When doing a presentation, a lecture, or a speech, there are several guidelines a public speaker should follow. Their appearance should be “attractive to the audience,” (Adler, 395) their movement should be flowing and their walking should express confidence and enthusiasm, posture should mean standing square and upright, your facial expression should mirror your feelings and emphasize them, and especially maintain eye contact. It is the “most important nonverbal facet of delivery.” (Adler, 396)
Auditory aspects of delivery also need to be focused on. Some factors that make a presentation efficient include volume (the loudness of your voice), rate (the speed at which you speak), pitch (“the highness or lowness of your voice” (Adler 397)), and articulation (“pronouncing all the words properly and nothing else” (Adler 398)).
John F Kennedy was a very good speaker, one of the most well known. In the clip below you can see as to why he was so well understood. His speaking was clear, and he was extremely confident sounding. He made eye contact with the crowd, and followed all the other guidelines. He addressed the crowd with determination and explained the situation fully and effectively. There are many other great examples of his speech skills that can be found all over the net, but his attitude in this one struck me as very confident and he understood the issue completely. This is completely different than the current president George Bush’s public speaking capabilities.
Works Cited
Adler, Ronald B., and George Rodman. Understanding Human Communication. New York: Oxford, 2006.
OJ Simpson, the infamous man who was found not guilty for the murder of his ex-wife and her friend in the most publicized case in the United States, is releasing a book, and 2 part mini interview series titled, “If I Did it, Here’s How it Happened.” The book is his view on if he had done it, how he would’ve murdered this 2 innocent people. OJ Simpson was tried for the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown, and her friend Ronald Goldman. However due to quite a few mistakes, and irregularities, OJ was found not guilty. He was ordered to pay the Goldman family over $33 million dollars for a wrongful death lawsuit, however he was able to escape this, and continued his life.
The family of the murdered man, Ronald Goldman, is disgusted at the idea that this can even occur. They even consider it his confession. The question this brings upon is, is the release of this book and series is an ethical way of communication. The family considers this, “Disgusting and in despicable.” (Fred Goldman, Larry King Live) They want this show and book to be boycotted by America, and they consider it unjust for this to be released.
In my opinion this book is a way of OJ handling the conflict of the situation. He is being a direct aggressor by releasing this book. He is saying what he would’ve done and how he would’ve murdered these two people. This is a highly unethical way of communication. He also has probably has other motives for doing this, such as money, more fame, and maybe even to create conflict, because the media and the US will feed on this. In conclusion I think that the way he is addressing this conflict (aggressively) is unethical and should not be allowed.
This past Friday I went down to Roy Thompson Hall, and sat in at Deepak Chopra’s lecture/seminar on insights into his new book, “Life after Death, The Burden of Proof.” He is now a currently retired, a former board certified endocrinologist, and board certified in internal medicine. He has written several books on eastern medicine and the human body, as well as books on spirituality and several CD’s and videos.
In the presentation he displayed on Friday he discussed several insights into his book, and many of the key ideas. What struck me was his ability to share his ideas clearly to people. He used many examples throughout the presentation which he used to try and support his view. The most noticeable one was when he asked an audience member, “What did you have for dinner last night?” The man responded with, “Chicken.” Deepak then told the audience to think of chicken in your mind. And he went on, “When people ask me where you go when you die, I tell them, you go to where that chicken is.” It was a humorous, but an understandable example. Deepak had a clear, confident, well supported, and slightly humorous presentation. Whether you believed in what he said or not, you sure came out thinking after the seminar.
Deepak’s book and topic that evening is still controversial, however it doesn’t try and change people’s attitudes, just tries to better inform, and show you his opinion. A lot of evidence used by Deepak in his seminar is considered weak, and sometimes completely incorrect. However the audience in which he was presenting to, I assume would not disagree, but only take it with a grain of salt, as they are there to hear what he thinks. The topic he discussed did seek a response, and did allow the listeners to take his ideas and compare them or mix them with their own. He wasn’t trying to change anyone’s attitudes, but only give an idea of his opinion. All of this relates to the issue of persuasive and informative topics.
People listen to music on a daily basis, in the car, working, at home, etc. Music has become a daily part of our lives. Nowadays there are many different genres/types of music available to listen to. You can listen to anything from rap, a form of rhyming lyrics spoken rhythmically over musical instruments, with a musical backdrop of sampling, scratching and mixing by DJs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rap), to punk rock, a loud fast moving form of rock music with crude and aggressive effects. (http://simplythebest.net/music/glossary/music_glossary_p.html). Everyone has their own tastes in music, and will always argue that what they like is better than everything else. In my opinion music stirs emotion.
When I listen to rap, I get excited, it really induces something inside of me to feel excited. When I listen to country it leads me to feel happy, it makes me think about fun times. But that is just a generalization. Every song is different in every genre. Some rap songs can make me feel down, instead of up and excited, and some country songs can get me energized. The lyrics and the sound of the voice and background instruments pull a song together to be one perfect collaboration. Even if you haven’t been in the situation that the artist is singing about, you can still feel what they are trying to express.
Each person listening to their music can receive different messages. It’s all how you interpret what the author is saying and talking about. This is related to the concept of listening. When you listen to what the artist is saying you absorb it and try to explain what they’re saying to yourself, and find the message that they are hiding in their words. When people listen to music they either put a lot of effort in, and try to determine what is being said, or they put none at all, and just listen to it because of a good beat, but it all depends on the person.
Adler, Ronald B., and George Rodman. Understanding Human Communication. New York: Oxford, 2006.
People listen to music on a daily basis, in the car, working, at home, etc. Music has become a daily part of our lives. Nowadays there are many different genres/types of music available to listen to. You can listen to anything from rap, a form of rhyming lyrics spoken rhythmically over musical instruments, with a musical backdrop of sampling, scratching and mixing by DJs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rap), to punk rock, a loud fast moving form of rock music with crude and aggressive effects. (http://simplythebest.net/music/glossary/music_glossary_p.html). Everyone has their own tastes in music, and will always argue that what they like is better than everything else. In my opinion music stirs emotion.
When I listen to rap, I get excited, it really induces something inside of me to feel excited. When I listen to country it leads me to feel happy, it makes me think about fun times. But that is just a generalization. Every song is different in every genre. Some rap songs can make me feel down, instead of up and excited, and some country songs can get me energized. The lyrics and the sound of the voice and background instruments pull a song together to be one perfect collaboration. Even if you haven’t been in the situation that the artist is singing about, you can still feel what they are trying to express.
Each person listening to their music can receive different messages. It’s all how you interpret what the author is saying and talking about. This is related to the concept of listening.
