Call to Action Speech Self Reflection

Speaker and Reviewer: Aaron Bason

Topic: Call to Action for Prison Reformation

     I began my call to action speech with a series of phrases all beginning with the words "I envision a world that..." which I believe was a really effective way to begin.  By beginning in this manor I was able to put something in the audience's mind that was memorable, much like the great Dr. King's I have a dream speech.  Then I transitioned into my thesis statement which said that "it is our duty to stomp out prison issues before they become overwhelming and uncorrectable."  This was supposed to create a sense of urgency in the audience, but I don't know if my wording exactly sounded like what I meant for it to.  The last part of my introduction was a very brief summary of my plan of action.  My plan of action consisted of three phases in order to give the audience a simple way to organize in their minds, what we were going to do.

     The body of my speech was organized by each phase.  Paragraph one being phase one and so on, but also my phases were ordered in increasing severity so that the audience was eased in to more drastic measures instead of just being thrown into the lion's den.  As I moved through the body I think I kept everyone's attention with good statistics and quirky remarks, but as I looked around not many people were even looking at me so I'm not sure.

     Some things that I saw that I could improve on, were to quit reading as much, to slow down my rate of speech, and to use more hand gestures.  Everytime I get up to speak I get this huge rush of nerves all over my body and I begin to talk really fast, read of my paper, and sway back and forth.  I know all of these things are simple problems to fix by just practicing over and over agian.  The more familiar I am with my speech the less harsh all of things things are.

     Things that I think I did a good job on are my hook, my organization, and my enunciation.  I think that my hook really brought a lot of people in because I was so repetitive and parallel that everyone was almost just reeled in by it.  My organization, with all of my phases being talked about in order of severity to ease the audience into severe action was really easy to follow, Therefore I think I did a really good job with it.  Lastly I believe that my enunciation was good because I didn't see anyone straining to hear what I said and no one said anything to me after the speech about not being able to understand me.

     Overall, I think that this was my strongest speech all year which proves the fact that practice makes perfect.  Every speech I feel like I have improved my technique, and every speech comes easier than the last.  I ended my speech by restating my thesis, reviewing my plan of action, and thanking everyone for there support.  I think that was a great way to end a great speech.

Call to Action Peer Reveiw

Reviewer:  Aaron Bason

Speaker:  Britney Brown

     Britney began her speech by writing the population of the world on the whiteboard, stressing that there are a lot of people in the world that need to be fed.  This way of starting off her speech really enticed people to listen to why genetically modified foods should be used, which made her job as a speaker that much easier.  Britney's three phases of action in her speech were first, to write a letter, second, to attend a public forum, and third, to spread the word by mouth.  These things are good examples of things that people could do to create change so I believe she did a good job developing her plan of action.
  
     Some things that I think Britney could have done to improve her speech are to not read quite as much, make more eye contact, and not be so repetitive.  First, I was noticing that towards the middle of your speech you stopped looking up so much and you began to start reading, I didn't feel like you didn't know your speech so just look up more.  Second, because you were reading a little too much your eye contact could have used some improvement.  Third, at the beginning of your speech you were very repetitive with your wording and it got kind of confusing so maybe just reading it to someone else before you present it would fix that.

     Some things that I saw that Britney did a really good job on was her hook, her organization, and her rate of speech.  Her hook, with the huge numbers written on the board really did a great job of pulling me into to what she was saying because I wanted to know why those huge numbers were on the board.  Second, Britney's organization was superb she moved through her actions in increasing popularity, which really helped me follow her speech.  Finally, the rate of Britney's speech was excellent, I was able to understand every word and she finished in a very timely manor.

    Overall, I think Britney gave a great speech.  Her plan of action was smooth and she created a need for change right now.  Good Job!
    

call to action speech

Speaker:Matt W.

Reviewer:Dejon B.

Topic: Changing the Way we Vote...

I thought that Matt Webber did a great job of illustrating the continued need for voter reform. He talked about low voter turnout and how this new system of reform would create a change in the system which would ultimately change voter turnout.

He talked about getting rid of gerrymandering, which is a form of redistricting where electoral district or constituency boundaries are manipulated for an electoral advantage. He talked about giving voting a new meaning with this new system, which would will give the people a real voice.

Matt did a very good job of using persuasive strategies and argumentation to get the audience to buy into his idea. He talked about recent voter turnouts and how they would be improved if this new system would be put in place. I think that particular idea got everyone interested, because of the constant low-voter turnout at these elections. What really caught my attention was when he talked about improving the power of the vote, so that your vote have sort of a trickle down effect. using the ranking system of voting. I like the idea because even if the person who you wanted to win doesn't win, that doesn't mean that is the end of your vote, it goes to the second person you selected. That is what makes this an attractive idea.

Matt in his handout had this slogan "Increase participation, Increase representation, Increase equality" this was a very powerful slogan, when I read this I was really excited about this idea and became actively engaged in what Matt was getting ready to talk about. This also helped me to see exactly what his idea This was a classic example of when  handouts and visual aids compliment your speech, Matt's most certainly did. Great job overall.

Somethings he could have done to make his speech better was go into more details about how we could line the streets in protest. I was curious to see how his extreme measures would play out. What he did well was speak about the positives of his plan and he made it so that everyone would want to be apart of his idea and that really worked well for him in the long run. Nice job!!

Somethings he could have done to make his speech better was go into more details about how we could line the streets in protest. I was curious to see how his extreme measures would play out. What he did well was speak about the positives of his plan and he made it so that everyone would want to be apart of his idea and that really worked well for him in the long run. Nice job!!

Somethings he could have done to make his speech better was go into more details about how we could line the streets in protest. I was curious to see how his extreme measures would play out. What he did well was speak about the positives of his plan and he made it so that everyone would want to be apart of his idea and that really worked well for him in the long run. Nice job!!