This past weekend, our rhetorical analysis speech was due. My artifact was an image of Greta Thunberg. I talked about how this one image utilized the rhetorical proofs of Kairos, pathos, logos, and commonplaces in order to urge viewers to uphold their civic duty of being proactive in fighting for societal and global changes.

I am a horrible public speaker. Just the thought of presenting in front of people has my face turning red, my eyes tearing up, and my hands go shakey. However, here are some of my reflections of the speech:

Invention: Invention is the process of coming up with material for a text. In writing, this is the brainstorming or prewriting stage.

I think I spent a lot of time on invention. I researched a lot about Greta and her movement and tried to incorporate enough context in my speech to not overwhelm the main analysis part. However, I did think I wasted a lot of time here falling into a loophole of there being so much information. I kept finding new things I could talk about, but with the time restraint, I had to cut a lot out. I had many, many drafts. I hope for next time that I am able to pinpoint the information that I need and not waste time.

Arrangement: Arrangement is the process of deciding how to order the material in a text. In writing, this is still part of the prewriting stage.

I tried to make my speech very organized, with each PowerPoint slide relating to a rhetorical proof. However, I am not sure if the connection between each slides was very apparent, and with so many different things going on, it may have been confusing. For next time, I will need to focus on making my speech more connected, rather than slide by slide based.

Style: Style is the process of coming up with the actual words that will be used in a text. In writing, this canon is first approached in the drafting stage and continues in the rewriting stage.

I tried to make my style concise, but impactful, yet also talking as a young person would in order to relate to the younger audiences this is directed a lot towards. I think I definitely could have been more clear with my words and used more eloquent language, but my speaking style is not that advanced yet, and I was super nervous.

Memory: Memory is the process of committing a text to memory.

I have horrible memory. It was so challenging to memorize this speech. I actually printed and cut out my little blurbs about the slides and pasted them around my laptop so I could reference them. In the beginning, it was definitely hard, but as I kept retaking the video, the memorization was definitely easy. I noticed I tried to stick to my pre written sentences word for word, but for next time I should try just making bullets and just adding things of my own to make the speech flow better. It will definitely be hard, but I noticed the more I practiced, the more I was able to be more expressive with the words and add extra things. I definitely need to make sure I am not crunched for time. Having the 5 min max limit was super hard to stay under for me haha.

Delivery: Delivery is the process of presenting a text to an audience.

I tried my best to have a good delivery and be engaging. I tried incorporating hand movements and looked at the screen camera a lot. However, being crunched for time forced me to rush the entire things and left no room for dramatic pauses or time for comprehension. I think my delivery definitely could have been better, but given the circumstances, I tried my best.

Thanks!

https://walton.uark.edu/business-communication-lab/Resources/downloads/The_Five_Canons_of_Rhetoric.pdf