Week 9

We are again looking forward to assignment 2 this week. Our tasks have us constructing the first page of our news story, drafting an audiovisual script for it, and delivering the script.

Audio	Visual
Newly appointed MP for Broadwater David Crisafulli took a stab at the government during his maiden speech in Parliament today, saying that the community was giving more than it was getting back, promising to fight for infrastructure that the community so desperately needs.	VO ELS Crisafulli walking from Parliament House with his colleagues
Mr Crisafulli took a tough stance on the urgency of road and education infrastructure saying that the government was taking advantage of a region that had become disillusioned with the politics and just had to get on with it.	VO ELS Crisafulli standing at the podium giving his maiden speech
“Queenslanders have a long history of making things happen and this has afforded government the ability to turn a blind eye”. “Our state schools are so disillusioned by the government that they have started installing air conditioners on their own backs” he continued.	MCU grab from Crisafulli’s maiden speech
Crisafulli vowed to use the skills he gained while working as a Journalist to give people in the region a voice and to have it be heard, crediting his passion and desire to get the job done to the country values he was taught growing up in North Queensland.	VO LS footage of Crisafulli working and chatting with farmers in North Queensland
“I was brought up in country North Queensland with old school values.  Where the golden rule of ‘treating other as you want to be treated’ was our anthem.  These values taught us that people matter. Our contributions matter”.	MCU grab from Crisafulli’s maiden speech
Giving people a voice was what Crisafulli said had attracted him to a career as a Journalist.  His commitment to the community to maintain and nurture the regions desirable lifestyle whilst facilitating its growing population is at the top of his agenda.	VO clips of crowded Gold Coast and busy waterways
“I am here today to represent their interest and protect the lifestyle we love so much, the lifestyle that makes the region one of the largest growth areas in the country”.	MCU grab from Crisafulli’s maiden speech

I’m sure I’m not the only one that hates the sound of their own voice. I’m finding it really difficult to change the tone. I’ve worked really hard on emphasis, pause and enunciation. I used the self-assessment suggestions from week 2 and rehearsed, prepared, and marked my notes on each of the audio piece we have been tasked with this term and I feel that my confidence has improved because of this. However, I cannot change my tone. I still sound like a whinny child. This is definitely an area that I would like to keep improving on.

Blog Reflection

This is our last week of activities so it’s time for some reflection on my learning journey thus far.

I really enjoyed being able to put the knowledge we had gained in weeks 1 and 2 into practice with our audio pieces. Hearing your own voice can be quite confronting. Often the voice in your head (how you think you sound) isn’t received as intended. Being able to hear your recorded voice, compare it to a professional voice and do a self-analyse was really beneficial. It gave me some pointers or road markers that I can refer to in the future to put me back on track. Anton Chekhov is famously quoted as saying ‘knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice’. Unfortunately, there is often a chasm between knowing what to do and how to do it. Some skills sound easy in theory, until you have to put them into practice. Performing a ‘professional voice’ is one of them. It’s a skill that I need to work on improving. I do know this to be a weakness of mine, so I am excited I have the tools now to assist with my professional development.

Learning the logic and theory behind rhetoric and rhetorical devices was also very practical. It was enlightening to discover that there is a systematic technique to employ for effective persuasion. The art of reasoning is a necessary element of successful speech development. Again, this will be a skill that I look forward to being able to use in my professional life.

Developing the concept of context, how it effects a message and how it is received was also helpful. Although we do tend to take this concept for granted, it is important to understand the theory in order to be aware that messages can be translated according to expectation and performance. This will help us consider the context when composing a message in order for it to be received as intended.

The weekly activities for our blogs have been challenging. There was a lot time devoted to these tasks each week and I am very grateful that the last few weeks concentrated on developing our final assignment. The skeleton is there, now I need to bring it to life.

Although I feel I have the knowledge to the development of the final assessment, I can’t say I feel confident. It is a mammoth task to compose a maiden speech. Now that I am aware of all the elements that need to be combined in a systematic way to make the speech effective, the task seems more overwhelming.

To attempt to address my concerns I am going to reexamine the structure of the speech that I compiled in week 8. I want to ensure that the rhetorical devices are developed and timed appropriately. I also want to ensure that the material is structured according to the Berko, Wolvin & Wolvin (1998) method of arranging a speech with an introduction central idea, body and conclusion (that includes a final clincher).

The health crisis that unfolded this term has put a lot of pressure on all of us. My circumstances were unique to me, and I am still unpacking the backlog of work and study that has stockpiled during this period. This has not assisted my learning or my sanity and is probably contributing to the daunting feeling associated with the final assignment. This has been a challenging couple of months, but I am looking forward to seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I can’t quite see it but I’m hoping it’s just around the bend.

References

Berko R., Wolvin, A., & Wolvin, D. (eds.), 1998, Public Speaking – Structuring the Message  Communication : a social and career focus, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, pp. 326-353.