Public Speaking Essay Samples

First Assignment

The type of event that I attended that was of great importance was the orientation I had to go to when I first started at Indiana State University, the setting of the event took place inside of the Indiana State University auditorium, the event took place on the second day of my arrival at college. There were at least 300+ people and a huge place with a lot of chairs, there were, what I assumed at the time, college professors and staff from different departments. The audience consisted of myself and several students who were first time attendants like me. The main goal of the message was to provide insight on what awaited myself and my fellow colleagues.
The speaker was the president of Indiana State University, Lloyd Benjamin III, the information that was being delivered was a practical layout of events and upcoming activities that will take place around the campus.
The receivers or listeners of the message being delivered was my colleagues and I as well as other new students, the feedback on the message being delivered was a little long-winded and boring but informative. The channel used to communicate the message was a microphone, the occasion was the welcoming of all new students in the auditorium; there was no noise that distracted anyone or the president.
What made the communication so successful was that the president used the microphone to convey his message so everyone heard him.

Second Assignment

The cartoon speech that consisted of several communication techniques at once was speech cartoon #3, one specific communication type that was demonstrated was mass communication. The mass communication type was being used for the comic strip because it showed one person talking and conveying their message to a large number of people, mass communication is focused mainly on speaking to large groups of people.
Another communication type that was evident in the comic strip was group communication, the comic strip clearly illustrates the group of men coming together for a common goal or common interest such as a pursue of something or a rally for a justified cause.

Behold

Third Assignment
The broad topic that my speech will address is how to be not just a good dad, but a great dad. A particular reason for my topic is because there are men I know who are on the brink of becoming new fathers and some of them have confided in me that they do not know what to expect or what to do or what it takes to be a good dad to their child or children.
The time limit that I have set for my speech is 7 minutes and 5 seconds, I figured that would give me a good amount of time to convey my speech. Also, it will give me time to answer any questions that might come up or some of the men might have that I did not cover in my speech.
My interest in the topic is the aspects of fatherhood such as helping with certain chores and taking care of the child singlehandedly if the mother is not around, my interest lies in educating the men on what to do if they are in a situation that might arise. My knowledge on the topic lies in my experience, I have dealt with and succumbed to different aspects of fatherhood which means that I’m qualified to administer my advice on any situation that the guys might end up in. My other reason for conveying my message and perspective to the new dads is because I want them to have an easier time than I did learning about the “trigonometry” of fatherhood and what not to do.
I have two specific goals in mind for delivering my message, making sure that the men have all of the knowledge they need to make their transition to fatherhood a good one. My second, to make sure that the new dads understand that it does get easier after a while and to make sure that they have everything they need such as confidence and levelheadedness.
The value of my speech lies in advising the new dads on how they can get sleep and make time for themselves, the goal; be patient.

Fourth Assignment

Speech: The subject matter was of great relevance to the speaker, she was extremely passionate about getting her point across.
Appropriateness for Audience and Occasion: The topic was very important and was very useful to the audience.
Clear Purpose: The goals of the speaker was to relay the importance of respecting and getting to know the elderly not to mention keeping the audience’s full attention
Fresh Point of View: The speech did challenge the audience to think about something in a new way because I feel most people do not value the elderly or their wisdom.
Ethics: I feel the speaker was telling the truth about the experience and telling it for the sole purpose of keeping the audience’s attention which was important.

Substance: The speech did lack substance in that there was no statistics or facts, just the speaker’s experience.

Structure: I felt the flow of information helped the speaker’s speech flow nicely and made the transition from one subject to the next easy to keep up with.
My critique of the video was that it was very informative, the speaker was very clear in giving her message as well as showing eye contact and enthusiasm about the speech that she was giving. It cannot be argued that the topic was one that was very dear to the speaker and her goal of being able to help the audience understand the importance of getting to know the elderly, she achieved that goal.
Despite the fact that there was not any statistical facts or knowledge that was expressed during her speech, the speaker clearly expressed herself and conveyed her message.

Fifth Assignment

Before
1). The survey that I found had the most promise with the corresponding results is the survey question, “do you live more than 10 miles from your workplace?” Most of the audience live a good 10 miles or better from their workplace, the fact that they would get one day a week to do their work from home is a welcome change; hearing my speech would definitely be an eye opening 30 minutes for everyone in that room.
2). The survey question that might pose a possible dilemma for achieving my goal through my speech is, does the majority of the type of work that you do involve working on tasks that could be done from virtually any location? The reason why the question might cause a potential problem is some people in the audience are fine with the way it is at the office and there are those who do want that change, it could put both parties in a deadlock in which case all one person would have to do is change their mind which will decide the fate of my goal.
3). I would outline the benefits of doing their work from home and personal reference to the aspect of those who have children that they can be home with for that one day even if it is a work day.

During

1). The audience behaviors that I noticed when giving my speech on my suggestion was that of a lot of smiles, a good amount of the audience love the idea of doing their work from home one day a week where they do not have to wait in traffic or worry about being late because of traffic. What I would do during my speech is to capitalize and emphasize the idea that working at home means that there is no time clock to punch or any supervisor telling them that they are late, they are on their own time.
2). The part of the audience that did not like my idea or the idea of my speech gave me a lot of unsettling and worried looks that displayed their behaviors such as the CEO is not going to pay them if they are not there or the change is not good for the company because my speech would be the downfall of the company, I would tell them that they can give my idea a trial run to see how they would feel about the change and reassure them that I got the CEOs approval so no one will get penalized.
3). So far, no one else in the audience is displaying any kind of behavior contrary to the two I have personally witnessed.

After

1). The steps I would take to improve on my next speech delivering the same message would be to first introduce the idea then tell them about the benefits then emphasize on those benefits.
2). I would go around to the people who were still in the room after the speech, shake their hand and ask them what they thought about my speech. It is important to get that closure so you know what to improve on and what areas of your speech could use some improvement.

Sixth Assignment

Informative Speech
General Purpose: Customer loyalty
Specific Purpose: Appreciating kids
Thesis: Toys ‘R’ us should do this one day every year
Inform: Customer service representative   
Persuade Audience: CEOs   
Entertain/Celebrate: Children
Developing Purpose and Thesis Statement
Toys ‘R’ us should give each child one free toy and make it a store event one day out of the year every year.

Question: Why should Toys ‘R’ us do this?

Main Points:
Kids are the biggest reason why Toys ‘R’ us is successful
Customer Loyalty is all about thanking the customer for their loyal service
Appreciation is all about expressing your gratitude to the customers
Seventh Assignment
How to be a great dad
General Purpose: To give new fathers some perspective on what it takes to be a great dad to their children.
Specific Purpose: Ensuring that the new dads have the knowledge and power they need to survive the trials that await them on their journey through fatherhood.
Thesis Statement: Fatherhood is not always easy, sometimes it can be harder than getting a mechanical drill out of pool of Jell-O.

Question about Thesis Statement: What is the importance of discussing the thesis with new fathers?

Main Points
New dads need help
Experience vs. trial and error
Getting involved
Three supporting materials
Videos: I would use videos because there might be something or a particular question that I might not be able to answer even though I have experience.
Hands-on: I chose hands on because some people have to be shown something before they get the general idea of how to do it or what to do, it is all about teaching and learning.
Statistical studies: I can use that to further back up my speech and support my research.