Forum Analysis

Danielle McIntyre

Public Speaking

Speech Analysis

10/30/2012

A.    The speaker that I analyzed was Robert. Robert works with the United Nations Foundation.

B.     Forum was held in the Chapel. I thought that the temperature was a bit cold. I find it difficult to concentrate when I’m cold, so this was a bit of an issue for me. The sound was good. He used a mic. And it was easy to hear and understand him. The chapel seemed a bit dark which kind of made me tired. I think it is easier to concentrate and stay awake if it is bright and light. People were quiet for most of the speech so there weren’t many distractions.

C.     The speakers theme was to inform students about the United Nations Foundation and get us involved. The speaker began by thanking the audience for being there and he stated his mission or why he was there. The speaker then told what the United Nations Foundation does. The United Nations Foundation promotes the US paying off its debts and also promotes and supports the United States and United Nations relationship. He gave a very large amount of background information. The speaker then told about how he wants to get young people involved. He spoke very briefly about how to get involved and then ended with audience questions. He had a lot of information to answer audience questions.

D.    As for the presentation the speaker did well. I noted that the speaker was very loud. He wasn’t too loud, he just had a strong voice. He was very easy to understand. The speaker also seemed prepared because he didn’t say umm a lot, which is something many speakers do. He talked with his hands once in a while. The speaker also had very good eye contact. He seemed very confident in his speaking. The speaker was also dressed very well. As for the rule dress slightly better than your audience, he may have over did it. The speaker didn’t use any presentation aids, which can be a good thing because there was no technology to go wrong.

E.     Overall I thought the speech was boring, but the speaker was okay. He seemed passionate about what he was talking about and he kept my attention for most of the speech. I thought he did a very good job seeming confident especially when people were asking him questions. The speaker seemed ethical, but I don’t think he would have admitted to the United Nations having any faults, so he was somewhat biased when it came to that. I thought he should have told more about how the United Nations related to us as students and also more on how we could get involved. I felt his message was not right for his audience. I did take away some things that I could use in my speeches though. I liked how confident he was, and hope to be able to use that in my speeches. I also thought his volume was good and he seemed very prepared for his speech and also for the audience questions. This is definitely something I want to incorporate into my speaking. 

10/12 performance

a) Danielle McIntyre 10/12/12
b) Collection of Shel Silverstein poems
c) I liked how I was able to not really use my performance aid. I only used it a few times.
d) My peers thought that I could have a more creative introduction. They also thought that I could use transitions between the poems. They thought that I had improved since monday though
e) To improve today I tried to use my book less. I also practiced emotion and eye contact.
f) I think to improve more I could completely eliminate the performance aid and add a more creative introduction and some transitions

10/10 Performance

a)Danielle McIntyre 10/10/12
b) Shel Silverstein Poems
c) I really liked how I was able to use more emotion in these pieces. I also liked the pieces in general which made them more fun to perform.
d) My peers both agreed that I could have a more creative introduction. They also agreed that I could still use a little bit more emotion
e) I tried to use my performance aid less and I also tried to use more emotion
d) I am going to try to use my performace aid even less or not at all. I am also going to work on eye contact. I also think that I could work on using a little bit more emotion. Overall I just need to work on minor details.

Analysis 3

Poem Analysis

Sick by Shel Silverstein

1.  In this poem the narrator is a child. This child feels sympathetic towards themselves. They try to make the interpreter feel sorry for them as well.

2. In this poem the character is fighting to be sick so she doesn’t have to go to school

3. I think before the poem began the character was probably sleeping and hadn’t woken up for the day yet.

4. The humor in this story is at the end when the girl finds out it is Saturday and makes a miraculous recovery.

5. The opposite here would be the young child being so very sick. Most children would never become that ill and although she is faking it could still be an opposite.

6. What makes this different from the past is that it is a Saturday. You can convey this by being very surprised when finding out that it is not a school day.

7. It is simply a humorous and amusing scene

8. The girl is trying to convince everyone how very sick she is so you can show the audience how she is feeling by acting sick, almost in an over exaggerated way like the character seems to be doing. When she says things like her back hurts, make it evident that your back is sore and make sure to point out your chicken pox, and basically just be overly needy.

9. Basically like I said above act out the actions of feeling sick. Don’t be standing super straight or acting like the healthiest person alive until the end of the poem.

10. I imagine the place to be the girls bedroom. Because she would be in bed or just getting out of bed, don’t be moving around the stage a lot.

11. This character is very whiney. I imagine her acting sick in a very over exaggerated way. She may always have her hand to her forehead or on her back to show that she is sick. I also imagine her with a very childish voice.

12. How old is the child supposed to be?

10/5 Performance

a) Danielle McIntyre 10/3/2012
b) The Fearful Animals Adapted by Amy Friedman
c) I liked how I felt more comfortable not using my script as much. I also liked the fact that I had a lot more eye contact.
d) My peers all agreed that I could have a more creative introduction because all i said was the title and the author. They also agreed that I should try to use my script less and use a little more emotion to differentiate characters.
e) I tried to use my script less and have more eye contact. I wish I could have been off script a little bit more though. I also tried to use more emotion.
f) I am going to continue to try to use more emotion and have more eye contact. I am going to work on using a script less.

10/3/2012 Performance

a) Danielle McIntyre 10/3/2012
b) The Fearful Animals Adapted by Amy Friedman
c) I liked how I didn't feel nervous. This is something that is definitley getting better. I also liked how by the second round of performances today I used more emotion.
d) My peers both agreed that I need to use more eye contact. They also said that I could use more emotion in my story and that I need to use my performance aid less. The both thought that it imporved the second round.
e) I tried to use more emotion this time and have more eye contact. I also tried to slow down because I tend to speed up when doing public speaking. I also tried to not use my script as much, but still need to work on that.
f) I want to use my performance aid a lot less and I want to use more emotion

Speech Analysis 1

Danielle McIntyre

Public Speaking

Speech Analysis

A.  The speaker on Thursday September 27, 2012 was Lauri Anderson. Lauri Anderson has done service work in many parts of the world and has written several books.

B. Lauri gave his speech in the Chapel at Iowa Wesleyan College. The chapel was a comfortable temperature and natural light is let in through the windows. The speaker was able to use a microphone, but mostly just talked without one. There wasn’t any background noise or distractions that occurred during the speech. Because of the size of the room the speaker had to project his voice.

C. The speaker’s main points were to inform the students of Iowa Wesleyan about his service and volunteer work around the world. He has traveled all over to help others. He also read excerpts from several of his books. He didn’t necessarily have an argument within his speech; he was just trying to inform about volunteer work.

D. The speaker did well in his ability to speak loudly, but other than that his presentation was fairly weak. Although he could speak loudly it would have been more effective if he had used the microphone. He didn’t have any visual aids, which isn’t necessarily bad, but it could have made it more interesting. I thought the speaker really jumped around between topics. I was very confused as to what he was talking about for a majority of the speech. I also thought that the speaker used a very monotone voice. It seemed as though he wasn’t passionate about what he was talking about. The speaker stayed in one spot for most of the time and didn’t really use any hand gestures. The speaker had some eye contact, but it could have been better. It also seemed like the speaker wasn’t well prepared. Like I said before, he jumped around on topics, and ran out of time at the end. I felt as if this should not have happened.

E. Overall, if I’m being honest, I did not like this speech. The way the speaker jumped around had me very confused and his monotone voice made the speech quite boring. I also felt as if he hadn’t prepared the speech; he just “winged it.” At the end of the speech he had a student argue with him about something he said. Although it was a topic I wasn’t familiar with, it made me feel as if the speaker may have said something that could have been offensive or something that he hadn’t done enough research on. From witnessing this speech I have learned that you should be prepared and your topics should be organized in a way that is easy to understand. I also learned that it is important to know how much time you will have and prepare accordingly. I also learned why it is so important to use emotion when you speak. It makes for a much more interesting and meaningful performance.

10/1/2012 Performance

A)Danielle McIntyre
B) Tell Me A Story Selection: The Fearful Animals
C) I thought I did fairly well not stumbling over the words since it was only the first performance day for this piece
D) My peers said I need to not use my performance aid so much
E) I think that I was less nervous this time and was able to be louder
F) I need to work on using more emotion and having more eye contact.