SPEECH MY FAVORITE INNOVATION
OBJECTIVE: The goal of this first presentation is to share with your audience, a minimum of twothings about yourself (characteristics of your personality, personal qualities, physical characteristics, attitudes, beliefs, values, and so on). Your challenge is to do this by identifying your "favorite" among thesix innovations presented in our text (glass, cold, sound, clean, time, and light).
Remember, the goal is for your audience to learn more about you through your brief discussion of the innovation.
REQUIREMENTS
Length: 2-3 minutes. Please, work to stay within the time guidelines for all presentations.
Outline: key word, main point
Graphics: a maximum of three images (PowerPoint slides, poster, etc.) or object
Presentation Dates: Week 2 - days 2 & 3 if needed
Discuss one of the innovations that is personally meaningful to you. Consider your "relationship" with this innovation. For instance, if you are a native of Wisconsin, you have a close relationship with cold. As the days grow cooler, signaling the coming fall, you may look forward to the change in colors of the leaves, the crisp air.
The cold harkens snow and ice and your love of winter sports or hunting.In other words, you may embrace the cold. Others may dread the cold and the coming winter. You shiver simply giving thought to the need to wearing gloves, hats, scarves, three layers of clothing...and still being cold.
Have fun with this assignment, but take seriously your preparation. Some suggestions:
• Begin by identifying personal characteristics you wish to share with your audience. These characteristics could be interesting to your audience, thought-provoking, memorable, things that set you apart from others. Consider the following:
o Personality traits
o Personal values or beliefs
o Likes and dislikes
o Physical characteristics
o Hobbies and activities
Next, weave the two characteristics into a discussion of one of the six innovations.
• Is your personality in some way like the innovation? Think of the innovation as metaphor for something about yourself, or how others might describe you.
o Are you fragile and sensitive like fine crystal? Or strong like the glass exteriors of a high-rise building?
o Do you consider your feelings to be transparent, open for others to see and sense?
o Do you consider yourself a loud person, or are quiet and reflective? (Sound)
• How has this innovation touched your life?
o Are you a clean freak?
o Does using the residence hall showers gross you out? (Clean)
o Do you need music (sound) playing, loudly, while doing your homework?
o Do the sounds of the city keep you up?
o Are you habitually late...for everything? (Time)
o Are you good at prioritizing your time and projects?
o Do friends refer to your personality as a bright light, or that your smile "lights up a room?"
We all have a connection, some relationship with each of these innovations. Spend time reflecting (that's more than just passing thoughts) on six innovations, eventually focusing on one. One approach to this assignment would be to tell your audience a story involving the innovation. Stories are powerful because people relate to and connect with the experiences of others. Your story easily becomes my story. For example:
I grew up loving winter sports, especially speed skating. I was speed skating by age six, and competing by age nine. I have never skated on anything other than speed skates. Skating requires ice, and in the 1950s and early 60s, there were no indoor facilities for speed skating. We practiced and raced in the bitter, bitter cold of winter days and nights. A skater tightly laces the boots of his skates, limiting the blood circulation to the foot, especially the toes. I would return home from an evening practice to the roaring fire in the fireplace my mother had started. With a blanket covering my entire body, my feet exposed to the warmth of the fire, I sat crying through the painful process of the thawing of frozen toes. And I would have a bowl of ice cream to help ease the pain. Cold brought me pure joy when I was on the ice, as well as intense pain as my frozen toes would thaw.
Here are some suggestions of questions you might ask yourself to spark your reflections:
• Why is this innovation important to you?
• How much of a routine day does this innovation affect or play a part in?
• Imagine your life without this innovation.
• Have you had specific experiences (positive or negative) with the innovation (or variations of the innovation