Portfolio Podcast

Ben Feldmann COMM 131 Portfolio Podcast

Hey Zack,

I'm not certain if that will load, so I will try to email you as well. 

Speech 4 Refleciton

#4 Post-Speech Reflection; Start, stop, continue

Performance live vid: LIVE ACTION

Start

·      Using hand motions. Zack mentioned this in his feedback, I really need to figure out how I can incorporate hand gestures or body language to enhance my message. I could have used them during this past speech when I set up the rhetorical situation, or described the overview.

·      Transitioning smoothly between every idea, slide, or person. From now on I am going to specifically identify every point in the speech where I transition between ideas, and try to come up with phrases that can smoothly link ideas. Transitions were addressed in detail in one of our assigned readings but I haven’t done a great job of implementing them yet.

·      Interacting with the audience on a deeper level. Maybe address them directly or ask a question, volunteer, or show of hands. Throughout the year different people have don’t this in different ways, but overall I think it mixes things up and keeps the audience engaged. It’s also a good way to take up time, and present information with a different approach.

·      Dividing media such as youtube clips, into more, smaller segments placed throughout the presentation. Makes it easier for people to connect and get what you want them to. Shows that you aren’t just including media for kicks but that you actually understand it and have drawn clear connections in which the video adds to, enhances, or supports your argument/point. Media should be used intentionally and with purpose sometimes I just put it in to have it.

·      Using a hook—I have before, but in his feedback Zack pointed out that our group didn’t really have one. I think one of the challenges of group work is that with group think some things are easily forgotten. The hook is the first thing the audience hears so its super crucial and needs to be incorporated in the future.

·      Outlining my specific goal in giving my speech so it’s clear to the audience and they may feel convinced of it. Perez asked about this after our speech so we obviously didn’t do a good job of conveying our goal. Zack also pointed it out—How could anyone help us if they don’t know what we want.

Stop

·      Going off script-can’t stress this one enough…it never works out. For some reason even though I’ve practiced my lines one way, when I get in front of the class I want to do them a different way.

·      Falling into monotone—this maybe has been my biggest challenge throughout the year. I think that I did show a lot of improvement in my last presentation but when I watch my presentation I realize that I still fell into monotone at some points.

·      Rushing through parts I am uncomfortable with. Parts that I have less practice with or am less passionate about I tend to sort of rush through. I think this makes this un-comfortability super obvious and hurts my overall performance. Need to practice the things I’m uncomfortable and change the things I don’t like—Before I’m in front of the class!

·      I too cringed during the animal video. I’m not sure if it was effective, I think it may have been more emotionally tolling than the situation warranted.

Continue

·      Adding acting into my speaking performances. I think the comedy is a super powerful tool to get an audiences attention and further it also helped me avoid some monotone. My thinking of the performance more like acting I felt more natural to really embrace it and I think it showed in my performance compared to past speeches.

·      Explore and incorporate appropriate moves in accordance with typical conventions of genres. Ever since we learned how to classify genres and identify conventions and moves I’ve been trying to use this skill to prepare my own speeches. When in the research phase it is super helpful to identify typical moves I see. Later when I draft my speech, it helps keep me on track and know what I need to include. Stealing the state farm commercial move was super effective for our group and really easy.

·      Introducing myself to audience, I think this sort of breaks the ice and puts a personal touch on the presentation. My introducing myself I seem more human and less robot and therefore more relatable and engaging.

·      Using engaging visual media. Our prezi was very affective I hope, Prezi makes things fun and helps link/organize ideas in a custom layout. I think the commercial that Daisy and Courtney made was very well done also. Zack pointed out one way we could have improved our prezi is if we had our facts on a slide (it would also have helped us remember) So I will continue to try and use visual aids to support my speech.

·      Practicing a lot has really helped me improve my speeches. The first speech I didn’t even feel comfortable at home let alone in front of the class. Part of this is just based on the number of speeches I’ve done, but also practicing a lot and just like the real thing. Videoing myself so I have to commit and can’t stop in the middle, and also using a timer, forcing myself to get a smooth pace down.

·      I really enjoyed working in a team. We all brought different ideas to the discussion and worked together to come up with our final presentation. Certainly there were parts of the presentation I could have never thought of but also there were things that none of use could have done on our own. I also think synergy is the key to making group projects work, no one was shooting down ideas and it really helped our creative process. I think each one of us felt safe to share any idea we had.

·      Using other individuals to lend credibility to my presentation, this was Courtney’s idea to use her roomies in the video. I think it was super effective for people to see someone they didn’t know talking about our product I know it did in Jakes AI video.

Classmates moves and how I will try to incorporate them in the future

1.     Team March: several moves I loved from this group. The ‘man of many hats’ bit was amazing, super funny and affective. But the move I want to incorporate was just the general move of answering audience questions. As they said afterwards in explaining their move, it was a way to explain information from a different approach, perhaps this information would have been awkward if just stated outright. My group could have incorporated this move to make some features of our product more natural to explain. Like for example our giving money back to the community, or our packaging. Also this move seems to add to the argumentative power, or credibility of the performance because they stood up under questioning, and had material prepared that was not the primary focus.

2.     Team Taka: Did an amazing job branding themselves. “AI” It was simple, clever, catchy and they repeated it over and over. Their AI thing was fun to say, and clever because Artificial Intelligence is often referred to as AI. They acted with confidence and like they new their brand was already badass. The confidence and seeming established sense of their brand made it more powerful. I will try to come up with catchy and effective slogans or other forms of brand establishment in the future. Sometimes developing out little aspects of your idea can really make a difference. Also they did an amazing job with their video.

Group Speech Outline

My group members are Jesus, Trinidad, Daisy, and Courtney

For our group project we are trying to sell a concept product called TAR-OFF, and also its sister products.

Tonight when I get home I need to record and send a video of me saying some things that are bad about tar so that she can finish putting together.

I also need to finish working on this Prezzi before class tomorrow
TAR GROUP PREZI

Outline of our presentation:
SLIDE 1
To begin with we will introduce ourselves and each say a local fact about tar. We will use the prezi to accompany our introduction.
"I'm Ben and today I'll be telling you a little bit about tar, did you know "All tar comes from natural seeps of oil, and its not produced by humans"

SLIDE 2
Then we will have a slide in the prezi to give an overview of what the presentation will include:
-Intro and facts (1 min maybe slightly more)
-Problem (1 min maybe slightly less)
-Solution: Our product TAR-OFF (20 seconds)
-Testimonials (1 min 30 secs each followed by 1 min response from Tar Geenie, total skit about 10 min.)
-Video (3 minutes)
-Conclusion (30 sec)
-Break Down (1 min 30 sec)
-Thanks

SLIDE 3
We will have a brief slide outlining the problems off tar on our local beaches--but the particulars of this information will come from the live testimonials. This slide will include some stats, and images of tar.

SLIDE 4
We will have a slide to pitch our product enthusiastically. Maybe with an image if I can find/make one, but definitely with our product TAR-OFF in big letters.

SLIDE 5
Will just say "Live Testimonials-don't just take our word for it"

SLIDE 6
An image of a beach back-round because the testimonials will take place at the beach

Then we will go through our skit:
The skit features 4 encounters between someone upset by Santa Barbara tar, and a magic Tar Geenie who appears and markets our product. We will all be in costume.

First---I will act as a local surfer coming out on to the beach after a nice sesh. I will use a south african(ish) accent to add comedic relierf. As I come out on to the beach I will say, "sand oh I love sand, Im gunna do some sand angels" then I will lay on the ground and pretend to do sand angels. After I get up I'll say croiqe I've got black sticky icky all over my body, how will I get this gel off of my body when I don't have a bottle of soy sauce on meh...If I only I had a Tar Geenie
Then the tar geenie (Courtney) will appear and promote TAR-OFF, saying that it comes in convenient towlette packets which I can carry in my wetsuit. "I'll say radical, thanks tar geenie" and exit stage.

Second--Daisy will enter dressed as a tourist gathering rocks from the beach. She will pretend to get tar on her hands form a real tar covered rock brought from the local beach. Because she is a tourist from Seattle she will say "Oh what is this stuff, if I only there were some Geenie"
Then poof courtney the tar geenie will appear again and promote TAR-OFF. This time she will explain the origins of tar in SB and say that its a big part of SB economy to drill oil. The tar geenie will also explain the natural ingrediants to appeal to the seattle hippie. Daisy will say "wow thanks tar geenie"

Third--A local hotel manager (Trinidad) walks onto the beach on break to have a cigarette. She gets tar on her foot and starts to complain about not only does it get on her feet when she walks on the beach, but also tourists track it in and ruin the hotel carpet. She'll say "I spend all my time scrubbing tar, if only there were some kind of tar geenie" and then poof Courtney will again appear. The tar geenie will promote our product TAR-OFF but then also promote the TAR-BAR which can be used on fabric or carpet. Trinidad will be overjoy'd and excliam "wow thanks tar geenie"

Fourth--Jesus will be a local jogger, going for a run on the beach with his pet horse Rusty. Jesus will stop for a break and notice that there is tar all over his expensive Nike running shoes. He will begin to get upset and then realize that his trusty steed Rusty also has tar all over his hoofs and body. Jesus will call out "If only there was a tar geenie" then poof Courtney the Tar Geenie will once again appear. This time she will not only promote TAR-OFF sister product TAR-BAR for Jesus's shoes, but this time she will also introduce TAR-BAR Tojan extra strength edition, which Jesus can use to scrub Rusty clean of tar as well. Jesus will say "great, thank you so much Tar Geenie"

SLIDE 7
link to group youtube video

SLIDE 8
Conclusion-pushing TAR-OFF once more

SLIDE 9
will explain our basic process creating this presentation. We will talk about meeting as a group and going to the beach to ask real people and observe first hand the problems caused by the local tar. We will talk about how we all worked hard and had great chemistry as a group, we put our minds together and ultimately had a lot of fun coming up with a solution for a problem that we really have observed.
Thanks.

Speech 3: start, stop, continue

Start, Stop, Continue : Speech 3 Reflection

Radical Speech

My Radical idea is about incarceration trying to convince you that, instead of putting criminals in jail, we should put them in school

Start:

• ·      I did cite my sources on a slide, but I think I should mention a few of the most used or most reputable or significant in future presentations. By mentioning a few important sources I can give the audience both visual and audio citation of my sources. Adding to logos.

o   Perhaps I should also put some citations throughout my prezzi, on the same slides as the information used from each source or at least some.

• ·      Looking at the audience more, I was looking at my power point to much and not at my audience enough. I need to have the main points down better without having to look up at my slide for them.
• ·      Putting this under start->I found a very relevant and in my opinion powerful address in a Senate hearing by Bernie Sanders which I think would be a better media to include rather than the Joan Baez song. I think everyone is sort of in a political mode with the presidential primaries taking place, and so the Bernie clip is not only more relevant, but it would also have added credibility to my position—more so then 13 seconds of Joan Baez.
• ·      Summarizing txt on slides into more simple, clear, bullets (with additional txt only when absolutely required)

o   Maybe make more slides, but definitely have less txt on each in the future

• ·      The only ‘hand gestures’ I seemed to have was touching my face. In my next presentation I want to use hand motions to help emphasize certain points, and connect with the audience.
• ·      Using more tone fluctuations, I’ve already been working on this one, but still need quite a bit of work. When I watch my video, it is better than speech #2, but still has a large amount of monotone. I need to really get into my speeches and not be so nervous when I present.
• ·      I want to start moving around more in my next speech. Using more of the stage could help keep the audience engaged, and add emphasis.

Stop:

• ·      Putting things in I didn’t practiceàspecifically in my last speech I said, “it costs to much” things like this take up time and interrupt the flow I practiced.
• ·      Putting so much txt on each slide of my prezzi, brief slides show more memorization, which indicates at least more time invested, if not more passion in one’s presentation.

o   Also I think my slides are somewhat overwhelming and the audience may get annoyed with all the reading and lose interest. Also they may not have enough time to keep up with all the reading, and therefore stop listening.

• ·      Stop talking so quickly, it can be overwhelming and too fast for the audience to really hear and understand, use less words, with more meaning!
• ·      Touching my face every other sentence.
• ·      Saying ahm or uhm in between ideas, I should come up with transitions to memorize instead.

Continue:

• ·      Citing sources at end with a slide, I think its okay to squeeze almost all of them in on one slide, especially the ones that weren’t too heavily relied on.
• ·      Practicing a lot with someone watching, a timer going, and clicking through my power point. I’ve found it extremely helpful to practice just like it will be in class.
• ·      Doing extensive research and including lots of numbers, references and statistics, I think it helps by employing logos, and showing data to back up arguments. Also it takes up time in my speeches and makes them more full I think.
• ·      Using creative prezzi presentations, with lots of picture and graphics. I believe this helps grab the audience’s attention and a relevant theme or flow through prezzi helps keep the audience engaged.
• ·      Using a hook like I did with my Seychelles fact. Something fun to get everyone’s attention.
• ·      Using an outline slide, giving the audience a blueprint helps them follow along better and absorb more information from my presentation.
• ·      Using digital media like I did with the Joan Baez song. I like watching the presentations where the media really adds to the message or shows another angle.
• ·      Trying to find overlap with my speeches and my other classes, this has really helped me get all the work done. Exploring subjects which I already know something about is a great strategy. Work smarter, not harder.
• ·      Moving quickly through presentation, not spending too much time on any one slide or another. Keeps things moving, and helps me keep track of timing. Don’t rush, just keep it steady and show that I’m prepared.

3 Classmates Moves:

1. ·      I liked Nestor’s video that he included. His video showed a unique perspective and made the issue real for me. Seeing with my own eyes what he was talking about helped me understand his argument more.
2. ·      Jake had a very solemn topic with animal cruelty, but I thought he made a great case to put human problems first. I think the way he paused, and used both facial expression and tone to show real emotion behind what he was talking about was extremely effective. Every time he paused I could feel the focus in the room, everyone was zeroed in listening carefully to what Jake had to say.
3. ·      My overall favorite move from the radical speech presentations was when Ling directly asked the audience a question. Her interaction with the audience was fun to watch, and added to her message. Not only was I paying attention for her entire presentation, but I felt like she knew what she was talking about.