Speech Critique

Megan Washington: Why I Exist in Mortal Dread of Public Speaking

Megan Washington: Why I Exist in Mortal Dread of Public Speaking had an effective execution in all respects. Amount, vocabulary, preference, and language were all adequate verbal transmission elements. Despite her stammering, the speaker was able to convey her message to the audience effectively.

Informing the Audience

First and foremost, the speaker informed the audience that she stammered and, as a result, they became mindful of her limited pronunciation skills. In the other hand, she made the situation seem more fascinating in certain ways by making fun out of her situation. In particular, there is a situation where she says that she prefers to sing rather than talk because it hides the fact she is a stammerer. Evidently, the speaker speaks at a rate that is appropriate to express the ideas that are appropriate for the setting. Megan talks at a slow speed that allows her to avoid stammering while expressing her thoughts and the things she has gone through because of her condition.

Volume, Pitch, and Non-Verbal Cues

When it comes to volume, the loudness and softness of Megan’s voice are excellent. She speaks softly and slow to allow her audience to understand what she is saying. However, when she is emphasizing a point she stammers, sings, or speaks louder to ensure that the audience captures a point. As a result, she draws attention from the audience since they either clap or laugh. Additionally, Megan changes the pitch of her speech occasionally. For instance, when she emphasizes how odd it feels to meet another stammerer she uses a lower tone that makes the audience to laugh loudly. In some other cases, Megan pauses to expresses a feeling. For example, just immediately after she says it is more comfortable not to pronounce weekdays because there are alternatives than it is to declare peoples’ name. On the other hand, Megan uses a lot of non-verbal cues such as the eye contact with her audience. Also, there is hands movement while expressing some issues such as when showing her childhood dreams of speaking French and becoming a prime minister.

Awareness and Language

The information and the language the speaker used showed that Megan is aware of the diversity as well as the sensitivity of the stammering and their audience. Megan expresses the awareness of her condition as well as the challenges she has gone through to accept her situation. Also, she represents the grief of her health; nevertheless, Megan can create humor that makes her audience and any other person who watches this video to relate to the situation of being a stammerer. Most importantly, Megan makes stammering to come out as a manageable condition that can also allow the people with this disease to live with other people comfortably fully.

Supportive Materials

During the speech, Megan uses various types of supportive materials. Apparently, there are three categories of supportive materials which are examples, testimonies, and statistics. Evidently, in the speech, Megan uses many cases to express the different tough periods during her conversations with other people. For instance, her inability to pronounce Wednesday, peoples’ name and even talking to people with her condition. Also, Megan gives testimonies of the various cases that she has to deal with people from different areas and situations who assume that she is drunk or has even forgotten her name. Finally, Megan uses statistics to explain that she is a mature woman who is supposed to acknowledge her condition and conduct a public speaking. Notably, Megan emphasizes that she already twenty-eight years and now a grownup who should own up her stammering state and know how to live with it. It is evident that these support materials are what has kept the audience interested and it gives the condition of stammering a lot of credibilities.

Personal Experience

Megan uses her own experience with stammering, and therefore, it is an account of her personal life. In the speech, she uses different sources that make the crowd understand the things the people with this condition undergo. Nevertheless, the presentation might have been strengthened by using other sources of information such as experiences of other people with the same situation. For instance, Megan should have given accounts of different people who have difficulties in their workplaces. Also, Megan should provide reports of people who have failed to achieve some things in their lives because of the stammering problems. Additionally, Megan should even describe the various personnel who have succeeded in life despite their challenges with the stammering condition. Finally, Megan should account for a person who has used stammering as an opportunity to grow in life such as through public speaking. Notably, such examples can act as motivating factors to people with this conditions and also encourage them to engage in civil speaking in future.

Technology Used

Megan used headsets while giving the speech which makes her pass the message the audience. The earphones are a type of the microphones which are used to enhance the sound so that the speaker can communicate to a large crowd. As a result, these headsets enable her to talk to the group that has come to the Ted Show. Also, dynamic microphone while playing the piano and singing her new song to the crowd. This mic and the keyboard enhance the beats of her songs which not only makes it audible but also beautiful. Moreover, Megan uses her phone to read the speech that she had prepared for the presentation. Notably, a telephone is portable and easier to read than the written forms since there are fewer risks involved when it comes to losing the information or misinterpreting the data. Thus, the technology used in this presentation enables the audience to understand what the speaker is saying.

Visual Aids

Evidently, it is the headsets and the microphone that facilitates the audibility of the speaker. Nevertheless, the speaker should have incorporated other forms of technologies such as PowerPoint presentation projected for the crowd to understand the topic better. Some people prefer to read and listen so that they can pay attention to what the speaker is saying. Further, visual aids facilitate the need to look at what the speaker is going to say. Finally, there could be some images that could assist the understanding the audience. Therefore, the speakers should facilitate the audience understanding of their conversation by using the visual aids.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the speech was valid because the speaker applied all the aspects of speech delivery such as verbal and non-verbal tools. Also, the speaker was aware of the diversity and sensitivity of the stammering topic because she lives with it. Megan used different supportive materials that allowed the audience to understand her. As a result, she was able to bring out the credibility of the topic as well as enable her client to follow her. Nevertheless, next time, the speaker should consider using the visual aids since they increase the attention of the audience.

Work cited

“Megan Washington: Why I Live In Mortal Dread Of Public Speaking.” YouTube. N.p., 2014. Web. 9 Dec. 2017.