Experiential Learning #5
Critique on Peer Informative Speech:
“How to Build a Fire” by Ben Steenblik
For our Informative Speech requirement there were a range of topics discussed in class from How to Buy a Bird, to Sleep Deprivation to The consequences of Drinking and Driving. Well the topic that stuck with me the most out of all was, “How to Build a Fire”.
The main purpose of this informative speech was to share knowledge on “How to Build a Fire”. Not only was this speech informative but it was also interesting. I must admit, when Ben was first setting up his Presentation Aids, which I will discuss later in more detail, I began to wonder “what in the world could he possibly be talking about with a bunch of sticks?” But I was pleasantly surprised. Even though I am not too much of a nature buff, I was in the Girl Scouts once and I do appreciate a short lesson on these things every now and then. However, Ben’s speech empowered his audience by giving them new ideas and skills on how to do this task. A few tactics that he used included: having a low demand on his audience, motivating his listeners to pay attention to his message, being selective in sharing his information, and providing a detailed description.
Ben’s demand on his audience was very low. So low in fact that he did not begin his presentation by asking questions to be answered or even asking the listeners to be active about something after hearing his message. But then again, his topic and demonstration was so attention grabbing that he didn’t have to. I actually don’t know if the topic in general was appealing to the audience as a whole, but he certainly got my vote. The only problem I could think of by speaking on a topic such as this one would be to be: how affective you are to your audience. Even though in this situation you have no way of telling how many people in your audience would need to know this type of information without personally asking.
Regardless of the fact of knowing if it would be affective or not, Ben knew how to motivate his audience. By explaining the fact of building the proper fire could mean the difference between life or death, Ben was able to capture the attention and motivation of the listeners. At least I know that I felt like if I didn’t pay attention I would miss out on something that could potentially save my life one day.
In addition to motivating his audience, Ben was also wise to be selective in the information that he intended to share. For example, in the beginning he made it clear that he was only going to talk about and demonstrate one specific way to build a fire. He had let his audience know that there were plenty of other ways to master this skill, but in the interest of time he wanted to show the way in which he preferred to build his fires. Another way in which Ben was selective was in his decision was to not to go into detail on how to ignite the fire. According to Ben, building a fire and starting a fire are two totally different procedures. Therefore, also in the interest of time, he felt it best to limit exactly what he would be informing his audience of. Lastly, the speaker was able to retain the attention of the audience by providing a detailed description of the procedure, while showing each item and describing its’ difference and importance among the others. Being a demonstrative speech, he was demonstrating as he was talking; and even though the demonstration would have been enough to allow the audience to understand the process, his description added even more detail motivating the audience to recall every step. For example, I still remember the motions his hands made as he was explaining how important the structure of the fire was so that it enabled the burning pieces to fall in on themselves creating a “stronger base”.
As previously stated I wanted point out the importance of the speaker using presentation aids during the speech. Presentation aids are defined as: “supplemental materials used to enhance the effectiveness and clarity of a presentation.” A couple of advantages that these aids proved to have during the presentation included: enhancing the understanding and making the presentation memorable. A disadvantage would be distracting listeners.
In this presentation the aids used were the different types of sticks needed to build the proper fire. I found that they helped enhance my understanding because had the speaker decided to just talk about them rather than bring in examples and show them, my fire would probably be inefficient and I would die in an emergency situation! Also, the sticks made the presentation memorable, for example, if I was the one out of the group of survivors from a plane crash to go and collect the materials to build a fire, I could do it now! But before, we would be short! That is unless Ben was on the plane too!
A disadvantage I noticed I was guilty of was being distracted by the presentation aids. Like I stated earlier, at the beginning of the presentation I found myself wondering what he could be using them for. Then even while he was explaining the use of each type I found myself paying attention to the sticks themselves. I don’t know what was so interesting about the sticks, but they must have intrigued me.
In conclusion, it is easy to see why Ben’s speech was so successful. He managed to inform his audience about a type of skill while keeping everybody’s attention throughout the presentation. Maybe it was because his speech didn’t last as long as everybody else’s! Whatever the case I do know that if ever anybody needs to know how to build a fire, now they know!
“How to Build a Fire” by Ben Steenblik
For our Informative Speech requirement there were a range of topics discussed in class from How to Buy a Bird, to Sleep Deprivation to The consequences of Drinking and Driving. Well the topic that stuck with me the most out of all was, “How to Build a Fire”.
The main purpose of this informative speech was to share knowledge on “How to Build a Fire”. Not only was this speech informative but it was also interesting. I must admit, when Ben was first setting up his Presentation Aids, which I will discuss later in more detail, I began to wonder “what in the world could he possibly be talking about with a bunch of sticks?” But I was pleasantly surprised. Even though I am not too much of a nature buff, I was in the Girl Scouts once and I do appreciate a short lesson on these things every now and then. However, Ben’s speech empowered his audience by giving them new ideas and skills on how to do this task. A few tactics that he used included: having a low demand on his audience, motivating his listeners to pay attention to his message, being selective in sharing his information, and providing a detailed description.
Ben’s demand on his audience was very low. So low in fact that he did not begin his presentation by asking questions to be answered or even asking the listeners to be active about something after hearing his message. But then again, his topic and demonstration was so attention grabbing that he didn’t have to. I actually don’t know if the topic in general was appealing to the audience as a whole, but he certainly got my vote. The only problem I could think of by speaking on a topic such as this one would be to be: how affective you are to your audience. Even though in this situation you have no way of telling how many people in your audience would need to know this type of information without personally asking.
Regardless of the fact of knowing if it would be affective or not, Ben knew how to motivate his audience. By explaining the fact of building the proper fire could mean the difference between life or death, Ben was able to capture the attention and motivation of the listeners. At least I know that I felt like if I didn’t pay attention I would miss out on something that could potentially save my life one day.
In addition to motivating his audience, Ben was also wise to be selective in the information that he intended to share. For example, in the beginning he made it clear that he was only going to talk about and demonstrate one specific way to build a fire. He had let his audience know that there were plenty of other ways to master this skill, but in the interest of time he wanted to show the way in which he preferred to build his fires. Another way in which Ben was selective was in his decision was to not to go into detail on how to ignite the fire. According to Ben, building a fire and starting a fire are two totally different procedures. Therefore, also in the interest of time, he felt it best to limit exactly what he would be informing his audience of. Lastly, the speaker was able to retain the attention of the audience by providing a detailed description of the procedure, while showing each item and describing its’ difference and importance among the others. Being a demonstrative speech, he was demonstrating as he was talking; and even though the demonstration would have been enough to allow the audience to understand the process, his description added even more detail motivating the audience to recall every step. For example, I still remember the motions his hands made as he was explaining how important the structure of the fire was so that it enabled the burning pieces to fall in on themselves creating a “stronger base”.
As previously stated I wanted point out the importance of the speaker using presentation aids during the speech. Presentation aids are defined as: “supplemental materials used to enhance the effectiveness and clarity of a presentation.” A couple of advantages that these aids proved to have during the presentation included: enhancing the understanding and making the presentation memorable. A disadvantage would be distracting listeners.
In this presentation the aids used were the different types of sticks needed to build the proper fire. I found that they helped enhance my understanding because had the speaker decided to just talk about them rather than bring in examples and show them, my fire would probably be inefficient and I would die in an emergency situation! Also, the sticks made the presentation memorable, for example, if I was the one out of the group of survivors from a plane crash to go and collect the materials to build a fire, I could do it now! But before, we would be short! That is unless Ben was on the plane too!
A disadvantage I noticed I was guilty of was being distracted by the presentation aids. Like I stated earlier, at the beginning of the presentation I found myself wondering what he could be using them for. Then even while he was explaining the use of each type I found myself paying attention to the sticks themselves. I don’t know what was so interesting about the sticks, but they must have intrigued me.
In conclusion, it is easy to see why Ben’s speech was so successful. He managed to inform his audience about a type of skill while keeping everybody’s attention throughout the presentation. Maybe it was because his speech didn’t last as long as everybody else’s! Whatever the case I do know that if ever anybody needs to know how to build a fire, now they know!
posted by jerseygirl @ 4:55 PM
1 Comments:
At 8:08 AM,
s said…
Another excellent evaluation of a speech. I agree that, though I was somewhat skeptical myself, I thought the speech went very well and he did a great job of incorporating many of the aspects of good public speaking into his presentation.
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