Week 4 Post 3

Chapter nine was fascinating to read. There are so many key concepts I drew from this chapter as being insightful and worth knowing. One specific concept I found rather thought provoking was motivational argument. A motivational argument can either be channeled to an audience's passions or needs. I think when a speaker or an advertisement takes the "I need it," approach then they are very successful. I know that when I go shopping with my mom the words "I need it" often fall off my lips. In all honesty I don't really need another purse but sometimes we want things so much that we justify that we need them.

In this section of the reading pg 268 it goes on to explain Maslow's needs hierarchy. Reading about Maslow was a brush up for me because I have taken a couple of psychology courses. It is fascinating to me how our basic needs can be tied into argument speeches. If a speaker can convince an audience that they need to get behind a bill and the speaker states it in way that suggests to the listeners it would be for their own benefit; then the audience would be more likely to get involved. It is very clever to mix human need and emotion into things like political speeches because so many of us make decisions with our hearts and not our heads.

We vote for people we like, we buy clothes that make us look good so that people will like us, we diet to feel better and to get love or attention. So many of the things we do are because of our hierarchy of needs that is why I really enjoyed finding the connection in my own life.

Week 4 Post 2

An amazing man who is well known in American history was John F. Kennedy, (JFK.) He will always be remembered and honored as an American Hero. He was fortie three when he became the president which is the youngest president our country has ever seen. He was also the 35th president to serve in the United States.
JFK's outstanding qualities were too numerous to count. He demonstrated a strong balance of credibility, attractiveness and power. We can find credibility in his words, such as he predicted that within the next decade, that man would reach the moon, he said this in his 1961 speech. We did reach the moon in the year 1969, JFK was correct. Part of having credibility is being trustworthy and JFK proved to this to our country by his victory in the cuban missile crisis.
Being the president isn't any easy job especially when you are so young. JFK did not let his age hinder him he would use his youthfulness and energy to empower the people of America. JFK's speeches were very inspirational. He fit the attractive mold in every sense of the word. Not only was JFK easy on the eyes but he also had familiarity, which is important in politics. People want to feel like they can relate to their leaders.
Power is the third and probably the strongest tool JFK had as a speaker and president. First of all he was the president so this gave him a lot of power to do good for our country. People would listen when JFK spoke because he inspired so many individuals. When someone becomes the president they have to remember how much weight their words hold. JFK was excellent at using the platform he was given to share carefully thought out words, words that would make a difference. One of my favorite speeches by him was when he said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."
John F. Kennedy was a great president and leader, he used a mixture of ethos, pathos and logos and all of his speeches. He would not need to ad anymore pathos to his speaking style because it is already so prevalent.

Week 4 Post 1

Unfortunately I don't listen to a lot of public speakers and I rarely watch the election campaign debates so my reference of public speaking is mostly influenced by my church. In my first week of blogging I talked about a speaker named Mark Moore. Mark is definitely one of my favorite speakers but because I have already talked about him I will choose someone else. The speaker I want to talk about is Mark Shultz.

Mark is a man of many talents. He is primarily known for singing because he is a worship artist in the Christian Industry. When I went to see Mark Shultz in concert in San Francisco I was surprised at how good of a public speaker he was.  I was more impressed with the words Mark shared at his concert then the songs he sang, which is amazing because he is an incredible artist.

The qualities I liked in Mr. Shultz as a speaker was his humility and honesty. All of his songs were written for people he knew that would need encouragement or to rejoice with people who were celebrating good times. He spoke from the heart and it was real. I like listening to people who have a natural way of speaking and a humanistic quality. Nobody wants to listen to a rehearsed robot. I am not saying that speeches shouldn't be thoroughly researched and prepared, because they should. However every speech needs some emotion or pathos in my opinion for it to truly soar. 

In regards to a bad speaker I have listened to many bad speakers. I have mentally tried to block out the bad ones, no specific speaker comes to my mind. The qualities of a bad speaker are dry, unapproachable, impersonal, unprepared, boring and a bad time management. Why is it that the most boring horrible speeches go on forever? A speaker should know how to make their point in a string, clear and concise way.