Review the following Interactive Videos: 9.1, 9.2, 13.1A, 13.1B and "Use It" 13.1

I learned that the introduction has to be good in order for the audience to stay focused on you. I liked Erin’s introduction, she talked about an accident and death that follows. Her voice was really stern and she looked really serious. Her conclusion didn’t capture my attention as well as Janine’s though. I though Janine’s recapping of her main points had more closure than Erin’s. I really liked Katharine’s video, it was interesting. I only knew that kosher was a Jewish thing but the way they do things are fascinating. I learned to look for interesting facts and to have a strong introduction and conclusion.

Concepts from either Chapter 9 or Chapter 13

I though the Inform to Educate paragraph from chapter 13 was interesting. A line from the book states, “A successful informative speaker informs the audience in a way that educates them.” I think all speakers have something interesting to say and we can all learn something new from them. They aren’t always interesting but informative none the less. I remember one time I went to an event in SJSU and there were people giving out a lot of different information. Once a big group gathers there was this group who tried to inform people about Jesus and get them to join their church group. I’m not religious but I thought things that the speakers spoke about were interesting.

What components, according to your book, go into an introduction and conclusion?

According to the book the introduction is suppose to contain something that catches the audience’s attention. It should also explain the thesis and what the main points are. The ending should be a summary about the main points that were just presented. I’m going to use the idea of finding something interesting to grab my audience’s attention with a fact not many people may know about. For my introduction I plan to talk about the basic nutrition information then talk about a certain topic about nutrition many people may not know about. For my conclusion after I summarize my main points I will look for a dramatic fact to end with like the book suggested.

Chapter 7 & 8 interesting concept

In chapter 7 there was a section that talked about citing from popular media sources as references. Apparently USA Today isn’t a very reliable source, and then I realized I had used a quote from one of their articles. I also didn’t know that People magazine wasn’t a reliable source either. I see the magazines everywhere and just assume that they were reliable but they aren’t. Now I know that I have to do more research on my research to make sure the data that I use are creditable. Even though the sources aren’t reliably I wonder if the audience can tell if the information is reliable or not.

7.1, 7.2, 8.1 and 8.2 videos

How to use sources was helpful, to know when and what kind of sources for certain types of sources. I didn’t know that I can use television as a source even though it is not very reliable. It depends on what kind of information one uses to prove creditability. Before learning about different types of pattern of organizations, I thought of just using topical. For example if I were to give a speech about a famous person I would use chronological and show what happen to life in chronological order and show how they came to become who they are. I also liked spiral pattern because you use visual to explain your topic.

When is statistics most effective

I find facts and statistics most effective when it’s used to show a big difference in something but it also depends on how the data is used. For example how much sugars are in fruit and candy. The candy will obviously have more sugar and have a bigger negative effect on the consumer. Chapter 7 had an example about comparing the numbers of bike theft. If the numbers were small then people won’t think of it as a big problem but if it was a big number like the thousands then it would seem more problematic. Statistics like I mention at first about the small number of bike theft from chapter 7 would not be as effective. If the numbers are too small then people won’t want to care about it or to take notice.

Self Evaluation #1

When I read that our speech topic is something we can choose I felt happy. I decided to choose something I really liked and already had knowledge of. In my head I thought, “Oh, this is going to be easy.”, but it wasn’t. Parts of the research were easy because I knew where to find the information but actually putting it on to my outline was hard. After turning in the outline and getting feedback I felt better, because I know what had to change on my speech. When speech day came I felt pretty confident because I had also practiced though out the week and got feedback from a friend. Even though I practiced and revised my outline though out the week, on the actual speech day I felt really nervous.

During the speech I felt nervous and thought I might forget parts of my speech, and I did. I looked at my not cards a few times to try and remind myself what I’m going to say next. When I was on my second body paragraph I saw the time card, panicked and thought I was running out of time so I skipped a whole section. Then at the end of the speech I remembered I had skipped a part of my main points and added it to the conclusion. I knew that I shouldn’t have done that but I ended up doing it anyway. If I had to do it over again I would organize my outline better and practice more. I found the researching easy but organizing the information is harder and to make it transition, so I plan to work on making my speech outline flow more smoothly.

In my video I noticed that I did held my note cards with both hands and let go one hand over and over, it was quite distracting. I also swung my arms back and forth like I didn’t care. When I was speaking, in my head I thought I projected normally and clearly, but when I got feedback from my peers most of them said speak louder and with more enthusiasms. In the video I could barely hear my own voice, it was really low and I had to be close to the screen in order to hear myself. On a scale of 1-10 I would rate my eye contact a 7. I felt that I made eye contact with everyone but I only glanced at some of them. During the speech I mentioned three citations.

The grade I would give myself would be C because I don’t think my speech went to smooth. Though out the week before the outline was due I had put it off and finished it near the end of the due date. I had the chance to fix it and I thought I felt better about it but only on the content I had. As for the speech itself, in the video I didn’t project myself very well. My voice was really soft, monotone and, I had no enthusiasm. I got through most of my main points but I didn’t do well projecting it.