Discussion 3.1: Ch. 5 Vids

In the drinking video, Matthew had a good attention-getter in the beginning by mimicking a person regurgitating from consuming too much alcohol - some of us have experienced this or otherwise seen someone experience this, so it relates to the audience. He was also able to further relate the perils of excessive drinking to his audience by correlating the number of deaths on a national scale to a classroom scale. Courtney’s speech introduction was effective because she related her topic to issues that her audience has heard of before and even discussed already which points out the continuity in her topic. Another effective technique in her introduction was previewing her main points in the speech, and from the jump letting her audience know that they can do something about light pollution so during the speech they are not wondering “does this even relate to me?” or “do I need to listen to this?”

Discussion 2.3: Biases

From the videos I learned the importance of the assessing the value of my resources and information that I have. It is a very good idea to first figure out what information you already know so you have an idea of how much information you still need to attain. Another helpful idea is researching all perspectives of a topic, especially in for a persuasive speech. I have experienced on many occasions a speaker try to convince the audience that their perspective is the best, and when a rebuttal comes their way they get caught off guard and their argument falls apart. A crucial part of making an argument is deconstructing the opposing argument.

Discussion 2.2: Zee Web

Chapter 6 talks about types of search engines – I had no idea there were different modes of searching the web! I knew only about one kind of engine (e.g. Yahoo, google, lycos, etc.), and whichever one I used would give me all the websites I needed for my research. Turns out there is a plethora of information that escapes these engines. Aside from the normal metasearch and search engines there are the specialized search engines that tap into the “deep web,” specialty databases like medical or governmental information, which are inaccessible otherwise. These types of search engines could definitely help me draw enough information for my speech. Also using more than one search engine is definitely advised too, because each one will yield different results.

Discussion 2.1: Research Interviews

I have had only one experience with research interviews which was for my health class for a paper about a health facility. I chose the American Red Cross located in the north part of San Jose, where I occasionally donate blood and I actually interviewed a blood technician as I was donating. I cannot recall the exact types of questions I asked but I can assure you that it was not as structured as the Lull/Coopeman recommends – there was no structure at all. I had a list of questions that I went in with, about ten or so, that were more or less in a random order and I powered through them. Once I got to writing the paper I figured out that I did not get enough information that the research paper required. Had I been savvy about “primary” or “neutral” or any other types of questions there were and proper interview organization I would have an easier time writing the paper.

Discussion 1.3: Concepts

The concept that I found interesting from Chapter 4 was how important it is to consider the audience, what may be relevant to them and how much they already know about the topic. This is usually the part about speech topic selection that keeps me up late at night because I really want to be able to captivate the audience with what I’m speaking about it. When I was pondering about a topic for this upcoming persuasive speech assignment I felt slightly more constricted than usual because a lot of the topics that I thought of had already been beaten to the ground. For example, caring for the environment’s been done many an occasion – how many times in a 30-minute period do I have to watch a commercial about polar ice caps melting and polar bears consequently drowning? Yes it’s relevant, but at this point I’m sure media has already fed us enough information to where we can make an informed decision about taking environmental action. But then I figured out that whatever topic relates to them directly and individually (i.e. personal health topics) and of which they know the least usually motivates them to take action.

Discussion 1.2: Video Inspiration

From the videos I learned that the visualization phase of speech preparation can be made easier by visiting the facility where the speech will be given. Back in high school I was in a piano class and we had to perform recitals and our first recital of the year and the first recital I’ve ever performed was coming up. I had rigorously practiced my piece of repertoire and was confident that I knew it well but still was highly anxious about delivering it because I had never been out on the stage; I’d been used to the informally intimate classroom setting with many other keyboards and classmates around me whenever I was practicing. The night of the performance came and I got out on stage, sat at the piano, nerves made my fingers tremble uncontrollably and tentatively I began playing.
That stage was tremendously intimidating! It’s only you and the piano out there with blinding bright lights and everybody’s seat purposefully angled toward you. All I could think about was this unfamiliar position I was in and needless to say I did stumble through a couple sections of the piece wishing to only get off stage. Had I been able to see and practice on the stage I would felt more at ease and been able to concentrate on my music. The more familiar I am with setting the more comfortable I feel performing in that setting and there will not be any surprises. Now that I had experienced that environment and got accustomed to it, succeeding performances ended with near flawlessness.

Discussion 1.1: Apprehension

The person before me has just finished giving their speech and now it’s my turn. I gather my materials, walk calmly up to the podium, and look out at the audience. “Whoa, this is totally intimidating,” I think to myself. I’m staring at everybody and they at me, and I feel like I’m underneath everybody’s microscope. I researched the topic well and practiced my speech until I got sick, but still I get filled with anxiety. What I fear mainly is not being able to keep my anxiety under control to the point where I only concentrate on not making mistakes or not completely losing where I was in the speech. I have anxiety about having anxiety… how fitting. I know I can speak and articulate well, but under that “spotlight” I feel an immense pressure to deliver a “perfect” speech and that is where I get caught up. Instead of visualizing success, I cannot help but visualize failure.