Persuasive Speech

I was a lot more nervous this time than our last speech. I think I knew I wasn't prepared and on top of that, going last and listening to everyone else's amazingly executed speech's really threw me off! I had done a lot of great research but I really didn't have time to practice my speech verbally due to more responsibilities given to me at my internship and work on campus as well as an interview I had the day before that didn't go so well. I think this was a great learning experience though because I need to find a way not to let my feelings or anxieties effect my delivery of my speech. There was a lot going on that week and I was really overwhelmed with work but I do think I brought some really good aspects to my speech.

I was able to find a topic that everyone was interested in. After class, Katherine said she really enjoyed hearing the points I brought up. Something to work on for the next speech which does grade visual aids is my powerpoint, which had a little too much text on it. I ended up relying on it at certain points instead of my index cards which wasn't good because I took my focus off the audience. That being said, I think I was still able to keep my audience engaged.

This was a really passionate and meaningful topic to me because I've had two dogs and both were adopted from a shelter. I had first hand experience of how great it was to own a shelter dog as well as going through the process of adopting personally. It was important for me to talk about this topic especially after learning that one of our own classmates bought her dog from a breeder. On the other hand, I was able to learn about Jeffrey's dog who recently passed away. He shared his story with me of how he and his family chose to go to a shelter instead of a breeder even when they were financially able to afford one. If I was able to change the minds of some of my classmates and encourage them to always adopt, then I'd be much happier about how my speech turned out!

Tuesday: I found Rafaella's speech about the choice to work in the more provocative field of pornography to be really interesting! It's a really controversial topic but I thought she approached it really well. Including the story on the girl from Duke who works in porn as a way to pay tuition was smart to add, in my opinion. It was one of my favorite speeches from the week! 

Thursday: I really enjoyed hearing about Sunny's speech about donating your time and skills instead of just donating money to causes you care about especially after the whole ALS craze that took storm on social media. I think the points she brought up in her speech would make people think twice about that specific campaign that occurred and prompt them to go out and do something that would more directly impact the organization.