Communications Chapter 15 Homework The Brave Men Living And Dead Who Struggled Here

Unlock access to all the studying documents.

View Full Document

15-13

o Instead, design your presentation by using the following:

• As few slides as possible

TIPS FOR USING PRESENTATION AIDS

• No matter what presentation aids you decide to use, keep the following tips in mind while preparing,

rehearsing, and delivering your speech:

o Know how to use your aids. While composing and rehearsing your speech, spend time using the

presentation aids you’re going to be using, if possible, in the same setting where you’ll be giving

your presentation. You can damage your credibility by fumbling with your slides or not knowing

how to properly handle any physical objects you brought.

o Talk to your audience, not the medium. Remember that you need to convey immediacy with your

audience for them to pay attention. Don’t talk with your back to your audience because such

behaviors will make your audience feel disconnected.

Have a backup plan. You can never account for everything that might happen during your

speech, but you should prepare alternatives in case your presentation aids fail.

15-14

EVALUATING SPEECHES AND MANAGING FEEDBACK

Rehearsing your speech is not a solitary activity. Getting feedback from others about your speech and

delivery provides vital information you can use to complete the last part of your speech preparation—step

GIVING EFFECTIVE FEEDBACK

•

Actively listening to and evaluating other speakers will help you improve your own public speaking

skills. Feedback is most useful when it’s delivered soon after a rehearsal or the actual presentation

and is specific—whether it’s praise or criticism. When providing feedback to others, keep the

following five guidelines in mind:

1. Make sure the recipient is ready to hear what you have to say. Timing is everything when giving

feedback. If a speaker has just finished a presentation, the person may need a few minutes to

collect his or her thoughts or take care of physical needs before listening to what you have to say.

3. Use descriptive language. Abstract or vague language creates misunderstanding. It is usually best

to point out specific things you saw and heard. Although it’s not easy to do, you will often need

to point out problems with a speech to help the speaker improve. You’ll especially want to use

descriptive language when offering any constructive criticism.

15-15

USING FEEDBACK TO IMPROVE YOUR SPEECH PERFORMANCE

• Feedback is helpful during your speech rehearsal and after you have delivered your actual

• Feedback is wasted if you don’t act on it. However, not all feedback will be useful. Seriously consider

what advice you should take and what can be ignored. Make the changes you think need to be made

before delivering your speech when it really counts.

CLASS DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Give an example of a presentation you recently attended that used a presentation aid

ineffectively. Why was it ineffective? What could the speaker have done to improve the

presentation?

• Allow students to share their examples and discuss the various mishaps and mistakes they

2. Of all the nonverbal cues discussed in this chapter, which do you think is the most important

when delivering a speech? Which one do you think is your greatest strength? Which is your

greatest weakness? Why?

• Encourage students to discuss their strengths and weaknesses with the class. Being nervous about

3. What is extemporaneous speaking? What are the advantages of using this speaking style over

impromptu and manuscript styles?

15-16

• Have students discuss the advantages of extemporaneous speaking. Also, ask students to discuss

4. Describe the steps for conducting an effective situational analysis. What should be considered

when conducting a situational analysis? Why?

• Review the steps for conducting a situational analysis with students. Have students discuss how

5. Discuss the aspects of delivering a speech that you feel will be most challenging for you. What

does the text suggest you do to master these challenges? What aspects of speech delivery do you

feel most comfortable performing?

•

Have students discuss their concerns about their delivery styles and help them realize that these

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

1. Let’s Get Vocal in Here!

Goal: To give students an opportunity to work on their vocal delivery.

Time: 15 minutes

1. Prepare a handout with the following quotes:

a. “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but

you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.” Abraham Lincoln

b. “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” Benjamin Franklin

15-17

2. Ask students to stand next to their chairs.

3. Lead the class in a stretching exercise. For example, stretch toward the ceiling and stand up

4. Lead the class in the following exercises:

a. Have students read quote #1 to practice volume variety. Read it the first time very low, then

louder, and then ask them to read it and vary the volume as they read.

Quote #1: “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the

time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.” Abraham Lincoln

c. Ask students to read quote #3 in a very low pitch, a very high pitch, and then a varying pitch.

Quote #3: “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We

are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” Barack Obama

2. The Power of Articulation

Goal: To allow students an opportunity to understand how articulating improves their presentation

style.

Time: 20 minutes

1. Create a handout with the following copy of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address:

Gettysburg Address

15-18

Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation,

conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow—this

ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our

poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but

it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the

unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to

be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take

increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we

2. Pair off students and ask them to sit facing each other.

3. Have students quickly read the Gettysburg Address aloud to each other using their normal voices.

4. Once complete, tell students to read the passage again to each other very slowly, attempting to hit

all of the hard consonants (g, t, k, d, p, b, r, y, and so on) and over-enunciate every syllable.

5. Once complete, ask them to try it one more time at a more normal pace but still hitting the hard

consonants and over-enunciating.

15-19

Rehearsal Dinner—Without the Dinner!

Goal: To give students an opportunity to practice important nonverbal behavior during a speech and

relieve stress.

Time: 30 minutes

1. You will need a few note cards and a podium for this exercise.

2. This exercise can be conducted in small groups or as a whole class.

4. Demonstrate or explain the following:

a. Appropriate speed while walking to the podium.

d. Tips for managing note cards and visual aids.

e. Tips for managing their hands and keeping them out of their pockets.

f. The appropriate use of a podium. Encourage them to refrain from leaning on, rocking, or

tapping on the podium.

g. Waiting to start their speech until they’ve reached the podium.

5. Have each student take a turn at walking to the podium with a few note cards, standing at the

podium, moving away from the podium, and departing from the podium.

6. Provide feedback to each student.

15-20

Breaking Down the Fear

Goal: To help students overcome the fear of public speaking.

Time: 20 minutes

1. Divide the class into groups of four or five.

2. Ask students to discuss the following common fears about public speaking, and brainstorm ways

to overcome the fear:

a. My audience will hate my speech.

e. I will have too much to say.

f. I will speak too loudly, too softly, too fast, or too slow.

g. I will do something embarrassing.

5. I Bet Theodore Roosevelt Would Have Loved PowerPoint!

Goal: To challenge students’ creativity with visual aids.

Time: 60 minutes

1. Make copies of the following excerpt from Theodore Roosevelt’s speech, “Duties of American

Citizenship,” given January 26, 1883.

15-21

military virtues which alone can assure a country’s position in the world. In a free republic the

ideal citizen must be one willing and able to take arms for the defense of the flag, exactly as the

or literature, no capacity for building up material prosperity can possibly atone for the lack of the

great virile virtues.

But this is aside from my subject, for what I wish to talk of is the attitude of the American

citizen in civic life. It ought to be axiomatic in this country that every man must devote a

whom it is most common—in the people whose circumstances give them freedom in the struggle

for life. In so far as the community grows to think rightly, it will likewise grow to regard the

young man of means who shirks his duty to the State in time of peace as being only one degree

worse than the man who thus shirks it in time of war. A great many of our men in business, or of

our young men who are bent on enjoying life (as they have a perfect right to do if only they do

not sacrifice other things to enjoyment), rather plume themselves upon being good citizens if they

time to attend to politics are simply saying that they are unfit to live in a free community.

2. Divide students into groups of four or five.

15-22

3. Ask students to imagine how public speaking during the early 1900s might have been different if

modern technology had been available. Then ask them to take the speech excerpt provided to

develop and produce a creative PowerPoint or Prezi presentation to accompany the speech.

MEDIA RESOURCES

1. Speaking Mistakes to Avoid

This seven-minute video from Toastmasters International discusses common presentation mistakes by

2. How to Offer Feedback

This five-minute video from Toastmasters International explains how to offer effective feedback to a

3. Presentation Magazine

Presentation magazine is a great resource for students when they are preparing their visual aids. It has

4. The King’s Speech (Weinstein Company, 2010)

This film starring Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush is based on the true story of King George VI of

Britain, who suffered from a severe speech impediment. The film is an inspiring depiction of how the

king deals with his extreme speech apprehension and anxiety.

15-23

5. Richard Quest: I Hate Public Speaking. But I Must Face My Fears

Richard Quest, a CNN foreign international business correspondent, faces his fear of public speaking