Discussion question response 9

The first video that I watched was the drinking one. I thought that the presenter had a good opening and introduction, it definitely got my attention. He also did a good job with the presentation of the stats by stating the percentage and the “one in three of you”, it made it more understandable unlike the raw number of 33. The light pollution one on the other hand was may have lacked in the interesting opening but did have more eye contact in my opinion. One thing that I can take away from this is the eye contact, it is undoubtedly very important.

Discussion question response 8

One of the most useful sections for me was the “adapting to the setting” one. The place where you speech will greatly affect the way you deliver the presentation. For example in a class room you may tend to stick to the podium and point to your visual aide. But if you are on a stage you may want to walk around rather than sticking to a corner of the stage. Another important aspect is the time at which you are presenting. If you are talking about the economy you may want to incorporate information on the current economic crisis.

Discussion question response 7

“Audience analysis” is very important after all the audience is whom you are presenting for. If you lose their attention the message that you are trying to send obviously won’t be received. Therefore if you feel that you are losing you audience you have to change the way you are presenting. But you should be able to somewhat anticipate where the audience might be “dosing off”. What I attempt to do to avoid this problem is to have stats and other things that are potentially boring spread out in the speech. Therefore not all the boring stuff hits you all at once.

Discussion question response 6

The video didn’t really teach me much. The things that were on the videos were nothing more than what my high school teachers have been telling me for the past four years. One thing that I learned was using the references on an article. For example on Wikipedia, by the way not a credible sore, has a list of resources from which they got the information. Those sources usually check out. Nevertheless the things that the video talk about are all viable. It is very important to check the validity of every source. There is nothing more damaging to an essay or speech.

Discussion question response 5

I haven’t conducted many interviews, nevertheless the three interviews that I have done have taught me a lot. For example, always record the interview on a tape recorder. You will always need to revisit the actual interview. Fortunately for me I was able to “redo” the interview. One thing that I would like to improve would be on the questions that I make. I want the questions to “pull” as much information out as it of the person as possible. Make the “interviewed” give up info. One thing that surprised me the most though is the fact that an interview is nothing like a conversation at all. It is completely different.

Discussion question response 4

The hardest part of research for any project is to know where to start. Most of the time I just Google the topic, but looking at the way to braking up the topic it looks like I can make my research more efficient. But the next section in the chapter is also really helpful when researching a topic. “Identifying multiple resources” is really important. All our sources can come from the internet; some print sources may have things that are not available on the internet. In my opinion an interview would be the most interesting and most informative. It would give you a chance to see another perspective.

Discussion question response 3

The video that was most useful to me was 2.1, those simple breathing exercises. One could quickly pause in the middle of their speech and calm their nerves discreetly. This could help your recollect your thoughts on the fly.

I guess real estate agents have always been correct in stating “it is all about location, location, location”. The location can affect how you deliver a speech. For example if you have a podium you would not walk around to point to your visual aid. Nevertheless both videos provide grate tips to get you comfortable before delivering a speech. For me the breathing tips could help me a lot.

Discussion question response 2

In chapter 4 the “consider time” section stood out to me, especially the “time of day” subsection. I never really realized but it is possible that the when you present your speech could adversely affect the way the audience perceives your speech. For example if ones speech is intended to rally the audience toward a purpose or goal it may not be the best idea to present it very early in the morning. The other subtopic “time limit” could be catastrophic to ones speech. If one is forced to stop his or her speech due to the time limit the presentation will not have the same effect on the audience. Therefore time has to be taken into careful consideration when writing a speech.

Discussion question response 1

Every since I can remember my Father insisted that I take part in small plays whish were presented to may be five hundred Tamil speaking Sri Lankans. Therefore I have never been anxious or nervous about going on stage or presenting in front of many people. Nevertheless the “uncertainty of the setting” may affect me. All those other times I have done speeches I been standing up in front of people I know very well. Another difficulty is trying to adapt to my audience. Writing the speech in such a way that the listener still is interested. These may be the greatest causes of anxiety in regards to this class.