End of the Semester

Well, our class is over. It has been quite a journey from July to now. Reflecting back illustrates many wonderful things to me. I have seen you grow from high school students into young college students. You have intergrated yourself nicely into the Rider Community. I am proud of how many of you are already active in so many Rider activities and clubs. Many of you have worked hard this semester and have applied the coursework with thoughtful effort. It is my desire that you will hold on to these speech skills and continue to apply them in all your coursework. I am here if you need someone to talk to or help in completing an assignment, whatever. Please touch base with me and let me know how things are going....and, I especially want to hear about your future success stories as I know that there will be many of them. I will miss seeing your faces and talking to you so please stay in touch. I wish the best to you all, and Happy Holidays. (And, keep adding to your virtual portfolios, I will be checking back on them and showing them off to others!)

Entertainment Critiques - Section D

Ha!Ha!Ha! I heard some funny speeches. Overall, good application to the five techniques of humor. Post your critique here. Please sure to give at least three examples of three different techniques that were heard in the speech. Identify the technique and then, follow up with the application heard in the speech.

Entertainment Critiques - Section H

Ha!Ha!Ha! I heard some funny speeches. Overall, good application to the five techniques of humor. Post your critique here. Please sure to give at least three examples of three different techniques that were heard in the speech. Identify the technique and then, follow up with the application heard in the speech.

Why Network? (Section H)

This blog post follows up with our discussion and presentation by our guest speaker, Kelly Pederson of Rider University's Career Services. Ms. Pederson stated that 75-80%of today's jobs are found in networks and that most people have at least 250 contacts. She further stated that everyone should have a 30 seconds to 1 minute commercial to promote their interests. So, what does your commercial sound like? What interests would you personally need to promote? Personal? Professional? Career related? Post to this blog your thoughts on ways that you presently need or will need in the immediate further network contacts.

Why Network? (Section D)

This blog post follows up with our discussion and presentation by our guest speaker, Kelly Pederson of Rider University's Career Services. Ms. Pederson stated that 75-80%of today's jobs are found in networks and that most people have at least 250 contacts. She further stated that everyone should have a 30 seconds to 1 minute commercial to promote their interests. So, what does your commercial sound like? What interests would you personally need to promote? Personal? Professional? Career related? Post to this blog your thoughts on ways that you presently need or will need in the immediate further network contacts.

Persuasive Speeche Blog Critiques - Section H

Well, the election issues speeches are underway! Please post your critiques here for Section H class. Be sure that all critiques are detailed and make comment to how well the presenters applied their argument to Monroe's Motivated Sequence, in addition to including the supporting sources neededto provide the necessary evidence. Remember, arguments need logic and evidence every step of the way to be peruasive. Holes in the argument ( lack of evidence) need to be addressed in this critique.

Persuasive Speech Blog Critiques - Section D

Well, the election issues speeches are underway! Please post your critiques here for Section D class. Be sure that all critiques are detailed and make comment to how well the presenters applied their argument to Monroe's Motivated Sequence, in addition to including the supporting sources neededto provide the necessary evidence. Remember, arguments need logic and evidence every step of the way to be peruasive. Holes in the argument ( lack of evidence) need to be addressed in this critique.

What are you listening to?

We discussed in class the importance of understanding the listening process in our daily communication situations. Understanding that we each come into our communication experiences with our own frame of reference is an important idea. Gaining a new perspective requires that you move past your own personal barriers to accurately decode the message. Try to remove your own personal barriers in this assignment. Regardless of your present thoughts of either candidate,attempt to listen to this speech in a nonpartisan way. How would you evaluate Sarah Palin's speech at the recent Republician National Convention. What are you listening to in her performance? Style and delivery? Content? Are you evaluating the message on her nonverbal behavior? Does her body language communicate her message? How does she express herself? Humor? Emotion? What ways has she adapted her message to her audience? What kinds of language is being used? What kinds of supporting details? Use the guide sheet for evaluating speeches at the end of Chapter four in our text when posting. I expect that you illustrate your comments with details and specific examples from the speech. Review your post before you submit it. Is it more negative or positive? So what are you listening to? (You should go to the EOP link titled "delicious" to find two links for this speech. The speech is in two parts. You will find a link for each part of the speech in my delicious account.)

EOP Fall Semester.

Welcome Back! The time has flown since our last meeting this summer! Time to go back to class!!! We have a lot to do this semester. You can find the syllabus here linked on our blog. You can also find it under course documents in your blackboard account. I will be adding links that you might find useful this semester as we move through the coursework. You should be checking our blog daily throughout the semester for supplemental course information, in addition to assigned postings. Looking forward to seeing you all very soon! Remember, don't put off what you can do today!! Stay on top of all reading assignments and speech preparation so you are sure to complete all work in a timely manner. See me, email me whenever you have questions or need help. :)

Summer Reading

I am proud of your accomplishments this summer. It was a tremendous effort made in our short five weeks together. The quality of your effort, work and performance are to be commended.

As we discussed in class, here are some suggestions fore summer reading. These books will be incorporated into our fall course work. Tackling even one of these books will help you further yourself both personally and during our academic journey this fall.



The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

The 8th Habit by Stephen Covey

The Speed of Trust by Stephen M.R. Covey (the previous author's son)

Good to Great by Jim Collins

The Secret by Rhonda Byrne



It was wonderful to witness your enthusiasm for Rider University and your excitement for returning to in the fall at the EOP banquet. Enjoy the rest of of your break. Stay true to yourself and your dreams. I looking forward to greeting you all back in the fall. In the meantime, feel free to comment on the suggested reading titles, share your own suggestions or just say "hi".

"It's A Wrap"-Summer Session 2008

Well, it has been quite a busy semester! I am so proud of the accomplishments and personal achievements shown this semester. The majority of you are growing into wonderful speakers!!! We will continue our journey to becoming public speakers this fall. Enjoy the rest of your summer break. I am looking forward to seeing you all again this fall. Feel free to email me and say "hi" until then....be safe, be well and be happy! "It's A Wrap" for now.... time to get some sleep!

Passion Speech Critiques - 10 am class

Please post your blog critiques under this posting. Be sure to include enough details for both delivery and content aspects to include at least three improvements and three strengths. Remember that I am expecting some depth in your critique comments. You should not only help your speech "buddy" set goals for the fall semester but, illustrate from the perspective of the sender what makes for effective communication.

Passion Speech Critiques - 8:30am class

Please post your blog critiques under this posting. Be sure to include enough details for both delivery and content aspects to include at least three improvements and three strengths. Remember that I am expecting some depth in your critique comments. You should not only help your speech "buddy" set goals for the fall semester but, illustrate from the perspective of the sender what makes for effective communication.

TED Talks - Jill Bolte Taylor

What techniques do you incorporate in your speech to create a genuine connection with your audience? How do you grab your audience’s interest and stimulate their minds to your presentation? Can you promote an intelligent conversation while keeping the audience focused on your message? Please view this video. What techniques are utilized by this speaker to keep the audience involved with the material? How does the speaker help the audience to be able to connect and apply her information to their lives? Post a critique of this talk. Make application to our class criteria used this semester. You need to include specific examples and explanations that illustrate the techniques used by this speaker. Be sure to be specific in identifying and applying these techniques to speech presentations. This blog post is due no later that Tuesday, August 5th before class.

What's Your Passion?

The general topic for our second speech is entitled " the Passion Speech". What are you passionate about in your life? "Love what you do, and the rest will follow" is an expression that we hear from many successful people. They understand the key to success in their lives whether in their career or their personal relationships is about working with their passions. Why are you majoring in your declared major? Are you passionate about this work? What are your hobbies, interests and/or beliefs? Share your passion with the class in this next speech assignment. See the handout and sample outline for direction in this speech. I am excited to hear your passions in our last speech this summer.

The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams.
Oprah Winfrey, O Magazine

PR speech critiques for 10 am class

Please post your critique for your speech buddy here if you are in the 10:00 am class. Be sure to use your feedback form as a guide. Remember, use details to support your comments. You have to back up your comments with enough details that the speaker has specific information to use in their next performance. Roughly, three strong strengths and three improvements would be the minimum needed in this post. Feel free to comment more if you choose. Remember, Feedback is a gift. Let's help each other be great speakers!

PR Speech Critiques for 8:30 am class

Please post your critique for your speech buddy here if you are in the 8:30 am class. Be sure to use your feedback form as a guide. Remember, use details to support your comments. You have to back up your comments with enough details that the speaker has specific information to use in their next performance. Roughly, three strong strengths and three improvements would be the minimum needed in this post. Feel free to comment more if you choose. Remember, Feedback is a gift. Let's help each other be great speakers!

Presenting An Impresssion

The goal of this assignment is to further deepen the knowledge acquired in class this semester in producing an effective speech presentation, please include the following criteria as a comment to this blog before our next class meeting on Monday, July 21st.

Find a clip of a presenter (celebrity, athlete, politician, etc.) on Youtube or some other video outlet available to you on the Internet, and evaluate why you feel he or she makes an impact on you through his/her speech. You can use the feedback form you will be using to evaluate your peer's presentation next week as a reference for what to look for in this review. This presenter can be making a speech, giving an interview or in a film as a character who makes an impact on you. The clip should not be more than two minutes (it is just a small part of the whole presentation). Place the url address of the link in the blog for me and your peers to look at as they review your posting. Additionally, be prepared to share why you chose this person in our class meeting on Monday. As stated, you can use Youtube, news site (CNN.com, msnbc.msn.com) live.com/video, TED Talks site or some other video sharing location on the web.

Speeches, Research and Citations

Two important considerations when a delivering a speech are to consider the audience’s needs for expertise and ethics. The audience judges your message by your qualification(s) on the topic and the ethics that you exhibit. Avoiding oral plagiarism and illustrating your qualifications can both be achieved in a speech by orally and visually citing your research and expertise. I encourage your research effort and even, occasionally using the free web but it must not be overlooked the audience’s need to trust you and believe your message. Achieving this trust and believability in the message can be achieved by utilizing credible, (academic) sources and sharing orally and visually (powerpoint) with the audience the “pertinent” information on the research utilized in the speech information. Ask yourself the following questions in your audience's mind: Who said so? Where did this come from? How do I know this is true? These questions will direct you in two ways; whether to cite and then, exactly what information is needed in the cite. Check out the following sites: Information Ethics: Citing and Fair Use for further direction in citing your speech research. So, remember don’t just “say it”, you have got to “cite it” too!

PR Speech

Here is your first speech assignment for the summer. You are expected to have read, prepared, researched and practiced this speech before class. Please understand you are responsible for completing this assignment on your speech day as directed by your sign up in class which will occur on Monday, July 14. Please see your assignment here.In addition to presenting, you will be writing two critiques. One you will post here for your speech buddy and the other you will write on yourself and hand in to me for review.. You will receive credit by evaluating the specifics of both your speech and your peer's speech and by giving developmental feedback that will enhance the speaker's skills. In your paper, you should also being setting goals for yourself and determine how you will achieve these goals. Please follow the guideline and headings in this handout in preparing both your critique and your peer's. You may want to print it out and bring it to class when your assigned presenter speaks and use it to take notes. On the sidebar of the blog, you will find a sample speech outline prepared by one of my former students who is now working full time in the Public Relations field. Please use this as a guide to prepare your outline for both this speech and your next.

Are You Emotionally Intelligent?- 10 am Class

With so much emphasis placed on coursework, grades and accolades for accomplishments, interpersonal communication and relationships take second billing. In the business world, however, it is not just about what you know but how you sell it. Can you play nice with others and develop rewarding relationships that will lead you down the path to success? Let's find out. Please take this link to an EQ test on the Discovery Health Website and see how you score when it comes to managing your empathy, communication, nonverbal and criticism skills. Please respond to this post no later than before our next class period on Wednesday, July 9 and tell us how emotionally intelligent you are (you don't have to give your score unless you want to, but you do need to go into detail about where your emotional weaknesses are and the skills you need to further develop to be a more effective communicator). FYI. Professor's score was 122 in case you are interested.

Are You Emotionally Intelligent?-8 30 am Class

With so much emphasis placed on coursework, grades and accolades for accomplishments, interpersonal communication and relationships take second billing. In the business world, however, it is not just about what you know but how you sell it. Can you play nice with others and develop rewarding relationships that will lead you down the path to success? Let's find out. Please take this link to an EQ test on the Discovery Health Website and see how you score when it comes to managing your empathy, communication, nonverbal and criticism skills. Please respond to this post no later than before our next class period on Wednesday, July 9 and tell us how emotionally intelligent you are (you don't have to give your score unless you want to, but you do need to go into detail about where your emotional weaknesses are and the skills you need to further develop to be a more effective communicator). FYI: Professor's score was 122 in case you are interested.

"Humbition"

Here is the link for the article discussed in class today taken from Business Week Online last spring for those wishing to read and followup with our class discussion.