Week 9, Activity 3
General blog review
I have been quite diligent in attending to the micro-aspects of writing and referencing.
Throughout the blog, I have attempted to maintain stylistic continuity. This included a series of photographs that I took specifically to enhance the blog and relate to the topics.
At times, I have written more than may have been required. I found it fitting to ensure that I had explored the topic satisfactorily, rather than merely providing an overview. By contrast, there are some instances of a summary being provided.
Overall, I think I have managed to create a visually interesting and textually satisfactory blog on speech and script.
Week 9, Activity 4
Reflection
a) The most useful activities to my learning were usually the ones that I disliked the most.
Reading the news script was both humiliating and enlightening. I consider the understanding and practical application of ideas to be essential to being able to adequately read news items over an audio or audio-visual medium.
Learning about how speeches are formulated, through undertaking literature reviews and analysing speeches, was helpful. Speech writing had almost been a mystery to me in the past, as I separated the idea of a ‘presentation’ with that of a ‘speech’. Understanding the rhetorical devices used to create a successful ‘formal’ speech, or better handle ‘informal’ and ‘impromptu’ speech, is important.
b) Undertaking the Speech & Script course at CQUniversity (COMM12033) has given me greater confidence in how to approach speech writing and presenting.
The practical element to the course has been a great way to learn in a ‘hands on’ manner. I am a visual-kinisthetic learner and practical experience is important to building my confidence. Kinesthetic learners need to try things for themselves, and visual learners like to see how things are done (rather than just listening), which can be achieved through examples and tutorials (Institute for Learning Styles Research [ILSR] 2016). Therefore, the textual and media-related aspect to the course has been effective in assisting me to learn.
c) The blogging tasks have been interesting, varied and challenging. The format (blogging) is useful in keeping up with media-related technology. I have enjoyed the blogging, but have been restricted in some ways due to health-related reasons.
d) My main concern with my final piece is that of being ‘believable’ or ‘authentic’. I am playing a role (like an actress) and need to ensure that I use the most appropriate voice attributes and speech-related devices. Even a well-written script will not sound as good if it is poorly performed or unconvincingly delivered.
There is a need for greater detail and specific data to be included in my speech, in order to make it believable from a content-based perspective. This will be a challenge.
I’m also concerned about accidentally creating a speech that sounds similar to someone else’s maiden speech in the business arena. The way I can check this, is to do some research into transitions in management in similar circumstances and similar companies.
I need to consolidate exactly what my company does in the marketplace, give it a name (that hasn’t been used before – check company name search) and create realistic, yet invented circumstances and data.
Overall, I think that with research, consideration and planning, I can construct a convincing speech, using more rhetorical devices than I have currently indicated.
References
Institute for Learning Styles Research (ILSR) 2016, Overview of the seven perceptual styles, viewed 24 May 2016, http://www.learningstyles.org/styles/index.html
Speech & Script by Sheena 