This was touched on at the beginning of the chapter, but the involvement and importance of other forms of communication outside merely spoken language is vitally important, and being taught how to convey and control something as subtle but impactful as body language while speaking can make a huge difference in the success and reception of someone's speech. No matter the topic or even the language at hand, someone standing on a stange speaking has a far greater chance of engagement if they're walking, gesturing, giving he appearance that they themselves are invested in whatever it is they're talking about over someone standing bone still and simply talking; it conveys a lack of interest or potentially a lack of knowledge about what they're talking about, even if that's not inherently true when listening to the words being said, which is why using body language and imagery in addition to speaking is so vital, and I am personally so interested in this class over other typical "speech" classes that just tell you how to talk at someone for a few minutes. Engagement in the targeted recipient is key, and that's something I think most don't initially consider when they think of a oral communication class.

This particular concept hits home for me, as someone who first of all has ADHD behaviors and finds myself scattered amongst many tasks inadvertently simultaneously, as well as someone who works in the critical care department of a hospital and often has to juggle many time-sensitive tasks at once. Speaking to myself out loud can help he focus on what I'm doing rather than the cacophony of sounds going on around me to help me stay grounded in what I'm doing. It can also help redirect me when I have gone down a rabbit hole in my to-do list at home and help bring me back to the task at hand to help me complete tasks rather than do several only partially. Talking to myself from time to time helps pull my immediate conscious focus to what I'm saying, away from all of the other scattered communication going on all around me, whether it's meant for me or not.

The first documented form of written language was cuneiform, which was simply crude small symbols of literal objects like birds, trees, etc to convey a message. It initially could've transcended language barriers of small pockets of societies that had their own, different spoken languages if the symbols were easily recognizable. This is a fascinating second boom in the broad term of communication that helped further bring that definition into a more widespread and even more cohesive ability to convey a message. It plays into the humans innate ability to recognize visual cues in combination with language to solidify a point.

This ability to share a common form of communication and subsequently understanding helps create pockets of societies and further advancements possible with the use of teamwork that other, solo individuals could achieve. This pushed the success of this communication forward into more widespread use, like a black hole sucking in others around it attracted to the safety and success of that society. Like group projects or a complicated or large task, more is generally achievable with multiple individuals all communicating their role in the overall goal, rather than one person doing all the work themselves, especially with any level of time frame involved in the task being completed.

With 126 published definitions of "communication," touching on other forms of communication other than merely speaking in a speech class is vital. With humans having some of the widest range of speech (i.e. various languages) that often times are not seamless, other universal abstract symbolism in conjunction with spoken communication is necessary to bridge the gap. Even our written language and assigned meaning to certain methodic squiggles displayed on paper varies widely, as well as other less obvious ways of communicating like gestures and body languages that could seem inconsequential to one may be monumentally offensive to others, the intricate woven methods to communicate within the complexities we as a human species have created is a fascinating study beyond merely standing in front of a group of peers and talking at them for 3-5 minutes about a chosen topic.