Speech Choices: Chapter 14

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SPEECH CHOICES

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A CASE STUDY: MIA

Let’s look in on Mia to learn which presentation aids she decided to include.

Mia knew that her topic would allow her to use a variety of multimedia visual aids in her speech. She decided to make a PowerPoint presentation of simple but impactful photos, along with some visual aids that she would create herself.

She researched the types of images she wanted to use from online, making sure that they were from trustworthy sources. These included: a photograph of smartphones, a photograph of emigrants charging their phones, a photograph of an emigrant taking a picture of a map with his phone, and, finally, a photograph of an overcrowded raft at sea. All of these photos would provide impact for different points in her speech.

YOUR TURN:

What presentation aids would you create for your speech? Would you use any aids besides visual ones (audio, etc.)?

As for the visual aids that Mia decided to make, she first created a slide asking students how many Macedonian Denars were worth $1,000. The second slide showed that $1,000 equaled $56,000 Macedonian Denars. If emigrants were not aware of the exchange rate, they might be conned into giving someone too much money. For the second set of slides that Mia made, she showed two “text messages”—one with location coordinates, and the other saying, “The Coast Guard said they can see you.” She would use these slides when sharing her closing story, in which an emigrant was on a boat that lost its engine in the Mediterranean Sea. He was able to look up his coordinates and send them to his cousin in Hawaii. His cousin contacted the Coast Guard, and they were able to transport those on the boat back to land.

Look for the check icon and play icon throughout the chapter for adaptive quizzing and online video activities.

SPEECH CHOICES

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A CASE STUDY: JACOB

Let’s check in on Jacob and see what choices he made for presentation aids.

Jacob believed that he might be more credible with his audience if he could mention that he was a former high school athlete. To introduce the idea to his audience, he planned to hold a baseball and wear his catcher’s mitt when starting his speech. Unfortunately, on the day of the speech, Jacob left these at home. He didn’t mind too much—his speech was strong enough on its own.

Jacob also developed a PowerPoint presentation for his arguments. His best slide showed the amount of money made by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and individual schools. These amounts were depicted as bullet points on the slide. He used blue text on a green background, thinking that the audience would like to see the school colors for the college’s football team—the fighting Broncos.

YOUR TURN:

If you were to want to prove your credibility during a speech, what aids might you bring to help?

After the speech, he found out that his color choices had rendered the words nearly illegible. A classmate named Will even told Jacob that he had raised his hand during the speech to ask Jacob to read the words on the slide out loud. Jacob hadn’t noticed Will’s raised hand.

Look for the check icon and play icon throughout the chapter for adaptive quizzing and online video activities.