The speech I chose was President Barack Obama’s address to the Democratic National Convention in 2016. I chose the first two minutes of the speech (2:30-4:30 in the video).
In this part of the speech, I think that President Obama’s organization was particularly good. He started out talking about the first time he spoke at the DNC, then about how much he and his family has grown since then, and then at the end of the two minutes added the fact that back then he had a lot of faith in America, and that it had changed since then. This transition from past to present set up the rest of his speech which was, in my opinion, very good organization on his part.
The persuasive appeals to ethos are also very strong in this point in the speech. President Obama immediately provides his credibility by stating how he had been on this stage before 12 years prior. President Obama already had a lot of credibility to start with, but if someone didn’t already know who he was, they would have been assured of his credibility with that line. President Obama also managed to humble himself in the beginning of the speech. He mentioned his family and how proud he was of his daughters, and even admitted to aging, immediately causing the audience to find him more trustworthy and similar to themselves, an important thing to do in the beginning of a political speech. President Obama uses strong appeals to ethos in this two minute segment of his speech.
President Obama’s delivery is also very well-done. He consistently made eye contact with and interacted with the audience. His voice was a bit loud and forced, but that was to be expected in such a large venue. He also kept his movement flowing and made hand gestures here and there. He moved just enough to not appear stiff, but not too much as to make it seem forced or overzealous.
Overall, President Obama’s speech was very well given. His voice could have been a little less forced, but the content of his speech, the organization, and the overall delivery were very well done. The speech was also minorly affected by the audience cheering and interrupting him occasionally. This was such a short part of his long speech, but just this one part was able to be given very effectively. It is extremely obvious from the start that he has had a great deal of experience in giving speeches.