work. Sadly, I did not afford myself these benefits on the demonstration speech, because...well, let's just say I've had a tremendous amount on my plate. However, regardless of what I have going on, I know that if I begin now and I make my next speech a priority and a project over time, I will improve my content and make for a more effective speech.
        One goal I have for improving the delivery of my next speech is to make sure to present oral citations in order to establish my credibility. This was an issue on my demonstration speech; however, I know the importance of such citations (establishing credibility and avoiding plagiarism), and I am ready to begin applying them. Also, I need to work on my time management, so that the end of my speech falls within the acceptable time limits.
        In thinking back on my delivery, I honestly didn't notice too many things...partially because the time cards were taunting me and severely breaking my concentration! I did , however, notice that when my mind goes blank or I get nervous I say "Anddddddddd..." or "Sooooooo..." as somewhat of a filler for the silence in my brain.
        I'm not sure if I did anything distracting in my speech. It is really difficult to remember, especially since I couldn't see my presentation from the viewpoint of an audience member. I don't think I was distracting, but I'm sure that it wasn't pleasant for people having to stare as my back as I absent-mindedly drew on the board forgetting that I was doing a "No No".
        I feel that I did a pretty good job maintaining eye contact and scanning the audience, keeping them engaged. I'd probably give myself an 8 or so since I did have to check my note cards a few times and I was "talking to the board" at one point. It's difficult and uncomfortable having to get in front of people and make eye contact with the whole audience, but I think I do a pretty decent job of forcing myself to do so.
        I only orally cited one source throughout my entire speech. I realize that this is a problem and I plan to improve on this in my future presentations.
        On a scale from A-F I would give myself a "B" on the demonstration speech. I would give myself this grade because overall I feel that I did a pretty good job delivering my speech and making my topic easily understandable and relatable to the audience. However, (like I said) I did not meet the time requirement and I did not cite my sources. Based on these facts I don't believe I deserved an "A". However, in my opinion these were the most significant issues with my speech, and I feel that it was otherwise quite effective.
       

Speech Buddy Videos 7.1, 7.2, 8.1, 8.2

7.1

In video 7.1 I learned that Supportive evidence has strengths and weaknesses so it’s good to use a mixture of evidence types in your speech. I was already somewhat familiar with the strengths of different types of supportive evidence, but I hadn’t fully considered the weakness of each. Narrative adds a dramatic element to your speech and can keep your audience entertained and emotionally tied to your topic. However, the downside of the Narrative is that it provides only one opinion on the subject and if it is too long the audience can lose interest. Examples can also be helpful but sometimes they are detrimental because they make generalizations, which may not be realistic. The speaker offered Bill Gates as an example. He was a college drop-out, but his situation is unique because most college drop-outs are not billionaires. It was nice getting familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of each type of supporting evidence and it will be helpful in preparation for my future speeches.

7.2

In video 7.2 the speaker discussed examples of credible resources. I didn’t particularly learn anything new from watching the video, but it’s still a helpful tool.

8.1

Video 8.1 discussed the 7 types of organizational patterns that speakers rely on for their speeches. Although this is very informative, I have already read about this concept in great detail from the text (not to mention that I posted on it as well). So this was basically review.

8.2

Video 8.2 discussed the 6 transitions, ordering (words like first, second, and third), reinforcing (similarly, also, likewise, moreover), contrasting (however, yet, whereas, instead), chronology (when, while, now, before), causality (therefore, consequently, since), and summarizing (in summarize, let’s review). In this video I got to see examples of each transition which was helpful in understanding them all and being able to apply them to future speeches.

Patterns of Organization

Patterns of organization are a structure for ordering the main points in your speech. An effective pattern of organization will help your audience connect your supporting evidence and content to your original topic. There are 7 different patterns of organization

The chronological pattern is the organization of ideas in a time sequence. This particular pattern is most useful when organizing a speech on the history of a subject, a sequence of events, or a step-by-step process. This helps the audience see how your topic unfolds over time. The chronological pattern is used in informational speeches.

The spatial pattern links points together based on their physical or geographical relationships. This pattern is best used when describing a place or object. This is helps the audience to visually understand the relationship between all parts of the topic. The spatial pattern is used in informational speeches.

A topical pattern arranges your speech by subtopics which are all equally important. This is useful in explaining the different elements involved in a topic and helps the audience to get an image of the subpoints within a topic. The topical pattern is used in informational speeches.

A narrative is a dramatic retelling of events (like a story). This pattern encourages audience participation and involvement. It provides the audience an opportunity to share the speaker's point of view.

The cause-and-effect pattern illustrates how an action produces a particular result, demonstrating a link between two events. This pattern helps the audience  recognize relationships between conditions or events. The narrative it used in speeches meant for entertainment. The cause-and-effect pattern is used in persuasive speeches.

A problem-solution pattern describes a problem and comes up with possible solutions. The purpose of this pattern is to convince the audience to agree with a course of action. This provides the audience with a rationale for considering a particular solution to a problem. The problem-solution pattern is used in persuasive speeches.

The Monroe's motivated sequence is a five-step pattern that requires speakers to find out what will motivate an audience to pay attention, and then to respond to that. This is useful in keeping your audience interested in your topic. This pattern makes the audience want to listen and possibly take action. The Monroe's motivated sequence is used in persuasive speeches.

The text discusses these patterns in great detail and gives examples of each. It is very helpful to understand each of these patterns because they are great tools when preparing for a speech.

Facts and Statistics

Facts and statistics are forms of supporting materials and/or evidence. "Supporting materials provide the substance of your speeches- the "stuff"that holds together, illustrates, clarifies, and provides evidence for your ideas" (Coopman 126). Facts and statistics are most efficient when given in persuasive speeches. Since the audience appeals to logic, using these types of evidence is particularly effective when establishing your credibility and strengthening your position. The use of facts and statistics are also helpful in informational and entertainment speeches. The supporting evidence has the power to make your speech both interesting and impacting. As long as your facts and statistics are accurate, credible, and properly tied in to your subject matter, they will usually have a positive effect on your speech and your audience. Although facts and statistics are an extremely helpful tool in preparing and delivering a speech, there are a couple situations in which  utilizing them can actually be detrimental to your presentation. If your sources are not credible or are not properly researched it can not only ruin the credibility of your speech, but can lead your audience to not trust you as a speaker and authority on your topic. Another situation in which facts and statistics could be detrimental is if you overload your audience with too much supporting evidence. In doing so the audience may lose interest and the evidence would go in one ear and out the other, rendering it ineffective. So it is important to use your facts and statistics wisely, making sure to use enough to support your topic, yet not so much that your topic becomes drowned out.

Light Pollution and Drinking

The Light Pollution video was pretty dull. The speaker was giving the introduction to her speech on the effects of light pollution and possible ways to combat that issue. I did feel that she did a good job of outlining what her speech would be about in her introduction. However, there was no hook and nothing to grab and hold on to my attention. Also, I didn't like that it seemed that she was reading from a paper almost the entire time. She didn't really engage the audience and there was very little to no eye contact. She did look up every few seconds, but it gave the impression that she was forcing herself to do so just so she could give the allusion that her face wasn't buried in her notes.

I found the video on drinking to be much more effective. The speaker hooked the audience when he was pretending to vomit at the beginning of his speech. Then in giving so many viable statics, it gave his speech more weight and made it both more interesting and hard-hitting. Also, I thought that the use of visual aids made it easier for the audience to comprehend and take in the evidence that was being presented. The only thing that I think could have been improved upon was that the speaker seemed kind-of nervous, and didn't have great posture. However, at the risk of sounding like a knit-picker, I think overall he did a pretty good job.

In watching the video on light pollution I was able to see a good way to outline your speech within your introduction. The drinking video illustrated to me the importance of incorporating statistics and evidence in to your speech, as well as the importance of visual aids.

Psychographics

A technique for gathering information to better understand and analyze your audience is using psychographics. “Psychographics [focus] on psychological concepts such as standpoints, values, attitudes, and beliefs” (Coopman 82).

A standpoint is a person’s perspective of the world and everything in it. Standpoint can be broken down in to two words, which can make the word more easily understandable…”stand” and “point”. When you have a standpoint, you are essentially taking a “stand” on your “point” of view. Standpoints are most often a product of personal experiences such as family life, status, age, sex, ethnicity, occupation etc. The analysis of standpoints is useful in determining commonalities as well as differences in your audience.

A value is basically a person’s sense of what is good, important, and right. Similarly to the standpoint, values also stem from personal experience, as well as media and societal influences. This is not entirely coincidental. Values and standpoints are tightly connected. Values directly influence your point of view (standpoint). Being able to identify values will help you to determine what is important to your audience, which will aid you in choosing a topic that they are interested in and that they will find entertaining and relevant.

An attitude is how a person feels about something. These feelings can be either positive or negative and are subject to change. Like standpoints and values, attitudes often come from personal experiences and past bias.

A belief is something that someone accepts as being true. Like attitudes, beliefs are subject to change. When confronted with new evidence or a compelling argument, it is possible for a belief to change. However, beliefs are often strongly engrained and are not often swayed or manipulated.

Audience Analysis and Adaptation

 Audience analysis is “obtaining and evaluating information about your audience in order to anticipate their needs and interests and design a strategy to respond to them” (Coopman 77). Essentially, audience analysis involves finding out your audience’ interests, views, and familiarity with your topic. Once you have done so, you will then mold your speech to fit these aspects. This is extremely important because if your audience is interested and feels engaged in your speech, you are more likely to deliver a successful speech with positive results. However, if your audience cannot relate to your topic and/or speech, and do not find it interesting, it would be very difficult to deliver an effective speech. Audience adaptation involves both using audience feedback (nonverbal cues) to adapt, and recognizing audience diversity and adhering to it. I plan on using audience analysis in preparation for my demonstration speech in order to make my topic more interesting to the entire class as opposed to only subgroups. This may be difficult considering my particular topic; however, if I can single out different ways in which my demonstration would be useful to my peers (based on their backgrounds, marital and parental status, age etc.) then I can tailor my speech to best fit my audience.

Research Guidelines

Research Guidelines

Research guidelines are an effective way to make topic research a “positive and productive experience” (Coopman). There are several steps that will aid in researching your topic. I will be discussing each one in simple yet detailed terms.

11)   START EARLY- First you need to mark down (or commit to memory) the due date of your speech materials and presentation. Once you have done that you will work backward, allowing yourself enough time to identify your supporting materials, organize and outline your ideas, integrate effective language, develop relevant presentation materials, and practice.

22)   SCHEDULE RESEARCH TIME- Give your self a block of time to do research every day.

33)   ASK QUESTIONS- Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Use your teacher or library as helpful resources.

44)   KEEP ACCURATE RECORDS- Make sure to record accurate citations for sources.

55)   TAKE NOTES ON EACH SOURCE- Write down ideas that seem most relevant to your topic.

66)   REVISE AS NEEDED- Review your work to make sure you didn’t go off topic. You may need to revise the body of your speech or your thesis/ purpose.

77)   KNOW WHEN TO MOVE ON- Don’t spend too much time on research because you may neglect other important steps in the speechmaking process. It’s also important not to spend too little time on research because your speech will lack substance. Once you’ve gathered enough research and you feel confident speaking, MOVE ON!

88)   KNOW WHEN TO GO BACK- Revisit your work and make sure there are no gaps in your research or unanswered questions. If there are, do the necessary research to correct these issues.

These steps are very helpful in the researching process. Although many of them are common sense or are pretty routine, often times we forget simple steps, which can have a serious impact on our presentation.  If we follow these simple steps our chance for success will be much greater, our confidence will be higher, and at the very LEAST, our speeches should be well thought and superbly organized.

Speech Buddy Videos

Video 6.1-

This video briefly described the three phases of the research process. The first phase is preparing for the search. The second phase is gathering the information. The third phase is evaluating the information found.  The video then went on to discuss some different resources for researching your topic, like the library and web-based resources. 

Handed-Down-

The sample speech,  “Handed-Down” was an introduction given by a student named Dory. She was asked to tell a story that had been handed-down by family, a religious group, a club, or place of work. She decided to tell a story about her grandparents. The story began when her Great Grandfather moving in with her grandparents. Although he was a bitter and mean old man, her grandparents allowed him to live with them and took care of him for twenty-five years (long after they had children of their own). Although they didn’t particularly enjoy housing him, feeding him, and clothing him they did it because he was family and they loved him. Dory then went on to tell how the story influenced her ideas on family. She said that her family was very important to her and that if ever her father should need to be taken care of, she would do it…because that’s what family does.

Gastropods-

This was an informational/persuasive speech about the lives of slugs, and the ways in which they are disposed of. The speaker gave several facts about slugs, and described many ways in which they are helpful for the environment. Then she discussed humane ways of disposing of them (as opposed to horribly painful ones, like using salt). Her speech was informative in the way that she presented a lot of information about slugs and about alternative ways of getting rid of them, but her main goal seemed to be to persuade people to dispose of slugs humanely, or to simply deter them from specific areas.

What I learned-

The video that discussed the three phases of the research process was helpful because it briefly explained the research process. However, I feel that the video could’ve been more informative by giving examples and/or going a little more in depth about each phase. The second video I viewed, “Handed-Down” didn’t really make much of an impression to be honest. However, the “Gastropod” video was actually useful. I like that the speaker’s for sentence was a hook that grabbed the audience’s attention and held on to it. I also like that she was knowledgeable about her topic, and seemed very confident in her topic and speaking abilities. I also liked that she made eye contact with people around the room, used a lot of facial expression and hand gestures to emphasize her speaking, and that she injected humor in to her speech to keep the audience interested. I will definitely try and incorporate these techniques in to my own speech. Especially the hook and the injections of humor. What good is a presentation if no one is listening because they are all bored to tears? Just kidding ;)

Research Interview Experience

If I'm going to be quite honest, I have little to no experience conducting research interviews. Surprisingly, in my entire college career so far I have only been confronted with the task of research interviewing once. It was during my very first semester of college, which was about four years ago. I was tasked with writing an auto-ethnography, which is similar to an autobiography, but it involves looking in to the author's experiences in connection with a wider cultural, political, or social significance. At the time I was a manager at a fast food restaurant, so I chose to write about the culture of a fast food worker. I did research interviews with other fast food workers from crew members to management to gather the information I needed for my assignment. What went well was that I was able to effectively gather information and opinions that lent to a more insightful and credible paper. I also phrased certain questions in a way that would provide me with particular information that I desired to have as content in my paper. Although the research interviews went pretty well, I would just say that I wish I would've been more organized. Had I done a better job organizing and recording my materials I think it would have made the assignment much easier. Since I don't have much experience with research interviews, I don't have much advice to give. At this point, the only advice I would really give is to be organized! Plan for your interview  and approach your interview in a logical step-by-step manner, have open ears and an open mind, and make sure to organize your materials and information. ORGANIZE ORGANIZE ORGANIZE!