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November, 2013

  1. The Great Recycling Challenge – A Call To Action

    November 22, 2013 by Erin McGovern

    Everyday, for all the freshmen living in East, we walk through Findlay Commons, meeting up with friends at the Big O or going to the study lounges. As I walked towards the computer lab the other day, I stopped and noticed that the glass walls surrounding 124 Findlay were completely covered in paint. As I got closer I saw that each dorm in East was written on the wall with their “place” next to it. I immediately looked for my building and saw Sproul – 10th place. I then saw next to it the words, “The Great Recycling Challenge!”  Below that were more words saying how each building is apart of a contest to see which can recycle the most.

    I thought that this was an interesting way to get people involved in a cause such as recycling. Instead of writing about the Great Recycling Challenge on a flyer or stall stories like many other opportunities for civic engagement, these words were placed in a prime location, in the middle of all freshmen dorms, and in brightly colored paint.

    This rhetoric uses ethos by promoting competition amongst freshmen, something that usually is not promoted at Penn State. Usually in Findlay, we see posters about activities and organizations to bring people together, not separate them and have them compete against each other.

    This technique proved useful, for in my building, many of my friends and I realized that we haven’t been recycling and that we probably should. Even though none of us really cared about getting 1st place in this recycling challenge, the information provided outside Findlay did make us stop and think for a minute about what we do with our garbage.

    Those leading the Great Recycling Challenge did a good job getting people civically engaged, because regardless of what building recycles the most, they have got people to realize that habits need to be changed and plastic needs to be recycled!

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  2. Post #6: My TEDTalk – Review

    November 15, 2013 by Erin McGovern

    My preparation process for my topic relied heavily on my paradigm shift essay. I was very interested in my topic, the shift in the role of women in politics, and I knew I needed to convey my message to my audience without being too factual. I really wanted to focus on using logos to show how far women have come. I decided that I would focus mainly on the history of women after WWII and compare the 1950s to the 1960s primarily.

    My execution was effective in that I think my PowerPoint went along well with what I was presenting. I did not use a lot of text and I kept it to less than ten slides. This made it much easier while I was presenting because when I wanted to move to each topic point – I was able to clearly remember which slide I would be talking about. Seeing the 2 – 3 visuals on each slide reminded me of another point I wanted to make which helped guide my oral presentation along.

    Looking back, I could’ve spent more time preparing orally for my presentation. Although I had a short amount of time to prepare, since I presented on the first day, I do think that with more practice, I would’ve sounded more fluid and clear to my audience. I noticed I said “Umm” many times in my presentation, which really took away from the information I was trying to present.

    I also noticed that I wasn’t conversational in manner and instead it seemed like I was trying to just “get information across.” I hope that in the future, when I’m presenting, I can be more relatable and concise with what I’m presenting.

    On a positive note, I’m happy that I was able to remember key dates, terms and facts. Being able to remember specific organizations and years that that events happened helped keep me in check with time, because I knew exactly what I wanted to say and what I wanted to say after it.

    I think I could’ve spoken more on the shift to today concerning women in politics. Direct quotes from women such as Senator Kirsten Gillibrand were powerful, but would’ve had more of an effect on my audience is I had given more background on who she is and what she stands for. Other examples that I spoke of, such as bipartisan monthly dinners, could’ve been expanded on, because I feel that the audience might have not understood the importance of these dinners that women in the Senate have created.

    In terms of presenting, I did not realize how quickly I spoke! I know I was trying to keep my presentation within the time limit, but if I could go back, I would make sure to slow down. That being said, I did not feel awkward standing in one spot, as I had been nervous about. Being able to talk to the audience and not move around, but instead use only my hands to emphasize what I was saying was something new for me that I think worked out well.

    Overall, I am happy with my presentation but I think next time, I need to learn how to engage with the audience better. I plan on doing this by being more conversational in manner and limiting the amount of history/facts I present. Instead, I will try to use more real life examples to relate to the audience. For the short amount of time I had to prepare, I think this speech went fairly well.

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