This blog entry marks the beginning of the third year of the Touro Communication Club.
Communication Quote of the Week
This is one of the most famous pieces of advice to Communicators
Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue. But if you mouth it, as many of our players do, I had as lief the town crier spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the air too much with your hand, thus, by use all gently, for in the very torrent, tempest, and (as I may say) whirlwind of your passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance that may give it smoothness. O, it offends me to the soul to hear a robustious periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings, who for the most part are capable of nothing but in explicable dumb shows and noise. I would have such a fellow whipped for o'erdoing Termagant. It out-herods Herod. Pray you avoid it. Be not too tame neither, but let your own discretion be your tutor. Suit the action to the word, the word to the action, with this special observance, that you o'erstep not the modesty of nature. For anything so overdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was and is, to hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to nature, to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure. Now this overdone, or come tardy off, though it make the unskillful laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve, the censure of the which one must in your allowance o'erweigh a whole theatre of others. O, there be players that I have seen play, and heard others praise, and that highly (not to speak profanely), that neither having th' accent of Christians, nor the gait of Christian, pagan, nor man, have so strutted and bellowed that I have thought some of Nature's journeymen had made men, and not made them well, they imitated humanity so abominably. Reform it altogether! And let those that play your clowns speak no more than is set down for them, for there be of them that will themselves laugh, to set on some quantity of barren spectators to laugh too, though in the mean time some necessary question of the play be then to be considered. That's villainous and shows a most pitiful ambition in the f ool that uses it. Go make you ready.
Hamlet’s Advice to the Players, Act III, Scene 2, lines 1-36 by William Shakespeare
This Week: Wednesday, June 10, 2009
2 pm - Room 223 – Midtown
“Interviewing Strategies”
One of the most practical communication skills is to be able to make a positive impression in a job interview. Questions are important, but preparation is crucial. Bring your resume and cover letter as we role play the applicant and the interviewer.
Please Note: Next week’s meeting is postponed.
We will take a day off on Wednesday, June 17, 2009, because Hal Wicke has to attend a meeting on the Graduate School of Education. We will continue on Wednesday, June 24th with “Anatomy of Freedom.”
A Note for Communicators:
Strategy: To understand how a world politician approaches an important speech.
Tactic: To analyze the structure and elements of President Obama’s speech at Cairo University, June 4, 2009.
One of candidate Barack Obama’s promises during the presidential election campaign was to speak in a Muslim country. The promise was fulfilled on June 4, 2009 at Cairo University in Egypt, eight months after his election.
A political speech has many audiences: the one in front of the speaker, the audience at home in America, the Muslim countries and the countries around the world. To be successful, there must be something for everyone.
What follows is one person’s somewhat academic analysis of the speech highlighting how clearly organized the speech was. According to reports, Obama’s speech writers have been working on the speech since his election in November. The President made constant revisions to the drafts he was given. The speech structure is very straight forward. It is almost boring in its obvious organization yet clearly required by the importance of the occasion.
According to the White House transcript, President Obama spoke for 55 minutes.
I. Introduction
A. Amenities appropriate to the occasion.
Compliment host – Cairo University
Make connection to American people
Use Arabic for welcome – “Assalaamu alaykum.”
B. Transition
Current status:
Acknowledge tension between U.S. and the Muslim world.
Connect 9/11/01 to Muslim frustrations which led to violence
Changing the status quo
Our differences empower hatred.
C. Thesis statement
I seek a new beginning.
D. Transition
Change cannot happen overnight
Quote from Koran
E. Preparation for body of speech
Personal Muslim reference connecting Obama to audience
Kenya, Indonesia, Chicago, Obama’s names
Muslim contribution to civilization
Muslim connection to America
The danger of stereotypes of Muslims and Americans
F. General preview of specific issues – seven topics.
II. Body of Speech
A. Confronting violent extremism
B. The situation of Israeli, Palestine and the Arab world.
C. Nuclear weapons.
D. Democracy
E. Religious freedom
F Women’s rights
G. Economic development and opportunity.
III. Conclusion
A. Review – cursory sentence.
B. Generalization – repeat theme of “new beginning”
Expand the context of the themes
Moralize on taking a negative view of Obama’s position
C. Close with quotes from Koran, Talmud and the Bible.
To do this kind of autopsy on this well-crafted speech seems unnecessary. Yet, we have learned that President Obama has a clear rhetorical skill that needs understanding. Rarely do memorable phrases inhabit Obama’s speeches, but there is clear evidence of a pervasive grasp of material that is translated into accessible sentences and sprinkled with personal references and deliberately selected quotes. President Obama’s approach to his speech-making sets a communication standard that we can all benefit from analyzing.
It is encouraging when a leader demonstrates that he knows what he’s doing.
UPCOMING CONVERSATIONS:
June 17 – Club meeting is postponed.
New Date - June 24 – “The Anatomy of Freedom” – This topic derived from the civil rights discussion after the Carvell program. Other ideas included “Is freedom really free?” A fascinating universal subject which every person faces in some way all the time. Among many other authors, Erich Fromm, a well-known psychologist, wrote an influential book, “Escape from Freedom” The cartoonist Jules Feiffer wrote that we exchange one jail for another…Much to talk about.
July lst – “Talking to Men” – Recently, we had a spirited discussion of what women expect when they have a conversation. Some men had difficulty withholding their own expectations of what their experience was when they talked to women. Now the men – and yes, the women – have the opportunity to explore their expectations when they have a conversation. Lots of energy is expected!
What happened on Wednesday, June 3, 2009
“Impromptu Speaking”
Faculty outnumbered students at this week’s session. Two new faculty were Timothy Bellavia and Linda Creamer, both of the Communication department. Other faculty included Markus Vayandorf (Math), David Nussbaum (Communication), Carlisle Yearwood (English), Rich Cohen (Administration) and Hal Wicke (Communication). Students included Anna Indelicato, Drani Gabu, Lorinda Moore, Geovanny Leon and James Millner.
Hal opened the discussion with the idea of structure which Markus had raised in a prior conversation. Structure is basic to human experience. Since we had several poets, an actor, a children’s book author and a composer among the group, we talked about how structure underlies all artistic endeavor.
For impromptu speaking, the speaker needs to hold a clear structure of the concept in his/her mind. On a structure of the basic introduction/body/ conclusion format, the speaker hangs his/her perspective on a topic supported by evidence. Hal passed out copies of a 3-page summary of the approach.
Every one suggested a variety of general topics. Then one person was chosen and given a topic. Each speaker had 30-seconds of mental preparation before getting up to present a one-minute impromptu speech.
After each presentation, Hal asked each speaker to comment on his/her experience. The group then commented on what they observed
Geovanny chose to present his topic without any preparation. His speech led into a general discussion of whether a speaker should have ANY preparation. The group agreed to try another impromptu speech session without preparation. We will also schedule one for the “Elevator Speech.”
As always, the direction of the discussion is led by those who were present. Because of Geovanny’s Adam Sandler-like presentation, the group suggested that we explore stand-up comedy in a future session.
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Let’s not forget Carlisle Yearwood’s IDEA several weeks ago. He suggested we develop a 3x4 index card with basic Touro information on it. We’ll talk more about this in the future.
As always, these sessions are open for everyone to attend. Bring a friend and join the excitement. See you next time.
Hal Wicke
Hal Wicke
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