Outside Speech Assignment
During this semester you are required to attend one live public speaking event. This event can be a sermon, political speech, training session, technical report or public lecture. It CANNOT be something you view on Television. You MUST be present at the event!
This assignment should be typed with an introduction and each paragraph below requires a paragraph in response. Questions (a) through (l) should be answered in point format as the questions are listed.
Arrive a few minutes early in order to observe the listening environment and make a list of everything you see, hear, or feel that might serve as a listening distraction (for example, a crowded room, uncomfortable chairs, poor acoustics, a noisy air conditioner, a stuffy room, and so on).
When the speech is underway, intermittently observe audience members. What are they doing? Have they seated themselves comfortably? Are they taking notes? Do they appear attentive, and how are you making that judgment call? Make a list of problems you observe as well as positive behaviors you observe.
Carefully observe the speaker as well as his or her delivery. Does he or she possess any characteristics that might prove distracting (strange attire, dramatic gestures, annoying voice, and so on)? Make a list of these noisy elements as well as any characteristics that might encourage listening.
As you reflect on the negative and positive elements you have observed (with the speaker, audience, and setting), which, in your view, would most likely contribute to or hinder a successful communication outcome? Why?
(a) Who is the speaker? What do you already know about him or her prior to the speech?
(b) What is the topic?
(c) What is the speaking occasion?
(d) What drew you to this specific speech and speaker? What is your purpose in listening to this speech?
(e) Who is the speaker's audience?
(f) What do you see as the speaker's basic purpose?
(g) What are the main points of the speech?
(h) What is the speaker's overall point or thesis/central idea?
(i) How easily could you follow the speaker? What helped or hindered?
(j) What strengths and weaknesses in the speaker's use of evidence and reasoning did you detect?
(k) How did the speaker's delivery aid or hinder the effective communication of the message?
(l) How responsive to the audience did the speaker appear to be, both during the after the speech?
The conclusion needs to wrap up your observations and say what you learned from this experience that you can apply to your own public
speaking.