COMMUNICATIONS & PRESENTATION SKILLS SPRING 2021

Analyze the speeches.

Use Chapters Verbal Communication and Non-Verbal communication from the book.
Choose your points and analyze the three speeches together. Do not individually
evaluate.

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The first video under discussion would be regarding John Boyega. In this video John is
addressing protestors of Black Lives Matter movement joining them in Hyde park on June
3rd, 2020. John addresses them with an emotional speech to show his support as a black actor
with years of experience in that industry. In addition to this the second video is of Steve Jobs’
address on Stanford University’s 114th commencement, held in 2005. Jobs, a young
successful entrepreneur of that time gives a motivational speech aimed towards fresh
graduates. Here Jobs narrates his own life story to prove that success is based on hard work.
Third and final video is of Oprah Winfrey’s speech from Harvard University’s 362nd
commencement ceremony. Oprah describes the way everyone can achieve success no matter
how many times a person falls down with dedication to goal being the golden key.
The first point of discussion would be the verbal aspect of all three videos and starting point
would be the language. All three speeches start by providing a clear guideline for the point of
discussion. For instance, 1st video begins with speaker mentioning his purpose of speech to
support the cause for black lives on the other hand 2nd speech starts with Jobs stating to tell 3
life stories and not more, in same manner 3rd video where Winfrey states, “My one hope
today is that I can be a source of some inspiration”. Going further down the videos it can be
clearly observed that speakers are making extensive use of communication devices to convey
their message. Most of the time simple sentences are used to create an engaging environment.
Starting with the point of language, a vast variety can be seen but can be categorized in three
fundamental classes. All three videos used a basic language without and made a great
impression by avoiding technical terms as all three personalities belong to different fields. In
first video main purpose was to show support to the black lives cause and this was shown by
describing these lives as “very vital” and that they have always “suffered”. On the contrary
the other two videos were not focused on making people emotional and against a cause and
there a much wide selection of words can be seen. Let’s take second video as an example,
here Steve describes some of his experiences in as vivid way as possible by using phrases like
“beautiful” and “artistically subtle” which later on he relates to his apple products in that
typical Apple manner we all are familiar with. Likewise, Oprah also employs some narrowed
down words to exactly pin point her subject. This is visible when she mentions “Nickels and
Dimes” or “bag of Oreos”, which would be difficult to convey otherwise. Since these two
speeches were focused towards college students and accompanying parents so keeping things
simple was better but often that becomes a challenge as pancreatic cancer could need a whole
explanation otherwise which is often easily understood by the term itself. The language was
kept as simple and referenced to daily use terms like “google” and “windows” to create a
better understanding among the listeners.
 COMMUNICATIONS & PRESENTATION SKILLS SPRING 2021

Moving on to second aspect that is verbal adaption of audience. In all three videos things
were simple and realistic as seen in 1st video where phrases like “everyone remembers the
time when they were called black” and “speaking from my heart” were employed to create a
better engaging environment. In same fashion the 2nd and 3rd videos make use of personal
anecdotes as a link to the topics. However in 1st video a lot of personalities that suffered
racism were mentioned as it was much closely related to the situation at that time but this was
not the case with others. In them was more success story rather that supporting information,
this was more prevalent in 2nd video when Jobs mentioned his early life and foster relations
which were of little relation to the topic. But in 3rd video Winfrey presented many accurate
facts on the base of her status in media industry, “3 million dollars” and her show being
“number 1 on the slot for 21 years” were some real facts that are already floating around.
Another point of debate could be whether the speaker was credible enough to make his point
acceptable. Even if we keep information aside for a moment. There is no doubt in the
credibility of all three or at least the last two personalities. In first video only some examples
of racism and a pledge to tackle that was presented, which if taking into account John’s
exposure in film industry could be considered as acceptable but in the other two instances
these were the words from two well known personalities, one being a young entrepreneur and
mind behind a future tech giant and the second being the owner of a media outlet with
decades of experience of topping the charts. Jobs moves on to share his experience of being
removed from top position at apple and how he thrived to make things turn by establishing
two new companies in form of PIXAR animation studios and NEXT which was later
“acquired by Apple”. Which helped him regain his position and on the other side Oprah
mentions her success story of turning around the newborn media company into one of the
best based on sole efforts or how she helped others by raising money for charity making use
of her position and influence. This all information is already well known by the viewers and
since they are narrating personal experiences, who can do than better that the body who
experienced that at first hand.
Now coming out of the verbal vortex there is a lot more to observe on the delivery of this
message as the last two speeches were scripted and could be performed by anyone in any
manner, so why these two themselves or even if not scripted then what makes them special?
The secret lies in the people narrating that speech. Since all three personalities have somehow
an experience in their industry, although subtle their actions were much refined. As it is said
“Actions speak louder than words”, this becomes true here and how that was achieved is
what’s going to come next.
The first thing to notice is the person themselves and how they express their message even if
they were muted for a moment. In first video it is quite obvious that speaker is angry and
frustrated when speaking to his audience regarding that sensitive topic. This is visible by his
angry face and the way he is shouting and swearing to prove his point. John can be seen quite
energetic in this instance as he wants to portray his support to the black community and unity
with the protestors. But in the other two videos the case is totally opposite as they were
intended towards university students and to encourage them for better future opportunities.
While Jobs was quite neutral throughout Oprah’s expressions were much obvious. She was
having a big smile which shows she was happy to address students. Also her gestures and eye
contact were more announcing. Making an extensive use of hand gestures and much less
focus towards script she made a more vivid presentation than Jobs. Mimicking other people
 COMMUNICATIONS & PRESENTATION SKILLS SPRING 2021

and being more casual helped her be closer to audience where Steve lacked behind due to his
focus towards reading speech than towards audience. Absence of visible expressions or hand
gestures also added to the fate. Where Oprah shined for her smile Steve lacked behind for his
absence of obvious gestures but they were both right as they did it in their own way of
representation.
Now coming to the last point, the actual spoken content itself. Since content has been
previously discussed this part would be focusing on how that script was represented by the
actual voice itself. If we focus at the actual vocalics it can be seen that they were obvious in
all three videos. John tried to portray his anger by the actual harshness in his heavy voice.
Since he was speaking to a public crowd, which was definitely noisy, he kept his volume loud
throughout to be audible even if using a microphone. He tried to be comparatively slow and
clear to convey his stance appropriately and being on higher notes to emphasize words like
“suffering” and “importance” of black community. Even though he had an emotional
breakdown he managed to avoid that from ruining that speech and rather proceeded to show
support. In contrast to that other two videos were a bit calm. Both Jobs and Oprah spoke in an
audible and clear voice because they were in front of silent students and not angry protestors.
They spoke at a normal rate with Winfrey being much diverse that Jobs’ almost steady one.
One thing that was common here were the pauses in response to audience appreciation which
were a bit more in 3rd video for the jokes Oprah cracked. They both were at times on higher
notes to describe things like “beautiful”, “don’t settle” or “HARVARD” in Winfrey’s case.
Clothing and self-presentation was another aspect to be observed. Each one of them was
appropriately equipped to their situation where John had a more casual attire and protesting
look with jacket and leather gloves whereas Jobs and Oprah chose for a bit more professional.
Jobs opting out That graduation day look with a bachelor’s dress because it was “closest he
had to graduation”, and Winfrey opting out for a bodycon as a more subtle attire, and
obviously some makeup and hair management to complete the look which did not apply to
the men in this case. In short, all three made an effort to give a more refreshing or energetic
look based on that occasion and mostly succeeded in that.

To sum things up, all three videos were unique in their own way, so were the speeches and
the personalities presenting them. They were perfectly carved according to the occasion and
surroundings and presentation was perfected to complete the message. Divided over two
categories their aim was achieved either it be to motivate protestors and show support to a
cause or to provide hope to a batch of freshly graduate university students, regarding a bright
future they had worked so hard for. The 3rd video was standing out of the bunch not because
it was the longest but because of the sustenance and expressions which speaker had
throughout the video, partly because of Winfrey’s experience in electronic media. The one
common ground and message all videos agreed upon was continuous struggle either it be for
the rights and fight against racism or sharing personal experiences to motivate youth for an
effort towards a better future and all three represented this message beautifully in a diverse
yet their own unique way.

Abdul Saboor (20L-1113 / BDS-2A)