Speech Critique
Introduction
Critique about something or somebody is a process of positive, independent, critical, and unbiased evaluation for better and systematic analysis and interpretation. In order to express or write the critiques of something, one has not only to examine the event or the person very carefully, but also to discover the various aspects that are important for its complete understanding. So, it makes good sense to understand that critiques can be regarded as the useful interpretation of a particular subject. As far as this writing is concerned, I would discuss the critiques of the public meeting which I attended last week. During this public meeting, an annual meeting on the various proceedings of the church was organized. This meeting is known as the Annual General Meeting, (AGM) and would give an account of various church activities in the last year. I had the privilege and honor of being the audience of that event. The event was organized by the church committee, and the secretary of the pastorate committee organized and compared the whole event. This writing would outline the speaker’s approach about handling this topic of speech, and his ability to influence and convince the minds of audience.
Analysis
Whenever the committees are formed in order to look after and manage a certain organization, it becomes obligatory that the personnel involved in the team give the account of their activities to the management. In a secular organization like church, the accountability of the committee is towards all the eligible members of the church. Thus, AGM is one such public meeting where the secretary has to present the reports for the various activities of the different departments of the church and has to convince all the audiences.
The public speaking is the part and parcel of individual’s life. Thus, it is important to keep in mind that the communication between the two persons or things is effectively and efficiently performed. The speaker must cater to the needs of audience’ needs, and keep their understanding into consideration. Keeping these parameters into consideration, such public speaking was delivered by the representative of the New Life Church Florida, USA.
Speaker’s Background
It is important for an individual to justify the designation he/she is appointed to. The selected representative of the committee needs to cater the needs of the audience as well he needs to defend the proceedings of various other departments of the church in an apt manner. So, it was important for the orator that one’s speaking should be crisp, clear, and compact. And, it justifies the topic one speaks, and also, one is, in my opinion, able to meet the expectations of the audiences to some extent.
Approach of Speaker
The speaker was able to justify and perfectly hold on to the designation he was appointed to. The approach and style of his speaking were simple but captivating that was able to bring into limelight the various aspects of AGM. The speech started with a smart parable from the Bible, which talks about the talents. He beautifully represented the parable where the master gives the 5, 2, and 1 talent to his servants. He beautifully narrated how the servants with the 5 and 2 talents multiplied their belongings. But, the third hid his talent in the ground out of the fear of his master that he might lose them in his business. The implication of this parable in his speech was that the committee had tried to use its talents and responsibilities in such a way that the church progresses and it glorifies the Lord. His approach of holding on to the audience and making them interested towards his topic was highly commendable and encouraging.
With the passage of time, the orator had his unique style of delivering his topic by the means of power-point presentation (PPT). This approach of using PPT made the presentation systematic and organized. The first and foremost things that one needs to remember in public speaking, are the analysis, design, development, organization, and application of content for an effective speech delivery in public domain. Similarly, this speaker followed all these tips of public speaking, and he finally had very accurately catered to these needs of speech delivery. His speech started with the analogy, and then in a very sophisticated way, he addressed the audience and presented his greetings to all of them. It is important that the audience is made to feel comfortable and privileged during presentation. In addition, the use of vocabulary in addressing the audience was appreciable, and it really attracted the attentions of the people in his speech. While presenting any topic in a special public speech event, it is imperative that the audiences are made familiar with the discussion and its topics. In order to do so, the presenter had a very organized and systematic questionnaire prepared for his audiences. This was a rare and unique adopted by the speaker to make the presentation interactive by involving the audience in the topic of discussion.
Salient Points of Speaker
As the part of his presentation, the speaker very beautifully introduced the different committees of the church. The representatives of different committees like youth club, women fellowship, choir, etc. were introduced in his speech. As the speech progressed, the speaker in a very organized manner discussed the various activities of these committees. The attractive point of his speech was the wisdom he showed in representing the feedback and presenting the budget. It was seen that the he had really spent time in tactfully handling all these parameters.
Problems of Speaker
The speaker, while making his public speech, had a long list of questions which the majority of members might want to be addressed. But, he had a smart way of letting the people read and analyze their queries, without discussing them in detail. As far as the location of the public event was concerned, it was organized in a big hall where a large number of audiences were seated. So, it was important to maintain close and effective interaction with the audient. On the one hand, this aspect was taken into consideration by the speaker while discussing the topic. On the other hand, the audiences were made to analyze the questions. And, he also engaged himself to make them comfortable and interactive. The various techniques in the form of data collection, knowledge indulgence, and communication channel were very aptly and briskly discussed.
Problem Areas and Their Solutions
As I have briefly discussed the speech delivered by one of the representatives in church events, it makes good sense to appreciate and discuss the creative and analytical critiques of his speech. Although the speech started with good introduction and analogy, and his presentation was able to captivate and entrap the attention of the audiences into the discussion, the speech lost its effectiveness while proceeding towards the end. The seating arrangement of the hall was improper, and therefore, it was not possible for all the individuals to have an eye contact with the presenter, thus making the session become less interactive. Furthermore, in the process of covering all points, it skipped many important parameters to explain elaborately the salient points which must have been discussed in the session. As the purpose of this meeting was to have discussion, it was pertinent to grab and fulfill the needs and attentions of all the listeners, but this did not happen judiciously. In order to fully satisfy the purpose of the meeting, it was important that members get convinced that their resources were utilized properly and also, that the purpose of organizing such events is to glorify and teach people about the Kingdom of God. But unfairly, whatever the answers were given by the speaker, they were all for the unexpected questions, thereby making the audiences remain unfairly unanswered for their queries. The Annual Meetings like these have ample of queries which demand the justification of the speaker. Every question has to be addressed very wisely so that all the people get a transparent view of the investment of their resources. The speaker lacked a tactful approach of handling this session. He tried to satisfy the people with his code of conduct and justifications without giving the opportunity to the representatives of the committees to explain the scenario better. In the long run, the data collection is an important element of presentation, and this presentation had an inadequate data to present any facts and justifications to its listeners. Also, the conclusion was not only loose, but also abrupt. Therefore, the session did not take into consideration the proper time management, and it lacked the queries session. Using the expert inputs of this query session, the audiences could be addressed their issues and problems. So, the above-mentioned points are few critiques of the speech session, which was attended by me. Though there is always room for improvement, it can be safely justified that proper attentions to these points during public speaking would have made the efficiency level of the speaker high, perfect, and appreciable.
Conclusion
Based on the aforesaid facts and interpretation of public speaking, it can be assumed that speech is a mode of delivering your expressions, thoughts and feelings to the individuals. Any form of speech is effective if it is able to not only win the interests of the listeners, but also effectively explain the ideas with verifiable data. So, public speaking is an art, and this art is learned through experience, practice, and interactions. When we interact and take up opportunities to publically express our thoughts, we practice, and hence, enhance our speaking skills. All the aforesaid points present a blend of an illustration of public speaking with few limitations. There are many things that an individual learns while criticizing an event too. The two important things learned from the above experience are analyzing points along with suggestions to make things better, and learning from one’s mistakes. Therefore, learning is an experience, and as we learn, we try to overcome our weaknesses and perform better. So, in the case of public speaking, we must learn from our past experiences and keep moving forward for the perfection.
Work Cited
Hutchinson C. C. Understanding Human Communication”. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002, Print.