Question#3

3). Pick on concept from the assigned reading that you found useful or interesting and discuss it.


A concept that I found interesting from this weeks reading was “Why We Use Presentation Media”. The text says that an audience likes for media resources to be used in a presentation. Using media in presentation can be the core mark of a speech. Presentation media presents the audience with a more clear understanding of the speech. It provides visuals that enhances the audience’s imagination and makes sure that they get the full meaning of what is being presented. The book also says that the we can use media presentation to draw the attention to your topic, illustrate an idea that can’t be fully described by words alone, stimulate an emotional reaction, clarify a key point, support your argument with a graphical display of facts and figures, and help your audience remember your main ideas. This was very helpful and I will use it to prepare for my next speech.

question#2

2. Reflect on a public speaking event that you have attended recently, or one that you recall particularly well, in which the speaker used presentation media. How effective was the speaker's use of presentation media? How did the media add to the speech? Were there ways in which the presentation media distracted from the speech? How might the speaker have improved his or her use of the presentation media?

A public speaking event that I have recently attended was at work. I work for a hospital in Monterey, Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula. Last month I attended an employee meeting where the director of our department gave a presentation regarding changes in employees’ benefits. Our director had a power point presentation as a visual aid. Her power point presentations seem real cluttered. She did not talk about everything she had on the power point. This affected the audiences focus on the speaker. We were all trying to read off the power point and ignored the speaker. Our director was well prepared, but her visual aid was a little too much. It had too much information that was not talked about. The speaker could have kept her presentation a little more simple.

question#1 week of Oct 26-1

1). Speech Buddy: Review the following Interactive Videos, 11.1 and 11.2 on the Interactive Video Website. Respond to the ideas in the videos. What did you learn that could be helpful in your next speech?

Interactive video 11.1 was very useful. It talk about the guidelines for visual designs which are being simple and uncluttered, emphasizing key ideas, show what you can say, use close ups, limit number of pages, variety and coherence, and using large images. Good visual programs to use in a presentation are PowerPoint, and keynote, they provide with many things to try out. This video gave me helpful tips that I will use to prepare my next speech. Interactive video 11.2 showed the different visual aids that each person used. Some used overhead projectors and others used simple 8x11 papers to poster size visuals. They all sound well prepared, way better than I would be. I will use this videos to help me prepare for my next speech, they gave important information.

Question#3

3). Pick one concept from the assigned reading that you found useful for interesting and discuss it.

Chapter 9 was very useful in preparation to writing a speech. In this chapter it talked about developing an introduction and conclusions. The components of what makes an introduction and a conclusion were addressed. The book says that having a good introduction will get your audience ready to listen to what is that you, the speaker, is trying to present. The concept that was interesting was “GET YOUR AUDIENCE ATTENTION”. An audience is most attentive at the beginning of the speech; therefore, the audience tends to remember what the speaker is talking about. Making a good impression is very important, and this is the way you grab your audience’s attention. I will make sure that I have a good first impression so my audience could be interested in my speech.

question#2 Week of Oct 12-18

An introduction in your speech consists of getting the audience’s attention, indicating the purpose and thesis, establishing credibility, and finally previewing your main points. Making a good first impression counts a lot because it will either grasp the audiences attention or not. Now that you have the audience’s attention it is time to present the purpose of your speech. Establishing credibility in your speech will show your audience that you have authority over your topic. I will use these components in my speech to help me get my audiences attention. Following these guidelines will make me feel more comfortable presenting my speech.

A conclusion consists of reviewing the main points of your speech, reinforcing the purpose, and proving closure. One can highlight the importance of ones speech by reinforcing the specific purpose. The book says that by reinforcing your purpose, the audience will capture your message and will strongly be in thought of the audience. Reinforcing is something that I will definitely try to apply to my speech so my message can strike the audience.

question#2

2). When do you find facts and statistics are most effective in a speech? When are facts and statistics not as effective?

According to the text a speaker relies on facts and statistics when making a logical appeal. The speaker relies on the authors’ credibility to influence the degree to which the audience think the information is accurate (Coopman, Lull ). Source credibility is very important for facts and statistics. Facts and statistics can be wrongly interpreted; therefore, the speaker must be careful when using them. Facts and statistics are more useful in persuasive speeches because the audience finds these supporting materials more convincing.

Week of October 5-11 question# 1

1). Speech Buddy: Review the following Interactive Videos 7.1, 7.2, 8.1 and 8.2 on the Interactive Video website. Respond to the ideas in the videos. What did you learn that could be helpful in your next speech?

The speech buddy videos that I watched were useful toward developing my next speech. Video 7.1, selecting the best supporting materials, talked about the six different supporting materials that one can use in their speech. Narratives, examples, definitions, testimony, facts and statistics, and presentation media are all supporting materials that we can use in our speeches to help get our points across. Each supporting material has its advantages and disadvantages, so when I get my presentation in process I will consider all of these different supporting materials and use the best one that fits my speech. What I learn from video 7.2, evaluating media credibility, was that you can use media sources in your speech, but we should carefully access their credibility, reliability, and relevance. Video 8.1 and 8.2 were very useful in regards that I choosing a pattern of organization for your speech depends on the type of speech one is presenting; with this said, I will keep this in mind wile preparing for my speech.

Self-Evaluation Assignment 1

Self-Evaluation Assignment 1

The purpose of my speech was to demonstrate how to properly bath a baby whose umbilical cords had fallen off. I believe that I did not achieve the purpose of my speech as I did not present an effective speech. Ever since I began this course I have been nervous and scared about giving my speeches. The day of the speech I was real nervous and I know I was not alone in that feeling. I was not comfortable and confident and confident about giving my speech. I was not well prepared for this speech. I did not practice my speech enough to a point were I memorized my speech. I did not fallow the tips that the book gives us in preparation to our speeches. I knew my topic since I have a baby; therefore, I have some experience bathing babies. I did not do much research with my topic and should have done that a little more.

Giving this first presentation was real scary and I would not want to give it again (laugh!!). If I would to give this presentation again I would prepare my self a lot more than what I did. I would research some history about bathing babies, which I did not give. I would have practice more than what I did. I did not feel ready for this presentation. I was very unorganized with the speech. I left out a lot of information that I had to present and I skipped steps that I was to address. Nervousness took over my speech and it hurt me greatly. I found my self lost of thought and making up new things to say, nothing was in order. I could say that I was well prepared with my visuals, but not the speech part. A mistake that I make when speaking in front of an audience is that my voice volume is low. I have deep voice and because of that I tend to believe that I am being heard laud and clear, but this is not the case as I saw in my video.

A goal that I have set for content in my next speech will be giving more facts, speaking about experiences and generally talk more about my topic. I spent to much time demonstrating how to bath a baby than talking about my topic. For the next speech I have set goals to speak more loudly, clearly, talk more about my topic in depth, talk about the history of my topic and mention my citations in my speech. As I watch my video, I did not do anything of the things that I have mention. My eye contact was limited as I spent too much time looking down doing the demonstration. The first thing I noticed about my speech was my voice, it was to low. The next thing was I notice while watching my video was my eye contact with the audience, it was limited so I give myself a score of 6. I also noticed looking at my note cards for to long and I even dropped them. This note card part was distracting in my presentation. A main thing that I forgot to include in my presentation was my oral citations. Not once did I present my audience with a citation. Based on what I saw in my video I would give my self a grade of a C because I lacked organization, I did not speak much about my topic and I spent the whole time doing the demonstration.

Question#3

The concept that I found useful from chapter five was “Adapting to a Diverse Audience”. Each individual in an audience is different. Some individuals may be knowledgeable and agree with what you are presenting, and others may not know what exactly is that you are trying to present and disagree with you. In order to convey your message more effectively one should have a target audience, says Coopman and Lull. The responsibility of us the speaker is to recognize the diverse background, knowledge, interests, and opinions of our audience. The book presents us with how to meet the challenges of a diverse audience: 1) Promote a more supportive communication climate that welcomes differing perspectives on topics and issues, 2) Draw from a wider pool of knowledge and information that contributes to better learning experience for all participants, 3) better articulate your own cultural identity and understand those of others, and much more (pg 103 Coopman, Lull). If one could understand the needed characteristics, knowledge, and feelings toward one’s topic of the audience, well one’s speech could be much more effective.

question#2

Discuss the importance of audience analysis and audience adaptation in the speech development process. Also, discuss how YOU plan on using audience analysis in your speech.


According to the text audience analysis is anticipating your audience’s needs and interests and designing a strategy to respond to them (pg 101, Coopman, Lull). A good successful speaker sees his/her audience as partners in public speaking. The listeners are always asking themselves “how does the topic of what is being talked about apply to me?” This is where audience analysis becomes important. By one becoming knowledgeable of their audience one can better adapt to their audience. The responsibility of the speaker is to recognize the different backgrounds, knowledge, and opinions in an audience. The book gives some tips on how to meet the challenges of the audience diversity as fallows: 1) Promote a more supportive communication climate that welcomes differing perspectives on topics and issues, 2) Draw from a wider pool of knowledge and information that contributes to better learning experience for all participants, 3) better articulate your own cultural identity and understand those of others, and much more (pg 103 Coopman, Lull). I will use audience analysis in my speech to help me understand who my audience is beforehand, and to promote a better communication climate between my audience and me.

question#1

1). Speech Buddy: Review Drinking and Light Pollution videos on the Interactive Video website in accordance with Chapter 5. Respond to each video. What did the speaker do well? What can you learn from watching these videos?

Matthew’s speech I believed was a good speech; better than a speech I would give about being a responsible drinker. Matthew started out nervous as he was loosing his words. He had a little trouble speaking at first. As his speech continued he did not seem as nervous. He presented a vast quantity of facts that supported his thesis. He provided good support when he presented the statistics about the chances of one being involved in a accident as the amount of consumed beers increase. Matthew was well prepared. He provided visuals for his audience to convey his argument. Overall it looked like he practiced his speech and chose a topic that he strongly felt about. What I learn from this video was to make sure I practice my speech and provide information relevant to my topic.
The speech with Courtney was a short video. I don’t know if the video was cut off, but could not get much information from it. I did notice that Courtney was looking down on her notes while speaking, she did it a lot. Not looking toward your audience does not look proper when giving a speech. She looked unprepared, as if she did not take the time in practicing her speech. I learned from both videos.

UPDATE ON SPEECH PREPARATION

Update the class on your speech preparation progress. What topic have you chosen? What have you been researching? What are you main points in your speech? What do you plan on using for your visual aid?


The topic for my speech will be on how to bathe a baby. Until this moment I have not research anything of my topic. I have some experience giving babies a bath because I have a 2 month old baby girl.


My main points:

*express the different ways of bathing a baby.
*show what to not do when bathing a baby.
*show my way of bathing my baby.


For my visual I plan to take a baby doll and the necessary supplies for bathing a baby.

Question #2

Pick one concept from the assigned reading that you found useful or interesting and discuss it.



Ans: chapter 2 explains what speech anxiety is, "refers to fear of speaking in front of an audience". Speech anxiety comes from seven different sources of uncertainty: the speaker's role, speaking abilities, ones ideas, the audience's response towards the speaker, the setting, the technology and last how others will evaluate the speaker. The book expresses the different ways to cope with these issues, and the one that I find most useful is practicing your speech. By practicing your speech one will lower the level of anxiety because the more you practice your speech the more comfortable you, the speaker, feels. The book suggests practicing in a location similar to one where you will give his/her speech to reduce the uncertainty of the setting, and to practice in front of an audience so they could give you feedback and lower speech anxiety. Practice makes better.

?#1 research interview

I have not experience with conducting an actual research interview, but I took a research methods course. One thing I learned from this course was that the research interview must be appropriate to the research. A key strength of doing research is the comprehensive perspective; it is going directly to the source of what is being researched, and by doing this one can develop a better understanding of what is being researched. There are different ways of doing interviews, by phone or in person, but one thing that I can give advice in is for the interviewer to wear the proper attire while doing the interview.

What makes you apprehensive about public speaking?

When I think about speaking in front of an audience I immidiately panic and get real nervous. When I speak in front of an audience I tend to forget what I am speaking about. I get nerveous because all the attention is on me and I dont want to look bad in front of people. I beging to question what each person is thinking about me. The thought of making a fool out of my self scares me. I don't have any public speaking experience, but I have done some presentations in some of my courses that I have taken at SJSU. Remembering high school, I do not recall giving presentations in any of my class, and maybe that is why my fear of public speaking has not gone away.