MAKE YOUR BED AND MEGAN MARKLE

The commencement speech delivered by Naval Admiral William H. McRaven was very
inspiring and impactful. Aside from he have chosen a great theme for his address which was
“changing the world”, he also make use of the important methods and elements of effective
communication. As a matter of fact, I can say that it’s hard not to pay attention to his talk. His
way of carrying out his thoughts and advices to the graduating students was very enthusiastic
that really captures the hearts of all his audience. He was a speaker who really enjoy being
himself so that the audience can also relate and understand what he is trying to point out. He
opens up appropriate points that was clear and direct. He also have good choice of words and a
perfect transition from a formal way of speaking in pointing out an idea into informal speaking in
order to effectively communicate with the audience. He link his talk with humor at appropriate
points in order to make his speech sound more engaging, by mentioning some true stories
about his experiences on the navy seal training, example scenarios, quotations, and some jokes
as well. Changing the loudness or volume of his voice help him caught the interest of his
audience. Through the rise of his voice volume, he was able to highlight the important words
while lowering the loudness of his voice let him emphasize serious points. His sudden silence
caused the audience to feel more eagerness and excitement to hear what he will say next. He
also make use of audience driven pauses so that the audience can freely gave their responses
by laughing, or cheering for him. So, with a great change in pitch, the audience become more
interested as it conveys more power and aliveness that drive their desires to listen. He also
have a good intonation that let him communicate the true meaning of his words. I usually
thought that speeches on graduation ceremonies was very boring, dull, and long but this in fact
was one the exceptions. His speech were very concise but completely included all the important
points and ideas. The body of the speech was communicated and connected very well.

Meghan Markle was known to be very vocal about feminist issues. She have delivered a
powerful speech to advocate the importance of feminism and equality. It is very obvious to see
how effective she was as a public speaker who talks so passionately from what her heart and
mind want to say to her audiences or listeners. She truly cares about the subject matter as well
as her eagerness to let her audience surely understand what she’s saying and why. I really like
the techniques that she used in her speech. What was more fascinating is that she was able to
say what she wanted to say in such a way that it is heard clearly even if she have a soft and
sweet voice. Her story was so powerful. The sound of her voice and the content of her speech
provided clues of her emotional state as her face and eyes carry out a great deal of emotions
and feelings. She positively persuaded the audience as she have the command on her voice
and clarity on her speech. The speaking rate that she used was perfectly suitable for the theme
of her speech. She was neither speaking too fast nor too slow making the audience really
understand what she is talking about. She speak slower on some parts of her childhood stories
to convey the sadness and frustrations she have felt that grabbed the hearts and attention of the
audience. She used pauses expertly and let the pace of her speaking diversified with her vocal
delivery. She make use of verbal pauses to split up the content and give emphasis to the
important words enabling the weight of her words to linger in the minds of her audience. Indeed
for me, her speech was undoubtedly very effective.