First Impressions In Stephen Lucas's The Art Of Public Speaking

“Main points express the key ideas of a speech.” (p. 80) They are utilized to give

The Little Seagull Handbook, by Richard Bullock, Michal Brody, and Francine Weinberg, is a book full of advice on the writing process. The book is divided up into sections which help’s students to easily find the topic they are searching for. Section W-4e on opening and closing paragraphs was used to improve my conclusions. I do not have a lot of trouble with conclusions, but I feel that mine do not fit as smoothly into my essays as they should. Therefore I decided that I needed to improve my conclusions. The section lists out several tactics to form a conclusion, such as, summarizing the essay, discussing implication of the essay’s argument, and giving a call to some kind of action. Reading the section has given me several ideas for how to end an essay. Now I can either plan which tactic to use ahead of time or

There is no question that after giving about four speeches, I have become a much better overall public speaker. In the beginning of the semester, I would tend to get nervous during some of my speeches and consequently the delivery of my speech would be greatly affected. If I had made a mistake, my level of nervousness would drastically increase and I wouldn’t know how to correct it. Although today I have improved on these aspects. Normally in order to control my nerves I try to think as positively as possible. This is critical because when I start to think even a little bit negatively then I severely hurt my chances of giving a good speech. Instead today, my main priority is to stay very confident and tell myself that I’m going to perform fine.

Move through this set of information in this order. This will give your introduction the appropriate set-up and flow.

“So God made a farmer” (Harvey). This famous phrase was originally spoken by a famous radio personality Paul Harvey, and last year was heard by many on the night of the 2013 Super Bowl in a Rams truck commercial. It is impressive that a speech that was originally written and spoken in 1978, reached out to an audience in today’s age and is still relevant to people with many different backgrounds. In this essay, I am going to analyze Paul Harvey’s speech and delivery by discussing what rhetorical strategies he used and why these tactics worked, and finally how the speech could have been improved.

As seen in the passages, the speaker is a highly philosophical and educated person in the field of critical reading. For instance, the speaker makes many comparison such as buying a beefsteak and eating it and distinguishing whether a book owner owns woodpulp and ink or the book itself. The speaker stated that even though one may have the beefsteak in their icebox, it doesn’t truly belong to them until they consume it. Similar to the beefsteak situation, one truly owns the book if he or she writes in it, but only owns the ink and wood pulp if he or she lets the book sit on the shelf, untouched. The speaker’s temperaments are revealed to the readers through his opinions about books and critical readings. Furthermore, the the speaker’s identity is apparent in the story due to the first-person narration in the beginning and the use of the word “you” to show that he is talking directly to the readers.

John F. Kennedy’s inaugural speech is certainly one to remember. It’s memorable not for its length, but for the effective content that it beholds. He entices readers by the use of strong rhetoric techniques. His inaugural analyzes style of writing, such as diction, tropes, schemes, and syntax, and applies the concept of it effectively throughout the speech. A reader performs rhetorical analysis to examine how authors attempt to persuade their audiences by looking at the various components that make up the art of persuasion. Moreover, it is most essential to be able to understand the relationship among the speaker, subject, and audience, which President Kennedy adequately exploits in his speech.

By using this strategy at the very beginning of his presentation, he assures his audience that he is well informed on the subject and this makes his audience more inclined to be persuaded by his argument. Mckinnely pairs this strong introduction with a professionally designed powerpoint slides that further building his credibility. From the start of his presentation Mckinnely succeeds in constructing a strong reliable foundation from which he can build his

The introduction & attention getter were complete but weren’t very engaging, which in my opinion was my speeches biggest flaw. My speech wasn’t one that as soon as you heard it you gave it your undivided because the importance of they topic in my opinion was very subjective. In my opinion the me employing a very loud, lively attention getter would’ve

To give a rhetorically convincing speech Lunsford and Ruszkiewicz suggested that “you want your organizational structure to be crystal clear. So offer an overview of your main points toward the beginning of your presentation” and “avoid long, complicated sentences and use straightforward syntax”(349). Both Melissa Fleming and Anand Giridharadas began their speeches with a story. Fleming’s story was about a young, refuge man, named Hany, who realized the importance of education and took his high school diploma when his life was in danger. This opening story engaged the audience and allowed Fleming to introduce her main point in the beginning of her presentation. Fleming also uses straightforward syntax when she is speaking. Those two reasons

According to Peter Doolittle's Ted Talk working memory is limited. There is only so much our working memory can take away from the information we learn. This is why it is important for me to construct my speech in such a way that it helps keep my audience engaged and leaves them remembering the topic long after my speech is over. I could do this in a couple different ways. I plan on engaging my audience by sharing a story connected to the topic early on to make it personal to the audience and keep their attention on the topic throughout the speech. Besides telling a story I will arrange my main points into clear patterns that help my audience follow my speech easily. This means I will make sure my main points are easily understood by the audience.

Professor Sellnow discusses nine ways a speaker can utilize in gaining the audience’s attention. The speaker can say or do something to win their attention, therefore arousing their curiosity or motivating the audience enough to make them want to learn more about the topic of the speech. The speaker can make a one to two sentence startling statement. Questions to the audience, either rhetorical or direct, can be used to encourage the audience to think about the topic. Stories that detail actual or hypothetical accounts of something that has happened, which relates to the topic. However, one slight drawback of storytelling, is the amount of time it takes, often there is not enough time in the introduction for a story. Speakers can use a joke or antidote designed to get a laugh. However, the speaker must make sure that the joke is realistic, relevant, can be repeated, and they should have a plan “B”, if the joke does not receive a laugh. Speakers can briefly talk about personal references

This public speaking course has taught me alot by helping me to become a better person and by growing me into something I never thought I could be.Speaking out loud always made me nervous, even when I was just reading a sentence from a book to some of my closest friends. Even though we are not even halfway through the school year, I have learned and improved so much. One of the first things this class had taught me was all about body language and how to present yourself to make an impression. Little things that we do can make us seem small, such as slouching, crossing our arms and legs, and looking at the ground, while others make us appear big, for instance, stretching, sitting up straight, and taking up alot space. Properly presenting yourself is important and can make a big difference in your life, whether it is for a job interview, meeting new people, or speaking in front of your peers. I have also learned to control and overcome my nervous habits, for example, playing with my hair, rocking back and forth, and moving my hands. Habits like these show the audience that you are nervous and it may turn their attention away from your speech and onto your actions. The audience-speaker relationship was also a great thing to learn. This relationship shows cause and effect, for example, when you lose the attention of your audience you may begin to second guess yourself leaving you to becoming nervous and self conscious. You then may start to panic and your speech may become a

What were the strengths and weaknesses of the introduction? How did you gain the audience’s attention?

Only a select few people take pleasure in giving presentations or public speaking. I am not one of those people. Public speaking has always been a problem for me. G.A.D. or general anxiety disorder, has been a substantial factor in my life and being graded or judged on how well you speak in front of people, doesn’t exactly help. Whether it is five people or over a thousand, when pressure is put on you-you have to react. For example, when your grade for the quarter depends on how well you give a presentation, or when you have a competition or a big game. Consequently, you could become exceedingly anxious, and begin to doubt yourself, and that can lead to horrible situations.