Second Speech Observation – Due 4/28
SPEECH YOU WILL ATTEND IS DUE 4/28 by CLASS TIME on blog (every hour you are late is one point off your final grade. No more than two students can attend the same speech)
Part One: Pick any speech at USC to attend. This can include panels or debates, but please focus on one speaker.
Part Two: Blog post write up. Give a 250 word capsule summary of the speech to provide context about where the speech was located, when you saw it, what the audience was like, and what the speech was about, and some over all observations. Then provide in list form 5 takeaways from the speech – points the speaker could improve on, for instance, things you learned about speaking, etc.
The speech I attended was “Censorship in the Arts: A Panel Discussion” which was held at the Ronald Tutor Campus Center Grand Ballroom on April 20th. I had never been to the ballroom before but it was a great location for this type of discussion. A professor from USC invited 3 guests that included an artist, the Getty Museum curator, and a scholar to discuss the mural “America Tropical.” This 1930’s painting was covered up in an act of censorship shortly after it was constructed and the panel discussed the reasons why censorship occurs and the process of uncovering this mural in Downtown LA. The ballroom was particularly effective because it had a large screen with the mural projected onto it to the right of the panel. Thus, the audience was able to see the mural that the panelists were discussing and become active participants. As I mentioned earlier, there was a main speaker (USC professor) that lead panel overall. I would like to focus on her for this observation assignment. She opened by introducing the topic of censorship in the arts. She even went as far as to list 3 main points of censorship and then provided examples of each one. She was very organized and her speech had a nice flow. Although I think it would have better for the audience if she had taken time to pause. She was providing nice examples and interesting points but as someone not native to the art community, I would’ve benefited from more time. She also needed to look up and make eye contact with the audience more often. Only when she was introducing the panelist did we ever see her look up from the podium and interact with the audience. It would have been more effective to break from her monologue and paraphrase what was on paper.
ReplyDeleteThe five things I learned from this speech are:
1. Pausing after important points is effective for the audience and allows them to absorb more information.
2. Eye contact helps keep the attention on you as a speaker and also engages the audience.
3. Organization is very helpful in academic speeches so the audience knows what to expect and can follow easier.
4. Visual aids can be very helpful as long as they don’t stray from your topic. Some audience members might be visual learners.
5. If you are the introduction speaker it is important to introduce the topic thoroughly and provide detailed and “exciting” bios for your panelists as well as their credentials.
On April 20th, I attended the “American Tropical” presentation of Censorship in the Arts, which was a panel discussion in the grand ballroom of Tutor Hall. This panel discussion lasted for an hour, and had a panel of five guest speakers presenting their various perspectives on the American Tropical mural located in downtown Los Angeles that has a significant historical impact on the local community, and why it should be re-explored by the community. This mural was a vivid metaphor for the local community and stood for the hard times that the people had encountered. The first speaker was a woman who was introducing the upcoming panel of speakers, and introduced the mural by providing background on it. She was very good at leading the structure and introduction of the evening, giving the audience a clear outline of what was yet to come. I am going to be focusing on the second speaker, Tim Wedlen who is the director of the Getty Art Museum in Bel Air. Mr. Wedlen gave a clear introduction of what he was going to be talking about, as he would clearly outline “I am going to be speaking about…” Although he gave a clear introduction that made the audience know what to expect, I found him to be a very quiet and awkward speaker, who was not very loud or clear, and he had heavy breathing throughout his speaking. I observed Mr. Wedlen to be reading off of his sheet for his eight minutes of presenting, and made minimal eye contact with the audience. He did do a good job of showing the slides of the mural on the projector, so that the audience could identify with what he was talking about, although the slide imagery was minimal. Mr. Wedlen spoke with a monotone, which made the information to seem less interesting although I was interested in the content of what he was saying. Overall, I felt his presentation was lacking in energy and excitement, and although his choice of diction may have been interesting, it seemed to be lacking in enthusiasm. Five things to take away from this observation:
ReplyDelete1. Do not just read your paper- keep eye contact with the audience to make them feel connected.
2. Speak loudly- Mr. Wedlen was very quiet and so his point did not feel as important as it may have been.
3. I learned about the importance of this 1930's mural to the people of downtown Los Angeles and how it impacted the area, and now is being moved to be more public for all to see.
4. Audiences like imagery so they can follow along with what is going on- Mr. Wedlen could have used more slides.
5. Try to connect more with the audience- gestures, look up, hand motions are important for people to feel engaged.
I attended a speech entitled, What Mother Teresa Taught Me: Life and the University on Friday, April 8, 2011: 2:30pm to 4:00pm in a Stauffer Science Lecture Hall in which Mary Poplin, a professor at Claremont. She spoke about her work with Mother Theresa, and the impact it had on her faith and how the ideas of religion fit into the academic community. The room was small and the audience was no more than fifteen people. There were a few students, but the majority was adults, and from the question and answer portion of the event I gathered that they were other professors from various disciplines at USC. She spoke extensively of her time in India and how it led to the writing of her book, Finding Calcutta, and how speaking about religious topics was frowned upon in an academic setting, and how she struggled with this division in writing her book. She kept the audience engaged with her use of personal stories and seemed to have a really good idea of where her speech was going, as she had laid it out in five parts before she began her talk. She used a lot of quotes from various scholarly sources, which made her points about religion within the academic setting a lot more believable. Throughout the speech her use of examples was by far the strongest aspect of her entire talk.
ReplyDeleteThings I learned from this speech:
1.The reliance the speaker had on note cards was distracting from what she had to say, so I now see the importance of not writing everything out.
2.Clearly laying out what 5 things she was going to address made her hour long talk a lot easier to follow.
3.Using personal stories really allows the audience to create a connection with the speaker.
4.She used a lot of quotes in her speech, and her citations of the sources were done in a very clear way which gave a lot more credibility to everything she said.
5.Eye contact is crucial for the audience to remain engaged, especially with such a long speech. This speaker had great eye contact at the beginning, but wavered as her speech went on.
I attended “The Sartorialist” speech on Monday, April 18th at 8:30PM in Taper Hall 101. The lecturer was Scott Schumann, who is the creative genius behind thesartorialist.com, a fashion blog that documents the street-style of celebrities and common people. Scott spoke about his career and how he decided to get involved in fashion blogging. The room was pretty big and although it wasn’t extremely packed, there was a fairly large amount of people there. Most of the audience was full of trendy, stylish college women. I was surprised to see that there were also a handful of men there, who were just as stylish. Scott also spoke about the fame and notoriety he has received from creating the Sartorialist, as well as the growing field of fashion blogging.
ReplyDeleteFive things I learned from this speech:
1. It’s important to keep the audience engaged with personal stories and jokes every now and then. There were parts of Scott’s speech that were boring, and only livened up when he added his own funny personal moments.
2. Don’t just stand still. Move around and make use of body language. Your audience will feel more excited and passionate about what you’re saying when they see that you are too.
3. Pay attention and always tailor your speech to your audience.
4. Maintaining eye contact is essential in keeping an audience interested and enthusiastic about what the speaker has to say.
5. If you’re in a big room, make sure you adjust your tone and volume so that everyone can hear you.
I attended a speech called: The Popular and the Political: Exploring the Effects of Infotainment on Citizenship. It took place on Monday, April 25 from 12:00-1:00 in Annenberg room 207. The lecture was with the University of Washington's, Patricia Moy. The room was a decent size, with about 20-30 guests in attendance. The majority of the audience was professors and TA's, with only a few what seemed to be undergraduate students. Patricia Moy used a powerpoint to supplement her speech, which focused on the mixing of information and entertainment seen in our media today, specifically in regards to politics. She called attention to the growing role of media in our society and the influence that it can have on our decisions as citizens of the United States. Moy examined specific late night talk shows, such as the Daily Show, Colbert Report, and Letterman, amongst other examples,in order to explain the rise in voter apathy and decline of political trust that is taking place in today's society.
ReplyDeleteFive things I learned from the speech:
1. Establishing credibility is extremely important. Moy mentioned her experience with this subject often, making her information and her what she was saying more believable and trustworthy.
2. Too much text on a powerpoint slide can be counterproductive. Moy have very few images in her slides, but mostly just text. This made me turn my attention mostly to what was on the slides, and not focus on what she was saying as the speaker.
3. Speak slowly! Hearing someone introduce new information to you is difficult, especially when they are talking quickly. Take pauses and let the audience soak in what was said.
4. If you are going to use graphs, make them clear and easy to comprehend. Moy used many graphs that she had to spend a long time explaining because they were not straight forward. This wasted time during her speech and confused the audience more.
5. Define and explain concepts that may not be common knowledge. Moy did a really good job giving examples and making complex ideas relatable to the audience. She used modern examples that everyone would understand and went into detail with definitions and theories.
The event I went to was a panel discussion entitled “Writing for Television: A Life of Collaboration.” It was held at the Doheny Memorial Library (Room 223) on Monday, April 11 from 5:30pm – 7pm. The speakers, Nicole Yorkin and Dawn Prestwich, are the co-executive producers of the new AMC show called “The Killing.” There were a decent amount of people that were in attendance. There was even a class from the School of Cinematic Arts present at that time because they were offered extra credit for attending the event. The venue was a good-sized old-fashioned library room that did not have speakers, thus, microphones weren’t used. Due to that, it was quite hard to hear Nicole from the back of the room. She did not project her voice enough for us people that were sitting all the way in the back of the room. Also, she failed in engaging the audience’s attention because she sounded so monotonous and boring unlike the other speaker, Dawn. Dawn incorporated personal stories and humor when she was speaking, and not to mention her voice was clear and loud enough to hear from the back. Surely, Dawn was a better speaker than her co-executive producer Nicole.
ReplyDelete1. Always engage the audience in your speech to keep them attentive. Dawn engaged the audiences by asking them questions and talked to individuals for a more personal feel during the speech.
2. Make sure your voice can be heard properly from the farthest point in the room.
3. Avoid sounding monotonous by adjusting your tone, volume and pace in accordance with the context of what you are currently saying.
4. Maintaining eye contact is essential when giving speeches. Avoid looking down at the floor or elsewhere.
5. Ensure that you use appropriate body languages when giving a speech and certainly not distractive ones.
I attended Rainn Wilson's speech on his new book SOUL PANCAKE: Chew on Life's Big Questions on March 25th at 7:30pm in the Bovard Auditorium. The auditorium was packed. People began lining up an hour in advance to see the comedian from the Office talk about his new book and grassroots spiritual movement. The hundreds of people in the audience were very quick to laugh at a comedic speech, and Mr. Wilson began by breaking this audience preconception by addressing it outright. He was silly briefly, but then asked the audience relatively explicitly to hear him as a serious speaker. Mr. Wilson established a very informal tone by mentioning that he hadn't prepared anything multiple times before discussing the bulk of his subject matter. This technique seemed like it was designed to reveal the open ended creativity or originality of thought that is central to his movement, yet it also portrayed him as simply unprepared and to a degree uncaring about the quality of the speech. If his speech succeeded, it was due to the sheer degree of interest the audience had in both Mr. Wilson as a speaker and his subject material. He spoke eloquently and honestly when he finally picked up speed, and was able to recover from this image of nonchalance.
ReplyDelete1) It is ok to futz around a little bit when you are giving an informal speech to college kids and are famous, but it is never ok to be unprepared.
2) If you make fun of audience members, make sure you don't offend them. It is counterproductive to alienate the audience.
3) Vulnerability is the strongest tool in a speaker's toolkit, and is absolutely essential when speaking about issues like spirituality, which often do not have statistics or reference sources.
4) If you read something, make sure it is good, and that you read it with energy and pace. Mr. Wilson did this well.
5) Even with serious issues, humor is a valuable tool. Mr. Wilson's humor makes his speech likable and memorable.
On April 5, 2011, I attended “From The City To ‘SC: An Evening With Whitney Port” at Taper Hall. As an avid fashion aficionado, and long-time fan of Whitney and her MTV reality shows, “The Hills” and “The City”, I was very excited to attend this event.
ReplyDeleteThe audience was comprised of young college girls who similarly are fans of Whitney and who wanted to know more about the fashion industry and Whitney’s life. Whitney also brought along several people from her entourage, including her dad, who is also her business manager, her sister, her brother, and a few friends.
To begin, Whitney spoke for about 15 minutes about her childhood, her experience as a student at USC, being on TV, and how her passion for fashion evolved. She really emphasized the importance of internships and networking. Afterwards, she included a 10 minute documentary about her charity work in Libya, and encouraged us all to get involved with her charity. However, the majority of her time was spent on a Q&A session with the audience. She clearly stated how much she wanted to just have a conversation with us, and so she literally answered every single question that was asked without any judgment or condensation, as most celebrities would. Of the questions asked, a lot had to do with fashion advice and her time being on TV. Whitney had no problem giving us all the inside details on her cast mates as well as her opinions and tips on fashion trends coming up.
Five things Whitney did that I hope to emulate while giving a speech are:
1)Not using any vocal fillers makes you come across as being an articulate and intelligent speaker
2) Locking eyes with individuals in the audience, rather than “scanning”, is essential to exude confidence and to connect with the audience on an intimate level.
3) A visual aid is truly only effective when it compliments AND enhances the message of your speech.
4)It is essential to understand the nature of your audience and to create a sense of comfort so that the audience can relax, enjoy themselves, and thus pay attention to what is being said. Whitney understood that as fans, we would feel intimidated being in the presence of a celebrity. So, she made a conscious effort to be relatable to us by asking questions and never answering exuding condensation or judgment, as most celebrities do.
5) Speaking slowly, articulately, and with intonation is crucial for your audience to stay engaged and to keep up with what is being said.
On April 11th, 2011 at 5:00pm, I went and listened to Spirituality and Sports: A Conversation with Mike Smith. From start to end, this was by far one of the best speeches I had ever attended. It was located in the brand new beautiful University Park Campus Ronald Tutor Campus Center in room 350. As I walked the hall, I looked out at the great view before entering the large room filled with a very diverse audience. There were sports fans, like myself, athletes, professors, dental students, as well as your average USC student. The presentation was set up where Mike Smith was asked a question by a commentator and then he answered the question by telling stories from his past and giving advice about the future. The main focus was about how Mike combined both his amazing athletic talent and his faith in the lord. Although, often times it can be difficult to talk about religion in front of an audience, Mike did a perfect job making sure to express his belief and how if played an important role in his life. Mike was very enthusiastic and made sure he had the attention of the audience the entire time. When he was telling stories he would pick out people in the audience and make it seem as if he were telling it directly to them. This approach made the audience feel much more connected to the content he was talking about. Sometimes Mike would go off on a tangent, but no one really cared because everyone in the audience was so intrigued with what he was going to say next. His stories were the highlight of the presentation, he managed to bring out all types of emotions from the audience and overall it was an amazing presentation.
ReplyDeleteFive Takeaways
1. You’d rather regret something you’ve done rather than regret not doing something
2. Always try to become the best you can possibly be, even if it means competing against the best everyday
3. Know that you are never alone, someone is always watching over you
4. Don’t take the little things in life for granted, go out and experience the unknown
5. Be true to who you are, don’t forget the morals you’ve lived by.
For my speech observation I attended the event called “Bill Nye Will Now Take Your Questions” which was sponsored by USC’s Academic Culture Assembly. As the name suggests, the event had Bill Nye (The Science Guy) come in to give a talk. The reason why the event was named as such was because back in November Dr. Nye actually came and spoke at Bovard… and then passed out in the middle of his lecture. This prohibited from finishing his lecture and take questions from the audience. Luckily, after much rest and vitamin C, Bill Nye was ready to come back, give a short lecture –based on his previous one, and answer questions from students.
ReplyDeleteThe venue was much more intimate than that of Bovard. Located at one of the lecture rooms in SGM, only about 100 students attended. The lecture room was adequately lit –which played a big role given that the dark lighting at Bovard makes for sleepy students to actually fall asleep –which is compounded when there’s a monotone speaker. Dr. Nye’s microphone was one of those lapel microphones that are attached to the coat or shirt and the sound quality of said microphone was good enough to hear him throughout the lecture room. Bill Nye’s projection, while clear at times, was not constantly optimal, the microphone did help but one could notice that he ate his words at certain points in his speech. Despite this, the audience responded well to his talk, especially given the fact that Nye constantly inserted jokes. Furthermore, Nye did several little science experiments that involved volunteers from the audience.
Thoroughly enjoyed the message of Bill Nye’s talk. It centered around the idea that our generation really needs to step up to the challenge of being innovative in terms of coping with the fact that our population will reach 12 billion within our lifetime. This exponential spike in population growth has great consequences for us as humanity and for our planet if we (humans/our generation) continue our wasteful ways. It is simply not enough to use or do less, but we must do more with less.
Take-aways:
1. Sense of humor is vital to keeping audience attention. Bill Nye was very charismatic in his talk and constantly inserted jokes and science puns (for us nerds) in his talk, which were all received well by the audience.
2. Microphones help, but you must do most of the work. What I mean by this is that Nye was heard clearly thanks to the microphones but his enunciation was not up to par given that he ate his words and phrases frequently.
3. Venues matter! Although the Chem lecture class had monotone colors and was generally depressing –mind you I’m a Humanities student, the room made for a much more intimate event with Dr. Nye which is a sharp contrast from a venue at Bovard.
4. Showing stuff is cool! Nye is a master of maintaining audience attention. How, well for starters he demonstrated little experiments that put weird science right in front of our faces. Second, he used volunteers from the audience, this gives the feel that we are in a magic show and gives a more intimate vibe to the lecture.
5. Childhood heroes are the best. In other words, audience bias was present during the talk. The fact that Bill Nye represents so much of our childhood and carries such deep nostalgia, as well as the fact that he helped us all understand science better, made the audience better listeners.
For my speech observation I attended a panel discussion after viewing the documentary Project Happiness in the Stark Family Theatre at USC. The theatre is part of the new cinematic building at USC and is beautiful and accommodating. USC Office of Religious Life, USC Student Interfaith Council, and Project Happiness Productions sponsored the screening as well as the discussion. The film focuses on four teens from a high school in Santa Cruz California whom themselves have been faced with struggles and setbacks. The teens band together on a quest to define what happiness is and how to achieve it, seeking advice from cultural icons such as George Lucas, Richard Gere, and even the Dalai Lama. Following the film, a panel was set up including the producer Randy Taran and members of the USC Interfaith Council. I choose to focus on the public speaking delivery of Randy Taran. Some positive points of her speaking were that she developed speaker credibility early on with her extreme involvement in the film creation as well as previous speeches conducted about the project. She also spoke clearly and emphasized certain points to show importance. Her tone however was a low pitch, almost whisper, which made her impossible to hear even with the microphone. Her points also did not flow and sometimes she would get lost in what she was saying. It would have been more effective if she raised her voice and had prepared an outline to what she was going to say before the presentation.
ReplyDeleteThe five things I learned from this speech are:
1.A fine line exists between extemporaneous speaking and memorization. One must be prepared while also talking off the cusp.
2. Organization allows for the audience to understand where the speech is going and the intended points one is attempting to make.
3. Speak loudly and vary your volume depending on the situation or the room. The Stark Theatre for example was very big so she needed to speak up.
4. Eye contact can truly make or break the speech as it connects the audience with the speaker.
5. A closing is necessary because it sums up all your main points and brings everything together leaving the audience with one final note.
For my speech observation, I went to a screening and panel discussion of a new documentary called "Project Happiness." This documentary has yet to be released to the public, so the producer of the film along with the USC Student Interfaith Council coordinated this event at the Ray Stark Family Theatre, which is located in the George Lucas Building of the cinema school. The audience seemed to be comprised of mostly college students and young adults, but another significant portion of the audience was comprised of high school students who were specifically invited to join the screening since the documentary revolved around the lives of high school students. “Project Happiness” was about three groups of high school students from Santa Cruz, India and Nigeria, who networked with each other and set out on a journey to meet each other in order to find out how to achieve happiness, if there even was a specific answer to this question. After watching the film, which was about one hour long, there was a panel discussion with the executive producer Randy Taran (who starred in the documentary herself) and three members from the Student Interfaith Council on how the experience has shaped her and what happiness means to her after producing this film.
ReplyDelete1. A calm voice conveys a very personal tone, which is fitting for discussions around subjects such as personal happiness.
2. Speaking from personal experiences allows one to appear more comfortable and familiar with the topic.
3. Being articulate and passionate about the topic being discussed is key.
4. Promoting the purchase of additional products associated to the documentary detracted from the appeal of the speaker.
5. Having an audience that can relate to the topic of discussion (high school students watching documentary about fellow high school students) changes the nature and vitality of the discussion.
For my speech observation, I went to go see The Sartorialist in Taper Hall 101 on Monday, April 18th. The Sartorialist, whose real name is Scott Schumann, is one of the most well known fashion bloggers and critics in the cybersphere, with his blog "The Sartorialist," where he takes pictures of everyday people with amazing style. The purpose of his speech was to talk about how he got started writing his blog, and how he got so interested in fashion. Before the got into the main bulk of his speech, he gave some background, such as growing up as a fashion-addict in the middle of nowhere town (as he said) in the midwest. He also discussed his almost-pathway to becoming a fashion designer during college, when he started taking sewing and design classes before deciding that the design aspect was not for him. He created a showroom in Los Angeles, where he mentored up-and-coming designers, most of whom he said failed to make it big because they were more concerned with making the garments stand out than making them more wearable and, more importantly, timeless. What was nice was that he actually took the time to pull up his blog on the projector screen and go through the thought process of when he would take someone's picture, and what he liked so much about each person's outfit that he had to take his or her picture. The room was mostly women, but there were also some men, and from overhearing, I found out that a large group had traveled to USC from FIDM to hear him speak.
ReplyDelete5 things I learned:
- Volume is important, but speaking too loud can be overwhelming
- It's better sometimes to answer a question directly than go into a five-minute ramble of something totally off-topic
- Humor definitely wakes up a room on a late Monday night
- Visual aids are a great supplement to a lecture, especially when speaking on something like fashion
- Finding out who your audience is will help you better organize your speech so you can relate to your audience better
On Tuesday April 12th, I attended “An Evening with Jim Gianopulos” in the brand new Ray Stark Family Theatre, of the Cinema School SCA 108.
ReplyDeleteThis event was a question and answer discussion with Mr. Gianopulos, who is one of the most influential individuals in the entertainment industry. Jim Gianopulos is the Chairman and CEO of FOX Filmed Entertainment, and he is in charge of managing feature film and television production, marketing, and global distribution. Moreover, during his time at Fox he has been involved with two of the biggest films in history, Titanic and Avatar. The Stark Family Theatre, a medium sized venue was completely packed for this event with Mr. Gianopulos. Although, most people came because of Mr. Gianopulos’ incredible title and achievements, I believe people gained a new found respect as a result of the incredible passion and intelligence Mr. Gianopulos exuded during the discussion. From the beginning, Mr. Gianopulos made the audience feel comfortable by sharing the story of his life and his journey to becoming CEO of Fox. Furthermore, covered the intricate details of the entertainment industry and talked about its future in terms new distribution techniques and their impact. Mr. Gianopulos radiated energy and enthusiasm and described specific concepts clearly. Ultimately, it was Mr. Gianopulos’ speaking skills that made the event memorable, not his title.
1. Speaker credibility makes a significant impact on the effectiveness of a speech. A speaker cannot simple rely on their past accomplishments, they must establish their credibility throughout the speech in order to gain audience trust and attention.
2. An exceptional speaker is able to articulate and illustrate their passion and knowledge on the topic of discussion.
3. Sharing personal stories and experiences allow the speaker to create comfort and a connection with the audience.
4. No matter how professional the speaker is or how intricate the topic of discussion is, humor is a useful tool for becoming a likable and memorable speaker.
5. Speakers must always take venue and audience size into consideration especially when it comes to varying their tone and volume. Speakers cannot rely sole on a microphone to give them volume.
I turned mine in on time but I just found a typo error. Here's the revised one, thanks!
ReplyDeleteThe event I went to was a panel discussion entitled “Writing for Television: A Life of Collaboration.” It was held at the Doheny Memorial Library (Room 223) on Monday, April 11 from 5:30pm – 7pm. The speakers, Nicole Yorkin and Dawn Prestwich, are the co-executive producers of the new AMC show called “The Killing.” There was a decent amount of people that were in attendance. There was even a class from the School of Cinematic Arts present at that time because they were offered extra credit for attending the event. The venue was a good-sized old-fashioned library room that did not have speakers, thus, microphones weren’t used. Due to that, it was quite hard to hear Nicole from the back of the room. She did not project her voice enough for us people that were sitting all the way in the back of the room. Also, she failed in engaging the audience’s attention because she sounded so monotonous and boring unlike the other speaker, Dawn. Dawn incorporated personal stories and humor when she was speaking, and not to mention her voice was clear and loud enough to hear from the back. Surely, Dawn was a better speaker than her co-executive producer Nicole.
1. Always engage the audience in your speech to keep them attentive. Do engage the audiences by asking them questions and talked to individuals for a more personal feel during the speech.
2. Make sure your voice can be heard properly from the farthest point in the room.
3. Avoid sounding monotonous by adjusting your tone, volume and pace in accordance with the context of what you are currently saying.
4. Maintaining eye contact is essential when giving speeches. Avoid looking down at the floor or elsewhere.
5. Ensure that you use appropriate body languages when giving a speech and certainly not distractive ones.
On Wednesday, April 27, 2011, I attended the Marshall Global Business Brigades Banquet, which was at the Beta Theta Pi house. The On Wednesday, April 27, 2011, I attended the Marshall Global Business Brigades Banquet, which was at the Beta Theta Pi house. The audience was composed of all past global business brigaders, which are students who went to an under-resources community in Panama to give investment and consulting support. At the banquet, Professor James Owens spoke to us about the advancement of global social entrepreneurship and his involvement in his own non-profit organization, The World is Just a Book Away. All his life, Professor Owens loved books. He read so many books that it was hard finding a new book to read, and his passion for books helped shape his vision of a world where every children had access to a library, a quality education, and a hope for the future. So, Professor Owens started writing his own book, which took 10 years to complete. And upon completion, he had an epiphany; he was not meant to make money off this book. Instead he realized that he wanted to use the money he earned for every book he sold to make his vision a reality. And within 8 months, Professor Owens launched 10 different libraries across the world, and is currently working on another library in Mexico. His passion for creating socially responsible individuals really came across and inspired the audience. He told us that as brigadiers we were already social entrepreneurs and made everyone feel empowered to make the world a better place through social entrepreneurship and non-profit.
ReplyDeleteProfessor James Owens actually teaches business communications at the Marshall School of Business. Therefore, it was difficult to find things that he could work on but he left us with several takeaways:
1. Try to avoid giving a speech right after someone better than you at public speaking went up. Whether it should matter or not, often times it does matter and you can be easily compared to based on another's performance
2. It is actually not that hard to start your own non- profit, and does not require much capital
3. When try to succeed at non-profits and social change, it's all about who you know.
4. Use visual aids. Professor Owens showed how his work led him to meet with people like Jane Goodall and brought a picture of them together
5. Do not memorize a speech. Just know the information and based on audience feedback, shape your words and sentences throughout the speech. Professor Owens clearly added humor and related back to some of the experiences the brigades shared with him at the beginning of the banquet.