Tony is a local dentist and father of three young children. He does not like public speaking, but his neighborhood association asked him to represent their concerns about the traffic, noise, and population
Tony is a local dentist and father of three young children. He does not like public speaking, but his neighborhood association asked him to represent their concerns about the traffic, noise, and population increase that could result from a proposed housing development at a town council meeting last week. The audience at the public meeting consisted of town members, small-business owners, and builders.
Fabian, an investor in the proposed development and a practiced public speaker, was scheduled to speak before Tony. Tony was confident that his message was clear and well-researched, but he feared he couldn’t compete with Fabian’s smooth delivery.
The speech communication model includes five elements of speech. Tony is most nervous about how the receiver will respond to his content and delivery, so his concerns relate to the (A) element of the speech model. In Tony’s speech, he is in a room with his audience. This is an example of a(n) (B) channel.
A sender feedback message audience channel
Basynchronous co-located video speaker computer-mediated
Question 2
Tony received suggestions and advice from his neighbors and family while preparing his speech. He heard many funny (and nerve-wracking) stories about failed toasts, bumbled speeches, and sweaty palms. Tony hadn’t thought much about public speaking and never studied communication when he was in dental school, so he was surprised to learn that different techniques and philosophies could help him prepare his speech.
One of his fellow dentists brought in a book from his daughter’s communication class titled Argue Like a Greek. To Tony’s surprise, the suggestions and advice in the book incorporated lessons that dated back 2,500 years.
Order the following important figures in the history of public speaking chronologically based on their corresponding periods.
Four philosophers known as the “fantastic four” championed public speaking as a critical skill in public participation. Aristotle, the most famous of the philosophers, believed that rhetoric required three elements to persuade others: logical reason, human character, and emotional appeal.
During a period that experienced little advancement in the study of public speaking, St. Augustine argued that the study of “persuasion” could benefit the church.
Francis Bacon believed that truth-finding was paramount to the study of oration and public speaking.
Public speaking was revived in politics during the U.S. and French Revolutions. John Quincy Adams was an advocate for the democratic advancement of public-speaking skills.
Question 3 Susan, one of the town council members, watched the reaction of the public to the speakers. As Fabian stood and presented a PowerPoint about the economic benefits the development would bring to the town, the audience sat with their arms crossed or checked their phones. Susan leaned over to her colleague and whispered, “He owes half of this audience money from his last project. I don’t care how convincing he is; no one will listen to him. I will give him credit though; his speech is very well developed and incredibly persuasive.”
Susan’s reaction to Fabian reflects a specific perspective from the Classical period of Greek and Roman scholars and orators who began the formal study of public speaking.
Select the historical figure who is credited for creating the five step process of developing a persuasive speech, a process that is still used today.
Cicero
Aspasia of Miletus
Plato
Socrates
Aristotle
Question 4 Nick was another speaker at the meeting. He dressed in a jacket and a pair of khakis and arrived early to ensure his laptop worked properly with the projection system. Nick began his speech by introducing himself; he nodded at colleagues and friends in the crowd as he made eye contact. He realized as he spoke that he hadn’t been around town very much since he started working in the city. “Oh, well—nothing really changes around here anyway,” he thought as he began his second slide.
Townspeople continued to enter the rear of the room during the speech. When he heard the rear door banging, Nick looked to the back of the room and realized that dozens of people were squeezing into the space and most were whispering among themselves.
Select the statement that best describes the environmental barrier to effective communication that Nick encountered during his speech.
Nick showed a gender bias in his speech by nodding at more men than women audience members.
Nick failed to engage his audience through eye contact while speaking.
Nick did not read the opinion pieces in the local paper about the project’s impact on the town’s environment and infrastructure.
Nick displayed an age and cultural bias by using technology in his presentation because not everyone in town owns or can use a laptop.
Nick’s attire was too casual for an important town meeting and hurt his presentation.
Nick did not adapt his presentation to the physical context of the room and the anticipated crowd.
Question 5 Tony was reviewing his cue cards as Fabian spoke. Fabian presented a graph illustrating the predicted five-year growth in tax revenue for the town from the housing development. Tony looked back at his cue cards and worried that he should have made a PowerPoint presentation too. Then Tony noticed that most of the crowd was not paying attention. Local townspeople were angrily whispering to those around them, while others sat with their arms crossed or looked at their phones. The only people who seemed to be listening were a few real estate agents and the town council.
Fabian, as the speaker or (A) , ignored the most important element of the speech communication model when preparing and giving his speech. Considering the demographics of the audience would have helped Fabian more effectively send his message to the (B) .
A expert distraction receiver channel sender
B receiver channel sender population council
Unit 1 Challenge 2
Question 1 Nora and Sean are salespeople at a hardware distribution company. Nora has just joined the company, and Sean is a 10-year veteran. Both attended a full-day training session about building effective communication with customers delivered by Olivia, a member of human resources.
Because Nora is new to the company, this was her first training session with Olivia. Sean has attended many of these sessions before. After Olivia announced the agenda for the day’s training, she introduced an interactive activity and distributed a handout. Nora’s previous employer used the same activity and handout in a similar training, so she was happy that she wouldn’t be completely lost.
There are a number of possible types of plagiarism; classify the following scenarios as “Unintentional Plagiarism,” “Deliberate Plagiarism,” or “Not Plagiarism.”
Unintentional Plagiarism
Deliberate Plagiarism
Not Plagiarism
Olivia tells her boss about some new product ideas discussed at a recent conference she attended
Olivia finds designs left behind by a previous employee, puts her name on it, and submits it.
Olivia doesn’t remember to include quotation marks when using a quote from a design expert.
Question 2 Part of the communication training focused on building rapport with a customer through active listening and questioning.
“It’s important to build a relationship during every customer interaction,” Olivia said. “For example, if you are on the phone with a hardware store owner who is struggling with debt, tell them you understand because your father owned a small business and was put out of business by a large chain. They’ll think you can relate.”
Nora leaned over to Sean and whispered, “I’m not going to lie to customers to get them to buy from me. Isn’t that unethical?”
Determine whether each of the following behaviors is “Ethical” or “Unethical.”
Ethical
Unethical
A motivational speaker always begins his speech with a quote by Vince Lombardi.
A school board candidate presents ideas of a previous colleague as her own.
A speaker chooses not to answer a question and says it is due to a conflict of interest.
Question 3 Sean didn’t see how Olivia was going to help him improve his paycheck by teaching him communication skills again. He thought the training was a waste of time, so he decided to catch up on emails instead. He left his phone on silent and checked it frequently.
Before the group broke for lunch, Olivia asked everyone to summarize one key point from the morning’s session. When it was Sean’s turn to share, he couldn’t remember anything and muttered, “Pass.” After lunch, Sean’s phone battery died, so he was forced to listen and participate.
Put the rules of listening that Sean violates in the order that they occur.
a. Demonstrate active listening
b. Don’t cause excessive noise
c. Eliminate distractions
d. Be open-minded
Question 4 In the afternoon, Olivia played a recording of a phone call between a customer and one of the company’s account managers. Nora was surprised to hear that the account manager listened more than she spoke while the customer talked about his difficulty selling building materials during the previous quarter.
The account manager asked probing questions and repeated key points back to the customer before suggesting actions to improve sales in the next quarter. Olivia also pointed out that the next time the account manager heard from this customer, she was able to recall the conversation.
There are five stages of listening. Identify and order the first three stages in the listening process using the concepts below.
b. The stage during which the listener hears and attends
c. The stage during which the listener determines the context and meaning of the words that are heard
a. The stage during which the listener critically assesses the information received from the speaker
Question 5 Olivia then played a recording of a phone call between Colin, a sales associate from New York, and Grace, an elderly hardware store owner in the South. Grace began the conversation with chitchat about the weather and her town. Colin interrupted her to ask about her inventory. Grace paused before replying and then launched into a story about one of her customers. Colin started reeling off promotion prices from his catalog. Grace asked him to repeat himself, so Colin said he would just send it all in an email. Grace admitted that she doesn’t often use email. The conversation ended abruptly when Colin said he would call back when he had more time.
Nora recognized that cultural differences were a barrier to communication between Grace and Colin.
Match the types of communication barriers to the corresponding examples from another call between Grace and Colin.
Gender
Culture
Technology
A.Colin assumed that Grace would understand which products would sell best in her area, but he quickly found that Grace didn’t even understand the jargon they used in the salesroom.
B.Toward the end of the follow-up conversation, Grace had finished her order, but was still talking about the needs of her store. Colin started zoning out and checking other emails. When Grace asked him what he thought of her situation, he didn’t know what to say because he honestly had not been paying attention.
C.Grace and Colin had trouble connecting again because they realized very quickly that they had different senses of humor. Colin kept making jokes based on puns and Grace continued to roll her eyes on the other end of the line.
D.Colin began the conversation trying to entertain Grace with a joke or two. He then followed up by making sure that Grace knew he was in control and would help get her what she needed. However, Grace found herself wishing that Colin would apologize and spend more time building up the relationship between them.
Unit 1 Challenge 3
Question 1 Caroline told her mother, Lisa, that she didn’t feel well and would probably miss her class at the community college the following afternoon. Lisa knew that Caroline was just nervous. Caroline’s marketing professor had asked all of the students to give a ten minute speech in front of an elementary education class. Caroline is terrified and has no idea what to speak about.
“You have to go to college tomorrow, and you have to do the assignment, Caroline,” said Lisa.
“But Mom, it’s so unfair—he’s just trying to torture us!” Caroline exclaimed.
“You need to stop worrying and start planning. You’ll feel much better when you have a topic and begin writing,” Lisa said.
Caroline should consider her knowledge and interests when choosing a speech topic. Two ways to think of a topic are to consider interests or (A) expertise . She also needs to identify the (B) purpose of her speech to appropriately scope the topic.
Askills hobbies expertise ideas evidence
Bthesis length argument venue purpose
Question 2
Lisa told Caroline that she had to speak to groups, boards, and politicians in her role as a public health nutritionist.
“Maybe I should make a speech about nutrition and use some of your research and your speech. You could help me write it, Mom!” Caroline said.
Her mom responded, “You can’t use my research and make a speech about nutrition just because I did one. What about your work at the bakery? You enjoy it and you know a lot about it.”
Lisa finds a recent presentation she made to the school board about school lunches and shows it to Caroline as an example. Connect each speech-writing concept to the example from Lisa’s speech.
Thesis statement
Topic
Purpose
A.School nutrition budgets
B.To help the school board better understand the school cafeteria’s expenses.
C.Schools should invest the extra money necessary to provide healthy lunch options for students.
D.National public health programs promote healthy eating for young children in schools.
Question 3
Caroline still felt overwhelmed by the ability to choose any speech topic she wanted.
“It would be easier if my professor just assigned us something to present about,” Caroline moaned while she flicked through her phone.
“Part of the exercise is to learn how to narrow down a topic,” Lisa reminded her. “Sit down, put your phone away, and take out a pen and paper. I’ll time you while you list the most interesting stories you saw posted online this week, and we will see if you can brainstorm yourself a topic.”
Caroline is working on selecting a topic for her speech. Arrange the following speech-planning activities in the order in which Caroline should undertake them.
a. Caroline identifies the two subjects from the long list that come up again and again. From this list of two, she thinks about which one will best fit into a ten-minute speech.
b. Caroline looks back through all of the articles and blog posts she has saved recently, looking to find the topics she has been most interested in.
c. Caroline does some preliminary research so that she can determine the speech’s main argument, three main supporting pieces of information, and conclusion.
Unit 2 Challenge 1
Question 1
The week before the holiday party, Adam calls John into his office. “I need you to give a speech to your co-workers during the party,” Adam says. John is terrified of speaking in public, so Adam agrees to help him choose a topic.
After discussing possible topics for an hour, John notices some common themes in Adam’s suggestions. For the first time, he feels better about his upcoming speech.
Match each example to the corresponding strategy for choosing a speech topic.
distilling
presearch
clustering
Adam listens as John talks about his ideas. After a few minutes he grabs a white board marker and draws lines connecting different ideas.
John asks Adam to tell him more about what the VP has said in his past speeches.
John sets his watch for five minutes and writes down as many topic ideas as he can think of.
John looks at all of the ideas he has come up with and narrows them down to one topic that they both think will interest the rest of the office.
Question 2
After his brainstorming session with Adam, John starts to think about the demographics of his audience. He realizes that most of his co-workers are young males who earn a lower salary than he does. He also knows that much of their work involves hard, physical labor.
John does not want to seem condescending to his co-workers by making lazy generalizations about their backgrounds. Rather, he wants his speech to emphasize the connections that they all share.
Select the example of an appropriate topic for John’s speech.
•The best places to eat out while traveling for work
•The dangers of drinking while on the job
•How working at their office is a lot like parenting
•Humorous changes in the workplace over the last twenty years
•The importance of a college degree
•Importance of teamwork in the workplace
Question 3 John is ready to settle on the thesis for his speech. He wants to convince party attendees that they are working towards a common goal.
Just to be safe, John calls Adam and describes his proposed thesis. “Sounds good to me,” Adam informs him.
Which of the following statements serves as an example of a well-developed thesis for John’s speech?
•The company’s overall revenue is the only thing truly worth caring about.
•Working overtime should not be viewed as a burden but as an opportunity.
•Workers should improve their productivity rate every month for a full year.
•The holidays are lonely and coworkers can make a difficult time easier.
•Individual productivity not only benefits the individual but also the team as a whole.
•Everyone should keep a close eye on how productive their coworkers are during the day.
Unit 2 Challenge 2
Question 1
It is Laura’s turn to make her presentation. She has concluded that claims about a politician making disparaging remarks against poor people were false. She found evidence suggesting the politician has made outreach to the poor his goal.
Laura describes an encounter the politician had with a homeless family that was relayed in a news article. The encounter informed his policy, including efforts to make homes more affordable. Laura adds words like “humbled” and “altruistic” to her presentation to make the politician seem more relatable.
Laura used narratives to help persuade her audience. Which of the following is NOT a best practice when using narratives?
•Storytelling should be integrated naturally into your speech.
•Narratives should be engaging and interesting for your audience.
•Stories should help your audience visualize a certain situation or circumstance.
•Narratives should not be overused.
•Narratives should help you reach a specific goal within your speech.
•Narratives should be complex and encourage the audience to think deeply about their meaning.
Question 2
Realizing that “fake news” stories are a real issue for her students, Ms. Anderson addresses the group: “I have an idea for an extra credit project. I want you to research the credibility of a news story you find posted on social media and present your findings to the class.”
Robert decides to investigate a story describing how vegetarianism puts a person’s health at risk. He is unsure of the best way to begin the project.
Select the two statements that describe effective ways of preparing credible research for a presentation.
•Look at academic journals online that summarize the main argument of each resource in the journal.
•Find a single author or source to support the main points of your speech.
• If you are looking at a heavy claim, make sure the source is lightweight.
•Wait until you are close to the presentation date to do your research, so that it is fresh.
•Consider expanding your search for facts to satirical newspapers as well.
•When using a non-neutral source, make sure that source meets the normal requirements for a reliable source.
Question 3
Alicia and Laura walk home together. Both plan to start their projects by conducting research online.
“I’m more comfortable working on the Internet than in the library,” says Laura. “I’m sure there are advantages of going to the library, but there’s so much information online I feel like I should be set.”
Alicia nods. “I guess we could always try the library if we’re having trouble.”
“How many sources do we need?” Laura jokes.
Determine whether the following methods of finding information represent general internet research or library research.
General internet research Library research
Finding evidence of first-hand accounts and reports from citizen journalism
Searching specialized databases dedicated to in-depth and historical information
Checking a recently-updated encyclopedia entry written by numerous authors
Unit 2 Challenge 3
Question 1
Caroline works for an online retail company that sells software to businesses. One day, the sales director asks her to collate information on key accounts and customer profiles before presenting her findings at a board meeting. Caroline begins this task by conducting interviews with the sales team.
Caroline prepared (A) talking points before each interview so she would remember the main sales topics she wanted to cover. Knowing that the interviews would touch on individual sales performances, Caroline realized she could potentially offend her subjects, so she vowed to respect their (B) boundaries .
A anecdotes questionnaires analogies talking points follow-up questions
B demographics boundaries experiences biases processes
Question 2
Caroline’s company sells software to companies across the globe. In order to complete her assignment, Caroline has to talk online with workers located in the United States and abroad.
At first, Caroline is overwhelmed with the number of different methods she needs to utilize to collect interview data. But she knows completing this work will impress the board members.
Rate the way that Caroline analyzed content during interview follow-up as appropriate for In-person, Synchronous online, or Asynchronous online interviews.
In-person Synchronous online Asynchronous online
Caroline turns on the archive feature on her chat program so that her interview is saved.
Caroline codes the email responses she received from her various interviews for analysis.
Caroline transcribes brief notes, knowing she can go back to get more complete answers later.
Question 3
After completing interviews, Caroline begins reviewing research of sales trends. Her research and interviews reveal an important sales tendency that she wants to stress during her presentation. The company’s highest-spending clients are businesses in very competitive fields. Therefore, these businesses are the most likely to pay for even incremental improvements in software.
Caroline thinks the board will be impressed by this finding, but she wants to incorporate testimonials into her presentation to drive her point home.
Select the statement that describes Caroline incorporating testimony into a speech effectively.
•Caroline includes quotes from one of the company sales trainers who has been working there for the past eight years.
•Caroline includes quotations from a successful sales manager who retired from the company in 1985.
•Caroline begins her speech with some of the funny, but vulgar, comments that different interviewees said in their interviews.
•Caroline includes quotations from clients she interviewed that contradict her main point.
•Caroline chooses to use quotes from only the newest members of the sales team, as they are the freshest at their job.
•Caroline decides to use all of her expert testimony quotes in the introduction so that everyone in the audience believes her right away.
Unit 3 Challenge 1
QUESTION 1
The Dean of Students has invited Sophie to speak during her upcoming graduation ceremony. He asks to review a detailed outline of Sophie’s speech before she writes her rough draft.
While preparing her outline, Sophie finds a graduation speech given by the class president 25 years ago. She decides to use this as the basis for her speech.
Order Sophie’s ideas according to where they should fall in her outline.
a. Sophie wants to read part of the 25-year-old speech that refers to political events of the time, without identifying the source first, as an attention-grabbing technique.
b. Sophie wants to explain that young people have always pushed the boundaries of technology.
c. Overall, Sophie wants to make the point that graduates should use the lessons of the past and challenges of the future to motivate them to push their boundaries and the boundaries of the economy.
d. Sophie wants to relate an anecdote about a young business leader who started a technology company despite many obstacles to illustrate the importance of believing in yourself even if you don’t have a lot of experience.
QUESTION 2
The audience at Sophie’s graduation will consist of over 1,000 people. Sophie’s grandparents, who are originally from Poland, are coming. Many friends and families of Sophie’s classmates are immigrants as well.
The audience will sit in the bleachers of an outdoor stadium, while the graduates will sit in the stands across from the guests and behind the stage erected in the center of the field.
Determine whether the advice below is Effective or Ineffective for selecting and highlighting Sophie’s main points.
Effective Ineffective
She is speaking at graduation, so she should not worry if her audience will care about the topic.
She should narrow the focus of her speech so that the audience is better able to focus.
She should think first about what the audience already knows about the topic.
QUESTION 3
As Sophie reads the graduation speech from 25 years ago, she can’t help but notice how life has improved for her generation thanks to changes in technology. She decides to argue that young people remain society’s more important innovators. She also wants to persuade her classmates to push boundaries and use social media to increase transparency in decision-making processes. She considers the different ways she could organize the main ideas of her speech.
Match the ways of ordering main points in a speech with a description of that ordering method.
Temporal
Spatial Patterns
Topical
A.Organizing information by explaining why something happened and then discussing the impact or results.
B.Speaking about your main points in the order that they occurred over time.
C.Describing information that can be further broken down into categories.
D.Describing the physical layout of a particular place.
Unit 3 Challenge 2
QUESTION 1
Samuel, a well-known rock climber, has recently joined Live and Learn Outside, an organization that provides outdoor education for low-income children. Although he has little experience in public speaking, Samuel gives a fundraising speech at an elite training camp in Palm Beach, Florida. The conclusion to Samuel’s speech is below:
“I love pushing myself beyond what I think I can do every time I climb. I compete with myself and with other climbers in order to prove that with hard work and dedication, I can overcome any obstacle. I want other children to learn how to scale peaks, which is why I am honored to be working with L&LO. Thank you all for listening today.”
Unfortunately, only one audience member donated money after the speech.
Which is a reason why Samuel’s speech failed to motivate his audience to donate money to Live and Learn Outside?
•He was too specific with his audience about what he wanted them to do.
•He focused too much on himself and didn’t emphasize his call to action.
•His speech was too formal for the venue he was in.
•He didn’t find common ground with his audience in terms of his topic.
•He spoke too softly and his audience couldn’t hear him.
•He didn’t explain to his audience why he was qualified to be giving this speech.
QUESTION 2
Samuel’s first speech prompted the organization to hire a professional speechwriter named Matt. He meets with Samuel to help him write his next speech, which will be given at a conference of physical education professionals. Matt urges Samuel to take a direct approach.
“The most valuable part of my education took place outside of the classroom, which is why I believe in the importance of outdoor opportunities for all children. When I started working with Live and Learn Outside, the first camping trip convinced me how important it is for kids to expand their horizons. One boy named David spent the whole first day complaining about his clothes getting dirty. Once the sun set and the stars came out, though, he stopped complaining and became interested.
I am going to tell you about the work that this great organization does and how it helps kids like David get the education that I did. I hope that you will join in our efforts so that all children have the same opportunities as the students you teach.”
Select two suggestions Matt could give Samuel that will increase directness and clarity.
•Samuel should be clear about his feelings for the organization to help engage the feelings of his audience.
•Samuel should lower his voice so that the audience has to try harder to listen to him.
•Samuel should ask and answer the question “Why are you here?” to his audience multiple times in the speech.
•Samuel should delete his anecdote about David so that he doesn’t stray off-topic.
•Samuel should avoid too much descriptive language as it will distract this audience from his overarching message.
•Samuel should use emotional words to show his conviction to the audience.
QUESTION 3
While drinking coffee during their first meeting, Matt asks Samuel about a life-changing climb he completed and what he learned from his experiences. Then, Matt writes a topic outline and asks Samuel to fill it in with excerpts from his story.
Rate the following statements as Abstract or Concrete.
Abstract Concrete
Working together as a team is helpful for people who are stressed out
Young people are most in need of outdoor experiences
Helping high school freshmen learn to rock climb helped Samuel feel more confident as a teacher
Unit 3 Challenge 3
QUESTION 1
Caroline is a new staff reporter for a newspaper near Jackson, Georgia. Her first assignment is a protest organized by an anti-death penalty group outside of the local prison. There is a prisoner on death row who is scheduled for execution in two months, but is in the final stages of his last appeal.
Caroline is excited to cover a high-profile story, but she’s nervous about attending an emotional protest.
Match each speech with its corresponding example.
Persuasive Speech on a Question of Policy
Persuasive Speech on a Question of Value
Persuasive Speech on a Question of Fact
A.“How to Actively Listen” by Andrew Simmons, a communications professor at the local university.
B.“How Our Teachers Can Do More for Struggling Youth,” by Dr. Sandra Miller, a recently retired teacher who taught for 30 years.
C.“The Benefits of Listening to Our Children” by Michael Messer, a local pastor who works with incarcerated youth.
D.“The School to Prison Pipeline: How Many Young Men Go To Court Instead of College” by Dr. Jenners, head of public health at the city government.
QUESTION 2
Caroline arrives at the protest early and finds that many people are already there holding banners and signs. She taps a bystander on the shoulder.
“Do you know who’s going to be speaking today?” she asks.
“We have the mother of the guy on death row; Sister Kennedy, who is a famous anti-death penalty campaigner; a lawyer from the American Civil Liberties Union; and someone from Amnesty International. I bet Sister Kennedy will give the best speech,” the bystander says.
Select the description of the best practice in persuasive speaking that can help Caroline judge which speech is the best.
•The best speech should be delivered in an intense and impassioned voice that is loud enough to be heard without a microphone.
•The best speech should have visual aids so that the audience can visualize the problem clearly.
•The best speech will be the one that makes her cry the most.
•The best speech should outline at least 10 steps to take in order to solve the problem.
•The best speech seems as neutral as possible and shows you arguments on both sides.
•The best speech will change, reinforce, or instill a particular belief in the audience.
QUESTION 3
As the speakers gather outside the prison gates, a van suddenly pulls in. A group of men jump out with signs and begin chanting “Justice for Selena!” They surround a crying middle-aged woman.
When Caroline approaches, she hears the organizers ask the woman to say a few words about her daughter, Selena. The man on death row had been convicted of her brutal murder at age 16. Caroline wonders whether the crowd will listen to Selena’s mother.
Match each speech scenario with the concept it describes.
Confirmation bias
Selective exposure theory
Anxiety driven by expectation
A.A crime victim advocate is nervous about making a 5-minute speech to protesters at an anti-death penalty rally. She’s arguing the death penalty prevents violent crime.
B.The crowd won’t be able to follow the arguments made by speakers with opposing viewpoints.
C.The pro-death penalty crowd that showed up won’t listen to the mother of the prisoner.
D.When Caroline asks crowd members about who was the best speaker, they all said the best one was the one who argued what they already believed.
Unit 4 Challenge 1
QUESTION 1
Julia is a social worker who leads a counseling program at a local health center and is comfortable speaking to small groups on an informal basis. Her supervisor asks her to speak in front of prospective donors at an upcoming fundraising event. Julia agrees but becomes nervous after realizing she will be delivering a prepared speech in front of a large audience.
Select the two statements describing speaking techniques used by Julia that will NOT be effective in front of a large audience.
•Julia stands up straight when talking to ensure her breathing doesn’t negatively affect the sound of her voice.
•Julia varies her speaking rate to emphasize important parts of her speech.
•Julia hurries to finish her speech and begins speaking at a faster pace.
•Julia conducts a sound test with a microphone to determine how the speakers perform.
•Julia speaks at a low volume to encourage audience members to lean in close to listen.
•Julia uses a stationary microphone when speaking in front of a podium.
QUESTION 2
Julia begins writing a first draft of her speech. She knows she needs to generate goodwill for the health center before stressing the importance of donations. Julia decides to highlight the importance of the health center to the community by pointing out the lack of options her patients would have if the center closed. She recites her first draft out loud to test aspects of her delivery.
Determine whether each of the following examples of Julia speaking can be considered an effective or ineffective example of using pitch or pauses.
Effective Ineffective
Julia adjusts her pitch during the important points to draw the audience’s attention to them
Julia is silent for 45 seconds to draw the audience’s attention to her main point
Julia puts an inflection at the end of her questions to the audience
QUESTION 3
Julia is still worried about speaking in front of a large group of mostly unfamiliar people. She realizes she should tailor aspects of her speech to appeal to the donors who will be attending. Many will be traveling in from outside of town. Julia decides she needs to avoid alienating these donors. She reconsiders her speech and delivery with this new goal in mind.
Julia worries that her (A) ____________ may confuse some of the attendees, many of whom are not local, because she uses grammar and vocabulary with which they may be unfamiliar.
Aspeaking rate accent tone dialect pitch paralanguage
Unit 4 Challenge 2
Question 1
Angela works for the state government and manages a public health program responsible for educating landlords and tenants about the benefits of smoke-free rental housing. Since she lacks public support for her cause Angela decides she will give a speech at the next town hall meeting. She has a lot of information to present to a mixed audience and will use visual aids in her presentation.
Determine whether each of the following sensory engagement techniques improves engagement or comprehension.
Engagement Comprehension
Including a graph of rental prices of smoke-free apartments
Thinking about the nature of the audience and choosing stories that fit them the best.
Using photos and videos in your presentation, rather than just key words and phrases
Question 2
Angela’s younger brother, David, has agreed to help Angela with her upcoming speech. Although David is eager to contribute suggestions, he does not have any experience giving public presentations and Angela often finds herself educating him on the best methods. David doesn’t give much thought to the visual aspect of the presentation so Angela reminds him that the context of the speech is important to its overall impact.
“We need to look like we’ve given this real thought,” she says. “So, let’s think about this.”
Select the two statements that do NOT describe factors Angela should consider when choosing what kind of visual aids she will use.
•Many of the audience members are older and don’t seem to know much about modern popular music.
•Angela has been very open about her political beliefs on social media, many of which are opposite of those of the audience members.
•Some of Angela’s visual aids are complicated and will need to be explained.
•The meeting is taking place in a very large room and some of the audience will be seated far away from the projector.
•Angela remembers that she needs to make eye contact with her audience.
•The meeting is set to take place at the local library.
Question 3
Angela and David are still debating what type of visual aid would be best for the town hall presentation. David thinks using the chalkboard already located near the stage should be sufficient, but Angela has given presentations before and she feels they need more.
“I don’t see how it really matters,” David states.
“It does if you don’t want most of the audience to leave without getting the point,” Angela responds.
Match the type of visual aid with the appropriate speech situation.
Transparencies
Physical Objects
PowerPoint
A.A speaker wants to show a large collection of images from a recent trip she took to the country she is speaking about.
B.A speaker wants to write down the questions from the audience for everyone to see.
C.A speaker wants to show how to properly French-braid long hair.
D.A speaker in a small room wants to jot down audience responses to questions.
Unit 4 Challenge 3
QUESTION 1
Stephen has joined an international company as the chief operating officer. His department oversees manufacturing plants in five countries. The senior management team has asked him to host a company meeting on a live video feed to celebrate the company’s recent win of an industry award. Stephen, already nervous about making a good first impression, is not used to speaking to audiences in different locations. He wonders how he will know if he is doing well as he speaks.
Which of the following ways of measuring audience feedback would be helpful to Stephen as he hosts the meeting?
•Stephen makes sure that audience members are not fiddling with anything and looking bored.
•Stephen moves throughout the room to make sure he personally engages with each audience member.
•Stephen solicits feedback by asking his audience to respond via text to some questions he has prepared throughout the speech.
•Stephen makes notes ahead of time of places where he will stop his speech for a few minutes to let his audience respond to short questions.
•Stephen makes sure that his audience members are facing him directly.
•Stephen asks his audience to write him an email after the speech if they were confused about anything.
QUESTION 2
Stephen knows that he has a difficult task in front of him. He will be speaking to employees from a wide variety of backgrounds and will need to appeal to all of them. He asks his sister Lisa, who has experience with similar presentations due to her job in public relations, for advice.
“You want to appear relatable without boring your audience,” Lisa tells him.
Determine whether each of the following statements represents a way for Stephen to hold attention or maximize understanding.
Attention Understanding
Stephen asks some general questions throughout to see if he should clarify points.
Stephen tries to establish a genuine connection with the audience.
Stephen gives examples relating to a TV show that he knows his audience has seen.
QUESTION 3
Stephen considers the audience of his upcoming speech. The majority of the company’s workforce will be watching him host this meeting. Most will be workers who spend their days laboring in the manufacturing plants. Stephen knows these workers have never seen him before and worries he may appear distant and out-of-touch. Because the occasion is meant to celebrate the company’s achievements, he hopes he can make everyone feel like they are part of the same team.
Which of the following statements describes the best way for Stephen to build derived credibility with a quality, authoritative speech?
•Stephen speaks confidently to inspire others with his energy.
•Stephen begins by acknowledging how different he is from everyone in the audience.
•Stephen doesn’t need to worry because his two friends in the office told him he was a credible speaker.
•Stephen sends out a dozen emails before his speech telling everyone what a great guy he is.
•Stephen begins the speech by criticizing a polarizing political figure to get the audience laughing.
•Stephen asks a co-worker to introduce him by telling stories of him when he was a child.
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