Three Down, two to go!

Let me begin by stating that I think I did a great job on this speech. Compared to the previous one I felt like I knew the information better and was able to express it in a way that seemed to get the job done, persuade my audience. My topic was Ban on Public Smoking and I think the design worked out perfectly. I used the Problem-Solution design. This design worked so well because as it states, it offers a problem and a solution to fix the problem and it allows this to be done while convincing the audience that it’s the right thing to do. The problem was the effects of public smoking, and the solution was to place a ban on it.

As far as the validity of my position, I think it was a topic that was universally understood. Everybody knows what smoking is, and even if they don’t know exactly what the serious effects may be, they know that it is harmful. This speech just revisited that subject and since it was such an acknowledged topic I don’t think it was hard for the
audience to understand my stance on it.

I chose this topic when I was trying to think of something that I both already knew about and that I felt strongly about. To tell the truth, I couldn’t think of anything that I felt I was equal in both areas. It wasn’t until I asked my fiancé what I should do and he said, “How about smoking?” When he said that I knew exactly what I was going to do; not only did I want to challenge smoking in general, but I also wanted to provide an argument for not smoking in public as to not cause harm to anybody else. As a matter of fact, I characterized my audience based on the fact that everybody knows the effects of smoking, and everybody knows at least one person that smokes. Therefore I could relate it to my audience somehow, and this helped when it came to getting my point across.

When it came to my research, I based what I chose and integrated into my speech on my audience. In general I wanted to provide as many facts, statistics, and testimony as possible to further emphasize my point. I related it to my immediate audience by reinforcing the fact that smoking is around us wherever we are, and that is what I wanted to put a stop to. I did this precisely to “target” my audience, especially with the facts and statistics telling basically what I thought people would want to avoid if they heard it so many times. For example, in my speech I mentioned health effects such as: different types of cancers and diseases that may come from smoking.

As previously stated, I thought the best way to present my argument along with my information was through a problem-solution design. This was also the best way for me to utilize my facts and statistics because it provided plenty of room for them in between presenting the problem and identifying a solution. An example of this would be how I defined and provided an example for my personal idea of public space. I made sure I made room for this somewhere in the speech because we talked about how I needed to inform the audience of exactly what I meant when I said “Public Smoking”, and I think this definition helped clarify that. Another example of how I related this to the audience is when I used an example that went with the definition. I said that an example of public area would be school because people gather there for a common cause or goal of education.

If I could do this speech differently I would liked to have add more influence on the presentation, by maybe adding some presentation aids, or adding more hand and facial gestures. I’ve noticed that my peers and I tend to stand still during our presentations and talk straight to the audience as if we’re bound to the podium. If I could do this one over I would have liked to walk around more and add more gestures and facial expressions that would help express my feelings. Especially with this being a persuasive speech, I would have liked to get more personal with my audience and get inside their comfort zones to help emphasize how serious I was and how dedicated I was to getting a reaction. I also would have liked to add more facts, even though I’m sure I had enough, I think this is one of those subjects in which the more you have the better because it just helps to reinforce your position. Also, I think the problem is limited time, because if I had more time to prepare for this speech and more time to memorize exactly what I wanted to say, I would spend less time trying to remember what I wanted to say without looking down at my papers so much. I know the speech was suppose to be extemporaneous and that means it was not supposed to be memorized or read exactly, but I would like to feel comfortable enough with my speeches to have maybe a few words on my note cards, along with some quotes and facts, and that would be the only time I would use them. Again, I really think this speech would have been at its best had I added in much more emotion in my face and in my movements.

As for repeating what I did in the speech, I think my pitch was great. I don’t know if you know this but I am a very soft spoken person, and most of the time I have to remind myself to speak up before I speak so I won’t have to repeat myself. So I was happy with both my tone and my pitch. Even though this has nothing to do with the speech itself, something that I would do the same is dress up. I like to dress up for my presentations; and I’m particularly happy I dressed up for this presentation because it was being taped. This was something I was surprised at seeing since none of the other speeches were taped; though I think it was a good idea. This way we could actually see how effective we are at giving these speeches and it may help others prepare and evaluate speeches also. Something I was not surprised at was the fact that I was not asked any questions. I already knew that I probably wouldn’t get any questions because it was such a popular topic, but I was prepared to answer any that may have come my way.

In conclusion, I liked my speech, and I remember saying to myself that I loved my topic, and it was the perfect topic for me. Though as I’ve said, I really think if I would have made it more memorable if I added more to it as far as expression. The only thing I fear is because this topic is widely known I’m afraid the message went in one ear and out the other. That kind of thing tends to happen when something is heard over and over, but hopefully somehow my message had a unique side to it and will make a difference sometime somewhere.