Down the stretch

Due to the large number of students in this year's MBA class, we have been split up into groups of 15. Because of this we have hear the speeches in our groups numerous times, while not hearing all the other speeches at all. I wish there was an ESPN 8 that would show us the highlights (and bloopers) from all the other speeches. This would be great to be more familiar with the other competition. Just so we can be aware of what other speeches we are up against.

Otherwise--tomorrow is tournament time! This is what we have been preparing for. The ethical dilemmas seem to be weighing on most students' minds. This will be interesting to see how these go--considering we only have 30 minutes to prepare and learn our speech. I will be interested to see how the students approach each dilemma.

If you're available, come by the Union tomorrow afternoon or Friday and cheer everyone on!

Looking forward to hearing (and hopefully saying) great things!

Ethical Dilemmas

Judges' Ballots

To preview the Judges' Ballots open the following google docs:

Market Place Pitch 2012

Ethical Dilemmas 2012

Informative 2012

Week #2

Speaker's Edge is rolling along. It has been great to not only see my progress, but the progress of classmates as well. It's pretty neat to have heard their first drafts last Monday and then now to hear their speeches and how polished and smooth they are becoming.

Today were were given the benefit on having professional help. We were in groups of 4 and were able to give our speeches and get very good and precise feedback from these learned professionals. It was extremely helpful to give a speech--get feedback, go to the next professional and do it again. That repetition was very valuable for me and the members of my group.

My current problem is having too much information for my speeches and thus talking to fast during my speeches. I feel rushed to get the information out, but that's my normal tone anyway--I'm trying to be energetic and enthusiastic about my topic--all the while slowing down enough to allow my audience a chance to take what I'm telling them all in.

We also got a start on how to approach our ethical dilemmas. I know many students have been apprehensive about this, but with Jackson Hataway's guidance it seems more manageable. The term "ethical dilemma" seems so broad and expansive--and to only be given 30 minutes to research AND memorize/learn a speech can be intimidating, but after today I feel a bit better about tackling this change.

Overall, I feel good about the progress we all have made. The key is to continue to fine tune, fine tune, fine tune. Just keep getting better each day, then hopefully be the time the tournament starts on Thursday--we'll be ready!

Looking forward to hearing great things!

Week 1 by Cameron Laster

 

Speakers Edge Blog Post

Tell Your Story

Planning & Preparation

·         I was not one of those individuals that automatically had twenty different topic ideas enter my head.  At first I did the proverbial Google search “informative speech topics” and received list upon list of mundane, one-word topic suggestions.   Next, I checked national and International news sources.  Then, after wading through the multitude of links, I managed to stumbled across this great website sponsored by TED (Technology Entertainment and Design).  TED is owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, and was formed to disseminate "ideas worth spreading" through a global set of conferences, where noteworthy people speak about their novel ideas.  I watched video after video, and was fascinated by these formative speakers’ delivery and ground breaking commentaries.  After being inspired by the diverse topics discussed by the speakers, I discovered two subjects I could passionately focus on, and began to create rough outlines for the speeches. 

Day 1

·         Class participants jumped right in, each delivering a brief overview of the informative speech.  The class, bursting with positive energy and ideas, were amazing in their topic diversity and approaches.  Topics in my section ranged from mechanical explanations, social tools, and business topics.  I realized that I was going to learn a lot more in this class than I had originally anticipated!  The collaborative assessment, critique, and suggestions from Dr. Edwards and class team members is invaluable, and I appreciated the positive reassurance from my classmates regarding my energy, subject matter, and use of examples. 

Day 2-

·         Most people found the Informative Speech to be easier to write than the market place pitch because of the more straightforward structure of the Informative Speech.  After delivering their informative speeches the day before, several classmates realized they were either too opinionated about their subject matter, or too one-sided in their opinions, and decided to convert their Informative Speech subjects to their market place pitch topic.  Dr. Edwards continually reinforced to us that you must believe your topic and what you are saying to the audience, because the audience can interpret your commitment to your subject matter.  To be truly convincing you must passionately believe in the message you are delivering!

Day 3&4-

·         After the first two days of delivering a brief (5 minute) version of our speeches and gathering feedback, the following two days of class time were spent in teams of three classmates, working together to fine-tune each other’s speech structure and delivery.  With their help, I recognized my original outlines were way too long and in-depth.  Also, we are allowed to use a limited number of visual aids, and the ability to paint a picture in the mind of the audience using words and points of emphasis has become critically important.

Day 5-

·         Today we were joined by Dr. Harrington, and presented one of our speeches.  Dr. Harrington is very inspiring, fresh feedback, cool west cost style of delivery, and succinct comments have given us a lot to think about.  He emphasized the need to have a vision, and emphasize the vision in your speech.  Don’t just talk.  Communicate and deliver.  Limit statistics, because they can overcome a speech.  I believe his feedback will help us structure our speeches tremendously by help us avoid getting lost in explaining the issues instead of the solutions.   

·         After hearing the speeches my classmates had been pruning and tweaking for the last two days, I realize that the bar was going to be set pretty high.  Those who didn’t quite have a charismatic delivery, still had a very smooth, solid, almost hypnotic delivery, and it was obvious they had their speeches very well memorized.  And those that used “uum” too much, or were not as steady in delivery, generally still had very captivating delivery.  Everyone is on the verge of pulling the pieces (delivery, content, structure, flow) together.  I find myself trying to come up with ways to set myself apart from the crowd - ways I can make my speech standout and be remembered amongst the surplus of information being presented.  

Speakers Edge Thus Far.....by Debra Jo Scardino

What can I say? Well actually, you wouldn't think a lot since we just started on Monday, but it has been awesome. I have usually thought of myself as a good public speaker, but it is great getting up in front of Mrs. Joanne and our group and getting honest comments. My first drafts of my speeches were tragic. I was slightly embarrassed but really glad it went so bad because I got a lot of great feedback. I'm in the 6pm class, and we've got a lot of great people with a lot of really great speeches. This competition is going to be hard and I think it will set the bar even higher! The first two nights, we spent giving an overview of our speech or the actual speech. It was really great hearing everyone else and people are actually being honest. The third and fourth night we broke out into our groups, where I was able to receive even more honest feedback. My team members are not afraid to hold back and I am very thankful for that! I look forward to tonight for more feedback, and I'm really excited to see where the coaches direct us. Honestly though, I'm worried about the ethical dilemma speech but I know that the coach will provide us with enough information to prepare. This weekend will be all about getting my informative and market place pitch speech good enough to be presented to our coaches. Hope everyone else is learning as much as I am!

Wintersession Speaker's Edge: Thursday Week One by Alex Scrimpshire

Writing a mediocre speech is easy. Giving a Mediocre speech is even easier. Not that I thought that my first run of my speeches would be perfect, but after getting all the feedback, hearing the other students' speeches and seeing other ideas and approaches, I realize that I need to strongly fine-tune my speeches. I have realized that the difference between a bad speech and mediocre speech only requires a few minor improvements while the difference from mediocre to great requires in-depth analysis of what you want to say, in what order to say it, what information to use, and how to say it. I find myself with a seeming abundance of information and figuring out how to fit it all together--in an intelligible manner, is quite a task.

It is a task that I am enjoying, as I do enjoy a good challenge. I look forward to when I finally arrange my thoughts and ideas in the best logical manner and also in a manner that my audience can understand and be engaged with. Hopefully, I will be able to pick ideas and techniques from some classmates as they give some of their speeches. Also, I look forward to utilizing the experience and wisdom of our celebrated coaches that will be helping us in the next few days. I hope with their input and wisdom, I can craft some good speeches and learn the craft of producing good impromptu speeches.

Looking forward to more progress tomorrow. Then after tomorrow---we'll be halfway finished!!

Looking forward to hearing great speeches and seeing great improvements from my classmates!

Until next time--be anxious without waiting.