Ronald Reagan speech is an informative one. This is because his main objective is to notify the people of America of the tragedy that has occurred regarding the Space Shuttle Challenger in the year 1968.
Introduction
The speech’s introduction is brilliant. The speaker starts by saluting the audience, which were both men and women. He then went directly to address the issue at hand without wasting any time by saying that what he had planned on saying that night was not what he would since happenings of earlier that day had changed his plan. The speaker notified the audience of the objective of his speech and he delivers it well through the sad and mournful tone of his voice.
Speech Body
The presentation’s focus was to the primary objective. All of the stories, arguments, and anecdotes relate back to the main objective of the speech. This is because from the introduction to the middle and the conclusion of the speech, all of the content related to the main message delivered.
The speaker used metaphors and symbols in the speech. For example, he compared the Challenger’s crew to Sir Drake. Sir Drake was also a symbol of explorers who dedicated their lives to adventure and discovery making them live and die by them.
The speaker used bridges to help him transition from one fragment of the presentation to the following. Conjunctions like ‘and’ were used to join one sentence to another.
The speech had short and precise paragraphs and sentences overall. This evidenced by all the ten paragraphs of the speech, which were not long and were exactly to the point.
Speech Conclusion
It was brief, memorable and it also had a call to act and lastly had a thank note. The conclusion only had three sentences. What made it memorable was that the speaker talked about the last moments of the astronauts before they headed for ‘God’s face’ just before the tragedy. The speech ended with thanking the audience for listening.
Humor
Speech was a sad and mournful hence not there.
Visual aid
Physical-Gestures and Eye Contact
The speaker sitting posture showed he was confident. His gestures were natural, easy to notice, and timely. The speaker was not distracted and his focus was sharp since his eye contact is on the audience and which helped him connect to the audience who were viewing him.
Vocal Variety
The speaker was eloquent and easy to hear. He used soft and loud variations at points that were of less and more emphasis respectively. His pace of the speech was moderate that enabled one to understand and follow. He also paused which helped in understanding of his speech.
Language
The speaker used language that was appropriate to all. No use of foul language was used hence it was morally appropriate. No hate speech is used. He used simple language since it was easy to understand and no complex vocabulary is used. Rhetoric is used; an instance is alliteration where the speaker says ‘slipped the surly’ .Another instance is repetition where the word Challenger frequently appears. A short eulogy was also another instance of where the speaker praised the deceased since they lived in a way that honored everybody.
Intangibles
The speech makes one feel bereaved since it was as if someone had loses people who are important to him or her and to the nation at large.
Credibility
Was the speaker credible or believable? I say he was credible since first he talked about he’s and his wife personal feeling about the tragedy since he said Nancy an d him were pained by the tragedy of the shuttle challenger to the core. Besides that, he also shares that pain with the citizens of the country and in particular the families of the seven astronauts and the people who work for NASA. This most importantly made his speech believable and made the audience trust him.
Relevance
The speech is relevant to the primary objective. The speaker does sway away from the main issue and is always on track.
Overall, it would be nice to listen to the speaker again. He is interesting to watch as he displays body language. He is knows and fully understands what he talks in the speech. He is brief in a manner that allows you to relate easily what he talks about throughout the whole speech. He also is eloquent enabling one to hear him well without confusing one word for another since his pronunciation is good. Lastly, he knows how to capture the attention of the audience, making one fully listen to what information he is conveying to the audience.
Reference
President Ronald Reagan-Address on the Challenger Disaster, YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEjXjfxoNXM
