8 competencies

I just wanted to point out that I keep going back to the week 3 handout on the Tips:working with the speech 8 competencies. It has great information in it. I am just hoping that I can remember it when I am scared to death doing my speech!

Crazy stuff

So.. while reading the chapters the thing that is still stuck in my mind is the fact we process as humans take a lot of our basic processes from granite. For instance when I listen to someone talk. I just assumed this is what happens. They talk and I hear. I never sat down and realized that we actually process a conversation the way that it says we do in the book. Like really who knew. [off subject] Even seeing. Prior to reading this chapter I just was like okay we see and that's it. I know that if you have a sight impairment you don't see as clearly as others but I never really realized that it too is a process.

I will like to take this moment out to say thank you to Kellie for taking the time out of her busy day for scanning the first 7 chapters or the book for me so I took can learn. lol I enjoyed even the extra copies of her hand. Thanks A lot.

Outlines

First I would like to inform everyone that I finally received my text book today {mental cartwheels} So I am doing my final version of the outline and I am looking at the example in the book. I would have to say that I still like the topic outline a lot better. I can understand more what the person is trying to tell me from this one then the full sentence outline. This type of structure is sort of "giving to much info". In a way I feel like I should right my speech then come back and put the correct roman numerals into each paragraph. Does anyone else feels this way or am I just not used to change.

Something that might help us

Class

I have been looking on the internet about public speaking. I found this website that have some good tips. Some of the info is a regurgitation of what we are learning but some offer a different perspective. The website is http://www.ljlseminars.com/monthtip.htm

Mind Mapping

I went to a seminar on Microsoft Excel last year for my work, and the gentleman who presented the seminar had some really amazing software on his computer (and was amazing at speeches!) One program in particular really caught my eye and I ended up buying it, even though it was a little pricey. It is called Mind Mapper and what it is is a way to brain storm and map out your thoughts, on the computer, but with extreme ease. We all remember the circle charts that we learned in grade school right? Where you start with your topic in the center circle and branch off from there? That is essentially what this program does for you, but all automated and on your computer, and then at the press of a button it will convert all of your ideas into a Microsoft Word outline form, or an Excel Spreadsheet. This software is amazing and has actually helped me with several writing classes before! I just thought I would share it with everyone, because if your taking lots of classes with writing papers and such, this might be a HUGE help to you! Check it out!

http://www.mindmapper.com

Week #3 Readings...my a-Ha! moments!

This week’s readings were really helpful for me, and it sounds like many of you too! The kick-off in chapter five in particular gave me an immediate “a-Ha!” moment. As an artist, the four phases of creativity really made sense to me, I have just never seen them written out that way. I never thought that the phases of creativity I use when I paint would be something I could use in writing this speech. I also was really helped by section 6D which talked about how to develop a clear thesis statement. It’s amazing how once sentence can really create direction for you when writing a speech such as this. That was a major help in the process and is something I highlighted for future reference. Did anyone else think of getting a thesis statement for a speech? I’ve always done it in research papers or essays but never for a speech, so I found that really interesting. Learning about Google’s advance search was really cool. I have found, and maybe many of you have as well, that when I’m searching sometimes I get really frustrated when sifting through all the unnecessary or unhelpful information to find what I am really looking for. With more efficient search habits I can clear that up and not waste so much time. Luckily I didn’t have to research much for my topic of Vincent van Gogh but that is something that will most defiantly help me in the future.

In agreement with Jerome

I just wanted to say that the points that Jerome brought up in his blog about the readings were really good points. First, I have to say that I was also wondering about the 90/10 rule that was mentioned in the reading, and thank you to Terri for clarifying that.
I never really thought about how important accomodating for the audience could be in the success or failure of a speech. Hope you all like caffeine!
I also like how Jerome brought up the connectives. I think that it is really important in a speech, or any paper for that matter, to have good transitions. That makes the paper (or speech) so much smoother, and helps eliminate the choppiness.
I also agree about the clincher. If you work so hard on the rest of the speech, you don't want your audience to remember the ending as terrible! Right to the very end it needs to flow smooth.