Speech Delivery Response

Speech presentation is an excellent art learned and executed to deliver the message to the audience effectively. Some aspects make a speech stand out and immensely influence the audience's experience. Such things impact the audience differently, given the audience's future desires and perceptions. Audiences that desire to become speakers look at a speech presentation beyond its content. Such things that such an audience (the audience wishing to deliver a speech in the future) looks at are within the speaker's control, such as how the speaker delivers the speech and the visual aids they use. This assignment looks into such things as can be identified from Wendy Troxel's speech at TED.

One of the excellent things I feel influenced my experience as an audience member of the speech is the way Wendy Troxel applied anecdotes in opening the delivery of her speech. She understands that she wants to talk about sleep deprivation but does not go directly to the topic. Instead, she starts from afar, giving the audience a relatable experience through a personal story of how her son sleeps till late and she has to wake him up (0:10–1:10). This anecdote prepares the audience's mind and brings them into the session for the speech to be delivered. It increases the eagerness to listen to what the speaker has to say about these relatable experiences (TED, 2017). It provides an excellent experience for the audience to understand the speech across the session, given that people can relate the speaker's topic to personal experiences. This is an excellent thing that I can use to improve my speeches. To capture my audience's attention, I need to start a short story that they can relate to themselves. It works excellently in bringing their attention to the speech.  

The other thing I noticed the speaker used in great speech delivery was facial expressions. Throughout the speech, but particularly in minutes 1:40 to 1:52, the speaker uses a sad face to make a significant point about the sorry state of sleep deprivation among American teenagers, which has become an epidemic. From 2:05 to 2:11, she expresses a sad face to show how poorly people are performing in their sleep patterns and likens it to getting a C in exams (TED, 2017). By so doing, the audience experience is changed to the perspective of viewing sleep as an important subject than they considered before. The facial expressions show the matter's seriousness and bring a significantly impactful experience to the audience. I will use this aspect to impact the audience when speaking on an important subject matter.

The third thing that I consider in the speech is the use of intonation. This refers to the raising and falling of the voice tone across the speech. Between minutes 5:22 and 6:10, the speaker employs critically lowering the voice tone (TED, 2017). But by lowering the tone, she communicates in a lower but steady voice full of emotion. It reflects the sorry emotion that comes from within her when she witnesses issues of sleep deprivation in American youths. In doing so, she transfers the emotion to the audience, saying that they also feel sorry for the situation and are immensely moved by the speech from their silence when the point is dropped. I can use this aspect to deliver the speech's main points, which I want to sink into the audience, to achieve the speech's desired impact.

In summary, looking at the speech, the things I consider important within the speaker's control include using anecdotes, facial expressions, and intonation. These elements are excellent in the speech delivery, which leaves the intended impact and a changed experience for the audience. Through the anecdote, the speaker captures the audience's attention, shows the seriousness of the matter through facial expressions, and drops significantly emotionally moving points using varying intonation.