President Obama's speech on Bin Laden's death

This speech exemplifies a presidential address. The reason for this was for President Obama to let the nation know that Osama bin Laden had been killed. This speech does correspond with this occasion. He starts out with confirming that America’s enemy had indeed died and then goes into further detail on the horrific attacks on September 11^, 2001 and why it was important to every American family. The president was very clear and spoke slowly so that everyone could understand what he was saying which is a good technique. The audiences of this speech are the many families that were affected by the tragic event caused by Bin Laden and the other American families. Obama does a good job of realizes this and shows sympathy toward them. He acknowledges their heartache and suffering. I know these people are the president’s intended audience because he explains their heartache and wants to let them know that they can breath a little bit better knowing Osama Bin Laden is dead. These people would have the most interest in this speech. All in all Obama is a terrific public speaker as he knows who his audience is and makes them feel important as well as talking slowly, not forgetting any facts, and he kept going even when he stumbled.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNYmK19-d0U&feature=player_detailpage

Video from youtube.com

Commencement Speech

When I hear the phrase “public speaking,” the most familiar example that comes to mind is speaking behind a podium, addressing a group of people, and providing the audience with a significant message. For me, public speaking is terrifying and whenever I am in the position to deliver a speech to a group of people, I feel very nervous and vulnerable. However, speaking directly to my classmates at our high school commencement ceremony was surprisingly not terrifying at all. I was named the Salutatorian of my high school graduating class. When I heard the news that I would be making a speech at graduation, I immediately started feeling nervous. Not only was I going to be speaking to my classmates, but also to their families. I practiced my speech in front of the mirror numerous times and also presented my speech to my close friends which made me feel as though I was well prepared. When the time came to present my speech at the ceremony, an unusual feeling of calmness came over me. Practicing my speech made it easy for me to present my farewell words to my classmates in a clear, strong way. The audience’s eye contact and undivided attention for the duration of the speech made me feel very comfortable. At the end of my speech, my classmates stood up simultaneously and applauded. Those moments gave me a great deal of confidence and courage to stand before an audience and speak. I’m sure that public speaking will never be my favorite thing to do, but this experience absolutely helped me deal with my fear of speaking.

President Obama's speech (Nikki Schneidman's blog entry)

This speech exemplifies a presidential address. The reason for this was for President Obama to let the nation know that Osama bin Laden had been killed. This speech does correspond with this occasion. He starts out with confirming that America’s enemy had indeed died and then goes into further detail on the horrific attacks on September 11^, 2001 and why it was important to every American family. The president was very clear and spoke slowly so that everyone could understand what he was saying which is a good technique. The audiences of this speech are the many families that were affected by the tragic event caused by Bin Laden and the other American families. Obama does a good job of realizes this and shows sympathy toward them. He acknowledges their heartache and suffering. I know these people are the president’s intended audience because he explains their heartache and wants to let them know that they can breath a little bit better knowing Osama Bin Laden is dead. These people would have the most interest in this speech. All in all Obama is a terrific public speaker as he knows who his audience is and makes them feel important as well as talking slowly, not forgetting any facts, and he kept going even when he stumbled.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNYmK19-d0U

video from youtube.com

Natalie Portman's Acceptance Speech

When I think of public speaking, acceptance speeches and the cliché, “I’d like to thank the academy,” comes to my mind. The example I chose was Natalie Portman’s acceptance speech for best actress at the Golden Globes this past year. Seeing someone famous achieve an award for their work and watching their reaction to receiving it makes the acceptance speech all the more believable. Acceptance speeches, in my opinion, show great emotion and a tone of voice in which is a familiarity to all people. Natalie Portman’s naturally kind-hearted personality showed through when she spoke at the Golden Globes. When she spoke of her family, friends, and other people who helped her along the way, it made me, as the audience, empathize with what she was saying. Also, her fluency with words while feeling surprised and out of her element was very impressive, especially because she spoke in front of millions of viewers. Plus, it was enjoyable: her speech wasn’t too lengthy, she controlled her emotions, and she was, overall, pleasant to listen to.

Courtesy of Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLVUwSZtJMs

Lou Gehrig's "I consider myself..."

Henry Lou Gehrig gave one of the best speeches in all of sport history back in the late 1930’s. Faced with a terrible disease that killed him a few months later, Lou Gehrig spoke after his final game in Yankee pinstripes in front of his home crowd. Public speaking in sports usually has to do with motivational speeches given by players or coaches. However in this famous example, Gehrig gives a retirement speech that will always be remembered by sports fans around the world. He embraced his teammates, coaches, and the crowd for all the support throughout his very successful career. During the speech, Gehrig talked about his disease to the fans, and how he was blessed to be educated and able to play the game of baseball. He thanked his parents as well for always being there for him. The way he presented this speech is the reason why it will always be remembered. Gehrig got in front of sixty five thousand or so fans and talked straight from his heart. He used repetition of phrases such as, “Sure I am lucky,” and a killer closing line. This speech fits the occasion of Gehrig’s untimely retirement because it was short, heartfelt, and modest.

Player of the Year Speech

When the phrase "Public Speaking" is brought up, I instantly think about standing behind a podium with an audience present, while giving a speech. I've had many experiences with public speaking, but the most nerve raking speech I had to give is when I won the "Player of the Year" award for football. Players and family members gathered at Damon's for a banquet of Centre County's Player of the Year award. We had a very delicious dinner before the presentation and then gathered to meet each player. When the presentation started, they slowly credited each player and how their season went. When the time came and they started to present the award, i thought to myself, "What am I going to say if I win this award?" As my name was called, I was filled with excitement and joy because it was a great honor to win this award. As I walked up and received the award, I was asked to give a speech. I was extremely nervous because I was not prepared to give a speech. When I reached the podium and looked at the audience, I started to awkwardly smile because I was nervous. When I gave my speech, I didn't speak loud and I took long pauses to think of what I was going to say next. I was just telling myself that I couldn't wait to go home because of public speaking is something I'm not as good at as I want to be and my speech definitely reflected it.

Jimmy Valvano's 1993 ESPY Speech

When I think of public speaking, one of the most effective examples that comes to mind is Jimmy Valvano's 1993 ESPY speech. Valvano was a famous basketball coach for North Carolina State who was diagnosed with cancer before giving this speech and founding the V Foundation for Cancer Research. This speech is very effective and moving because Valvano is unsure of how much time he has left, but is determined to enjoy every last minute of it. He also states that the motto of his foundation is "Don't give up, don't ever give up." It is easy to see how effective Valvano's speech is by noticing the audience's reactions. They laugh, smile, and applaud for him at several points throughout the video. In my opinion, Valvano's ESPY speech is one of the most effective that I have come across so far. Click on the link below to watch the video thanks to YouTube.

Jimmy Valvano's ESPY Speech

What is Public Speaking?

What comes to my mind when I hear the phrase “public speaking?” Public speaking is a way to inform an audience of your thoughts, ideas and experiences. A speech that readily comes to mind when I think of public speaking is a motivational speech I heard by Randy Pausch, who was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Randy Pausch intended the speech only for his University in 2007; however, once it hit YouTube his voice became an Internet sensation. The reason Randy Pausch’s speech became so popular was the structure of his presentation. He followed all of the criteria of effective communication, using the elements of ethos, pathos and logos. His motivation and enthusiasm touched me. Randy Pausch was not a celebrity, but his speech drew attention as if he were one. This is because he kept in mind both his responsibility to his listeners and to himself as a speaker by conveying the facts and staying true to himself. Randy Pausch’s speech sets a great example as to how one should go about presenting a public speech. Check out the speech below courtesy of YouTube.

The Last Lecture

As Commencement Commences...

The term “public speaking,” to me, is seen as addressing either a small or large group of people; a way of reaching out to the targeted audience and convey a message. At commencement this year, our class president had to give a speech addressing both the graduating class and the audience. The speech mostly consisted of farewells and “we’ve made it this far”s, but there he made some key points that really drove the speech home for each one of us. He reiterated what he told the class when he was running for class president in 8^th grade; “We are just a bunch of building blocks. Without each other, we can’t build anything. But with each other we can build anything.” He was really reaching out to the class through the emotional connection we all had with each other, because he knew that would mean more to us and leave more of a lasting impression than a random quote he could find online.

However, this speech also had to make sense to the parents, friends, etc. that were listening. He knew exactly how to engage both the graduates as well as the rest of the audience. He is a very personable person, so he has a great natural speaking ability and rarely looks nervous speaking in front of a crowd. I don’t know how he does it.

Motivation to Cheer

The most familiar type of public speaking that comes to mind would be a motivational speech. Motivational speeches first come to mind since I have spent many years on different sports teams, acting as a speaker and an audience. Personally, an example of this would be before my cheerleading team performs at a competition. Over the years, my team has become a family and we have certain traditions that we do every time before we perform. At the end of our traditions, we all circle up with the seniors in the center and our captains and seniors always give the team a motivational speech. This is an example of public speaking because there is one of a few people speaking in front of a group of people, trying to get a message across and persuade them. The speakers, the captains and seniors, are all trying to convince the audience, the rest of the team, that we are going to hit everything and that we can win. The audience is also in agreement for the majority, but some of them may question what is being said. The tone of the speech is always loud and is used to pump the team up and get us ready to perform. Although nerves may be taking over, getting pumped up will help put them aside.

Personal Speeches

When I think of public speaking, my first instinct is to think of very professional setting such as the presidential address or a political debate on T.V. I think that the automatic response that I have to public speaking is very similar to what the majority of people would think. However, after thinking more deeply about all the different kinds of situations that public speaking can apply, I think speeches where the speaker and the audience have a strong emotional connection are the most motivational and effective. For example, I played on my girls golf team in high school and we got the chance to play in the state tournament my sophomore year. My coach was very personal and positive when she was speaking towards us before our first hole and that really strong emotional tone was evident. It was that tone that really sparked some life into me before the state tournament. My coach talked about what a great opportunity just being here was, and how to just do our best and play in the present. Because I could relate to everything that my coach was talking about, I think that was why it was one of the most effective speeches I have been presented with. Looking back, I realize now that my coach was using an emotional attachment to give an effective public speech. It was definitely a more informal speech, given without any nerves or anxiety. I think it is this reason that my coach's speech was much more different than the average definition of speech. When I think of someone giving a speech I think of their face turning red, voice quivering, and palms shaking. But because my coach's speech was more informal and personal (and given to an audience that she was very comfortable with), there was none of this anxiety that comes with more professional and serious speeches. 

Farewell Speech

Public speaking is feared by most, but those who master it can use it to spread an idea that is difficult to explain in any other way. On July 4th, 1939, Lou Gehrig, one of baseballs legends and most respected players, had to reveal to his fans and country that he could no longer continue to play baseball because he had been stricken with a disease called ALS that would soon lead to his certain demise. Although it was a brief speech, Gehrig was able to capture the attention and hearts of every fan in attendance, and humbly honored those who had impacted him over the years. The emotion and sincerity of his farewell rendered him speechless at times, and he proceeds to tear up during the speech. I could not think of a better example of summarizing a lifetime of achievement in such a dignified and humble manner. Largely because of this speech, Lou Gehrig is one of a few people I would love to have known personally in my lifetime. Many can learn from his bravery, and use his farewell as a way to prove that public speaking is not the worst thing ever and that you could be forced to address a crowd for a much worse situation than they find themselves having to speak about.

http://multimedia.foxsports.com/m/video/24272368/gehrig-s-farewell.htm

A link to the video of his speech.

Motivational

When I hear about public speaking, i think of speeches that are being given in front of a large crowd with someone standing in front of the audience in formal attire reading the speech off of a piece of paper. In many cases though, the public speeches that I have been around have been given as motivational speeches. I have both received and gave motivational speeches. As team captain of the basketball team it was one of my jobs to motivate the team before and during each game in order for us to go out and compete at our best and try to win. As a member of the team, I had to listen to our coaches give speeches after every game about how we did a good job, or about how we need to come back out next time and do better. During halftime of our games, my coach usually tried to motivate us to come out in the second half and to work hard. As a coach though, sometimes he did not do a very good job at motivating us and belittled us more than encouraged. When he did this it was a negative type of public speaking, instead of encouraging us to do better it made us as a team not want to play. The way a speaker presents himself is a major factor in setting the mood of the audience, especially as a motivational speaker.

Science of Speech

When I hear the phrase “public speaking”, the first thing that comes to my mind is to understand audience. When I was 9th grader, I became one of the presidential candidates of my middle school. I had a speech before the election began. I thought I should inform my policies to voters easily. Although I was getting nervous, I focused on short speeches, clauses, and words. All sentences, phrases, and paragraphs that I used purposed to simplify, clarify, and emphasize to audience, because they are bored if the speech goes long, and hears difficult words. As a result, I headed on the poll, and elected president.
I think observing audience is really important. Every audience has their own identity. Person who knows these identities can win everything. There is one saying in Korea; “If you know your enemy and yourself, you can win every battle.” Like this, you cannot have audience intention even if you had really good speech, unless you captivate an audience. Audience’s power is gigantic. They can change everything such as presidential impeachment.
And, I think speakers are propagators. They spread information that audience should know. If they speak hardly, and longer, no one wants to listen. Speakers have a right to make audience comfortably. For instance, you can tell story when it is appropriate. I love President Kennedy’s speech skill. He used his story that makes his personal message for the audience. Also, his speech was short, and his speech style was direct yet memorable. As Kennedy did, speakers should get close to audience to make audience snugly.

Motivational Speech

Whenever I hear the phrase "public speaking" the most familiar example to me would be a motivational speech. A type of speech that either a captain, player or a coach would give to the team to either prepare or motivate them. I personally was able to find a motivational speech most familiar to be because I have played numerous amounts of sports in recent years and have heard many motivational speeches, and even gave my fair share of them. Whenever my boys needed motivation I was there to feed it to them. Simple phrases and sayings such as "lets go," "pick it up," or even "play hard" was enough to get the wheels turning for them. I played soccer the past four years of high school and watched coaches and leaders provide speeches to get us going for three of those years. When my senior year rolled around I knew that it was my time to take over with the speeches and either prepare or motivate the team. Before each half of every game we would huddle up and talk as a team. That is where I would put my public speaking talents to the test. For a few games we either came out fired up in the first half or bounced back in the second half. Although I will never truly know for sure if my motivational speeches were the cause of it, however I like to believe that they were. It felt nice to be the one that the team looked towards for motivation and for hope.

Motivation

When I think about public speaking and the examples that we talked about in class, the most familiar example is a motivational speech at some kind of competition. This is most familiar to me because I have been in a scenario just like this. I have given many motivational speeches to my dance team. As I speak to my fellow teammates I always try to chose the correct words and tone when giving my speech. I tend to speak very loud to pump the girls up, and I also use words like “lets go” and “we can do this”. I know these words will pump the girls up because in past experiences I have been the one listening to someone else give me a motivational speech. These particular words will always get me ready for the performance. This may challenge some commonly held assumptions of public speaking because this is not the typical example that comes in mind when thinking of the word public speaking. Most people think of a presidential or any other type of formal speech. This speech is very informal however, it possesses many of the characteristics of the definition of public speaking. During the speech I have a goal to influence the girls on my team to do well on their performance and to be excited for it as well. While using the speaking and motivational skills I have, I am able to convince the girls to be excited and pumped up for their dance performance.

Senior Project Speech

When I think of "public speaking", the first and most familiar example that comes to my mind is giving a speech to my peers in school for a class. Recently, I had to give a speech to my government class for my senior project, in order to graduate. Considering that if I did not do well on this speech it could result in me not graduating, the pressure I would normally feel was definitely raised. To prepare for this dreaded speech, I practiced much more than I normally would. I made sure that I was well informed about the topic and ideas that I was trying to convey to the audience. The message that I wanted to send out was about the importance of abortion remaining legal. I knew that most of my classmates already had their set opinions regarding abortion whether they were pro-choice or pro-life. With that being said, I knew that it would be impossible for everyone to agree with me and my pro-choice outlook. The most important thing that I wanted my audience to get from my speech was just an understanding of my viewpoint and I think that I definitely succeeded in doing so. I made a powerpoint to aide my speech and it definitely was effective as I could show pictures, graphs, charts and other visuals. Another thing that I did that really helped me with my speech was that I came in with confidence and tried my best to not seem nervous to my audience even though deep down I was. Usually, speeches are not my expertise but since I prepared so much for it, it was the first speech I actually enjoyed giving and I felt that it was very effective.

Nervous Banquet

When I think of the phrase “public speaking”, I immediately picture a person, standing behind a podium, in front of a large group of people. My most recent example of “public speaking” occurred about a month ago at my gymnastics end-of-the-year banquet. During dinner, the president of our parent’s association approached me to inform me that I was to present a gift to the coaches and to give a small speech along with it. I only had about fifteen or twenty minutes to try to figure out what I was going to say. As the other girls got up to make their speeches, I was told that they had found out about the speech a week in advance. Needless to say, I managed to talk about how much the coaches have done for me in the past years and the audience, which was a large group of gymnasts and their parents, did not really mind all of my nervousness. This situation was a pretty good example of “public speaking”. I was dressed up and stood behind a podium and spoke to many people. I was probably not the most effective speaker. I talked really quickly and stumbled over my words. I’m pretty sure that my face was red and that no one could actually comprehend what I was saying, but luckily it was only very short and no one really minded.

BEAT team

When I think of the phrase “public speaking” I think the most effective example is talking to peers your own age. I think that when people hear a speech about and issue or problem, they are more likely to listen and help when it is coming from someone who is similar to them. For example, in high school I was part of the BEAT team, which informs other students about the risks of HIV and AIDS. I felt that because I was closer in age to them, than a teacher for example, they are more likely to listen and understand how dangerous the virus actually is. Being on the BEAT team, I had to go from class to class making a presentation to the students about the seriousness, risks, statistics, prevention methods, and other important information that people should know about HIV and AIDS. I think that this method worked well, because it was people their own age explaining the risks and dangers of the disease, not an adult that was just lecturing them. I think that it is important for everyone to know about HIV and AIDS and how dangerous it actually is, which was a major motivation for me being on the team.

Physics Failure

When I hear the phrase "public speaking", the most common examples that come to mind are Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech or presidential speeches from Barack Obama and other recent presidents. Something else that can be considered public speaking, that people don't always think of, is standing in front of a classroom giving a presentation to your fellow classmates. This kind of public speaking differs from King's and Obama's speeches in many different ways including the audience, formality, and presentation. I may not have been dressed in fancy clothes, standing behind a podium and using a vocabulary that the entire world could comprehend but I was still standing in front of a small classroom at the Bellefonte High School trying to inform my teacher and classmates on what I had researched. One thing that is very common among public speakers is their nerves. When I was in eleventh grade, I had my worst public speaking experience. I was in an honors physics class and I had to give a presentation on the physics of a car. I practiced the speech many times but giving a presentation on a topic that doesn't interest you is never easy. I went to the front of the room trying to be as confident as possible in front of about twenty other kids I viewed smarter than I but unfortunately, I let the nerves get the best of me. My face became red, my voice was quivery, I crumpled my notecard, and I was talking so fast I'm not sure that anyone could retain any information from my presentation other than the fact that I was a jumbled mess. I was unable to effectively teach my classmates about the physics of a car becuase of all of the symptoms of "stage fright" that were present during my public speaking opportunity.