Coincidentally, I'm being assigned an essay in which I have to employ these techniques in English 101. Most of my annotations for this chapter tie back to being a writer. It's comforting to know that I can use the techniques I use as a writer while giving a speech.

I think this is the most frequently used form of logical reasoning because it's simple. I disagree with the author's point that inductive reasoning "can be difficult to employ well." It's just referencing a source through citation just like you see in this sentence. I don't think of inductive reasoning in terms of likelihood when I hear or see someone use it. I just think, "ok here's something that backs up what the speaker is saying" and make a determination as to whether or not it makes sense to me. Maybe this is because I'm reading this from the perspective of a writer rather than a speaker.

The author said that "good persuasive speech topics are current, controversial, and have important implications for society." If you build off of those guidelines, ethics are the foundation of your argument in terms of persuasive speaking. You need to convince the audience that you have basis and/or authority to make your argument, and you need to show that you care.

I write very often, so I'm familiar with this concept, but I've never heard it referred to as the "warrant." I'd like to get more in depth with this in terms of giving a speech and making everything flow structurally.

This is why structure is important in a speech. If you just spew facts at your audience, they're not going to retain your information. One thing that I try to remember when giving speeches is that it's usually better to simplify things rather than cram words in. If you're short on time, play with your flow and add necessary descriptions to fill in the gaps.

I'm a very expressive and emotive person, so whatever I'm feeling will be written on me through my eyes and body language. If I'm feeling overwhelmed by responsibilities, I kind of curl up and. My eyes get droopy and might show concern. When I'm happy to see someone, they'll know and pick up on it right away. My eyes really brighten. I also try to hold eye contact just a small bit longer around people I'm comfortable with so that they can pick up that I feel that way.

Nonverbal cues are the first thing I look for when I meet people. They determine how approachable I think a person is. For example, I'd generally feel more comfortable around someone who makes good eye contact and has open body language. If I can see someone's relatively comfortable around me, that helps me feel more comfortable around them. When someone blends good eye contact and open body language with good verbal communication and understanding, and I'll feel like I can become close to them.

Most of my communication takes place via text or some other form of messaging. I don't really concern myself with someone's promptness too much when they're conversing with me. If I feel like I'm not going to be as prompt, I usually try to communicate that. But it's more important that I can see someone being invested in me and in conversation then how quickly they are to respond.

I think that nonverbal communication often says more than words. I'm not the best with words, so I often try to resort to more nonverbal cues, especially when I try to express things to friends and family. In my opinion, nonverbal communication is the best way to get a sense of how honest and genuine someone is. It's hard to hide your true feelings on your face. You'll probably have a look on your face as much as you try to hide it. A great example is when someone makes you blush.

I found this interesting. 90% seems a bit excessive, but I can easily believe that 65% of meaning is derived from nonverbal signals. As humans, we have such a funny balance with our communication. For example, you're in a club and your friend gives motions their head towards as door and with a flick of the eyes, hinting that they want to leave. From the perspective of evolution, it's easy to see how this can be the case. To me, I have an easier time picking up nonverbal signals from friends and family I'm close to, but I've gotten better at recognizing people's more subtle, nonverbal cues.

When you have an animated face, it conveys that you take interest in what you are saying, even if that may not be the case. It also makes it easier to connect with your audience. Jim Carey is a good exaggerated example of this. In a speech, it's easy to get so caught up in what you have to say. How you present yourself is just as important in getting your message across.

This is something I struggle with. I notice myself speaking too fast and running out of air, so it's something I'd wanna work on. One thing that I think could help is having an outline that lays out places to pause and reflect for a few seconds. If you think you're speaking too fast and running out of air, find a good pausing spot, and tell yourself to focus more on breathing. That will naturally slow you down.

I had never heard of this format for a speech, but I've listened to speeches that use this format. I generally like speeches that use this format better. It seems like a smart strategy long as the speaker practices in moderation. I think it's important to strike a balance between having something to refer to without reading out your speech. The best speeches I've heard use notes as a brief reference point, but aren't read off of a script. As a listener, I find that a speech is easier to understand when the speaker has the ability to play with their speech and reformat it. I think that helps both the speaker and the audience grasp the information.

People can judge it all they want, but positive visualization has been studied. Rather than focusing on, "oh, God, this is scary," you focus on the task itself and doing the best you can. We as people tend to get stuck in our head. We get wrapped up in, "what if." Don't focus on what if. Envision yourself in a positive light, and your results will be more positive because the stress has faded.

When I meet knew people or deliver a speech, I notice myself speaking faster and softer as a result of CA. I think for me, perception plays a big role in how severe my anxiety is. I'll tie this annotation back to chapter 2, because perception and anxiety go hand in hand. I tend to take first impressions with a grain of salt, because I usually don't yet know the person. I don't like to form opinions of someone until I start to get to know them and converse with them. For example, my first impression of someone might be, "woah, they're intimidating," but as I get to know them, that quickly changes. I base my opinions towards people off of their demeanor around me. If someone seems very open and relaxed around me, I'm going to become more open, relaxed, and more comfortable around them in a relatively short time frame.

This made me laugh. I really connect with this. If you've been anywhere with me for long enough for me to speak, you'll know that I have the mouth of a pirate. When I'm pissed or stressed, I go into my room, a car, on any space free of people. Then I belt out a Blink 182 song that contains George Carlin's "7 dirty words" plus 3 other "vulgar" for good measure. From a mental health perspective, I think that swearing is a pretty good way of dealing with emotions. The last thing you want is to go ballistic because you're pent up. Swearing is a way to pop open the pressure valve, for lack of a better metaphor.

Very true. But we as humans can't expect people to stifle their feelings. There's a balance, or a two way street (whichever metaphor you like better). Don't take out all your anger on someone. Find a good way of expressing it, like for example, playing a distorted chord on an instrument, screaming expletives into a pillow, sing a loud song full of expletives, etc). But also, when someone says, "I'm pissed off because xyz," try to give them a chance to talk about it, whether that's in the moment or at a later, more appropriate time.

This is very important. People often confuse thoughts and feelings with each other. I've seen this with people in my personal life. Some people genuinely struggle to make that differentiation. That's valid, but it's something that needs to be worked on rather than brushed off. I think that in order to communicate well, one needs to be able to differentiate between thoughts and feelings. Part of being a good communicator is making a habit of trying to better your communication skills.

This is an important part of communication. Another way to refer to this is "follow-up questions". Follow-up questions are important to help yourself understand someone, but they also help you connect with a person. Using follow-up questions can set the impression that you're invested and have a genuine interest in the person and conversation.

I do think it's important to develop the skill of determining credible sources yourself. I had no idea that peer reviewed research was even a thing. This can prove super helpful, especially on very in-depth topics. Balance these peer reviewed sources with credible cites you find, and you'll be very strong in backing up your claims.

This is very important. I can say that I've listened to a few speeches that felt more like, "according to this expert," rather than having substance that I could retain. A good speech is a balance of the speaker's point backed up by research/evidence. Make sure your point still comes through.

I knew that librarians could be helpful to find information, but I never knew that there was specific training for it. That definitely feels like a weight off of my shoulder. I consider myself to be pretty good at research, but I can quickly become stressed out. This is a very helpful tip.

This is very true. That said, I wouldn't say that one should avoid giving speeches on personal interests. Just make sure you have a way to relate it to the audience, or make it relatable to them in some way.

This is an interesting perspective. A classroom audience would be more forgiving than a professional one. It's interesting to view a classroom audience as a way to be somewhat experimental. Of course, take the speech assignment serious, and give it your best effort. But rather than view it as, "yikes I have to do this," it might be better to reframe it as, "what can I learn from this?"

This section is very reassuring to me. Sometimes I tense up when giving speeches. I think if I can think back to this, I might be more at ease. I think sometimes I get intimidated by audiences, so it might be helpful to think that my audience is just like me in a certain way. We're all here to learn how to communicate better and be better at giving speeches. To me that's less pressure.

I think people don't consider this very often. For example, when you converse with someone with low self esteem, they may claim you struggle with something that subconsciously impacts them. They may not even know what they're struggling with, but when they see something that reminds them of their struggle in someone else, they lash out. In order to be a good communicator, one must work on their self esteem.

People put so much focus on social comparison. I think people get tunnel vision on trying to find a group to fit into, rather than find a group that fits them. Both are important in the right context. Just as it's important to step out of your comfort zone for new people, it's just as important to seek out people with shared interests and hobbies.

First impressions are definitely important. One can try to correct a bad first impression, but people are going to hold onto it. They might even let it impact their perception of you for a while. That said, I think one can put too much focus on "making a good impression" in the sense that they might change things about themselves to appear more approachable or likeable. In my opinion, there's a balance. You have to be careful about how you present yourself while not sacrificing who you are and/or how you express yourself.

I don't like this attitude at all. It's very passive. You'll never combat ignorance if you just throw up your hands like this. People don't always realize it, but that quoted sentence is a choice. When you say things like this, even if you're not thinking about it, you're making a choice not to do nothing and let the problem just sit. There are two kinds of ignorance. Ignorance that comes from lack of understanding, and willful ignorance. Willful ignorance comes from someone too stubborn to listen. Often times. people hold onto ignorance because they haven't had things presented in a way that got them to think, "oh. I guess that is ignorant." The only way to combat ignorance is to point it out, and try to educate against it respectfully without berating people. I'm not always great with words, but I hope my message makes sense.

I feel like when people think about perception, this is the aspect that usually comes to mind. So much so that other aspects are often disregarded. I can attest to this myself. When I think about how I perceive things, I don't usually think about selecting information, or even organizing it. This gives some interesting perspective going forward in life. I'm realizing I may have more things to consider as I take in the world.

Mass communication is at our fingertips. We can sit in our bedroom and post anything that comes to mind. As long as someone has a public account, their posts can easily gain traction. It's honestly kind of scary, because it's now easier to push harmful and/or hateful rhetoric. At the same time, we can use things like social media like a tool to stand against hateful rhetoric. We can use social media to encourage people to make a difference. Interpret that how you wish.

This is very insightful. Many people struggle with Anxiety. I see this often in public spaces. Coming from a musical background and singing in front of audiences, public communication has been something that's usually been relatively easy for me. However, sometimes I do struggle, so this little blurb is a helpful reminder.

I mentioned perception in one of my previous annotations. I've always felt like in my personal life, this was an aspect of communication that often got overlooked by those around me. I feel like some people don't give much thought to how much of a role perception plays in how we communicate. I know this is something that gets addressed in an upcoming chapter, but it gives me some comfort to see it being talked about, because it's something I can apply to help work towards better communication in my personal life.

At first, I was surprised reading this. I feel like I'm often reading articles or engaging in conversations that reference studies about memory. I personally think that memory plays a large role in how we communicate. From a psychological standpoint, memory feeds into perception, and how we perceive things feeds into how we relay information. Then again, I know that it can be difficult for some people to retain information. Having ADHD, I'm someone who sometimes struggles with retaining information. I've always asked myself why that issue is rarely addressed, and now I understand.

I really resonate with this. Speaking is the primary form of communication that us humans use in everyday life. Speaking is how we inform others of personal or large-scale issues. We as humans need to have a baseline understanding of that fact, and understand how to speak well in order to interact with society. To build upon the 2nd part of this statement, think of some of the most influential people. Most of them are influential because of their ability to speak, which in tern serves people.