Impromptu Speech

This week I delivered my first speech. I had 4 minutes to prepare. I gave the speech on Wal-Mart. I told them a little about my past and the class chose the subject.

Thanks to the outline, the 3 minute speech went fairly smooth. I was told to slow down and quit fidgeting, valid criticism. The information was presented almost as I had written in the outline. I need to work on ability to not get off track. Focus, focus, focus.

Week 2 "Hi, I'm Ryan"

This week we talked about defining a culture and the differences between culture and race or ethnicity. The question "who are you?" has always intrigued me. I find the fact that we are many things to many people and thus carry many different labels to be fascinating.

Take for example: While at a wedding someones asks "who are you?" and you answer " I'm the grooms cousin." Then, one hour later, you are pulled over for speeding and I assume your response would be somewhat different to the same question.

We were at Angel's parents house one day and she called her mom "mom". Her nephew went crazy. Yelling at Angel and telling her "That's my Granny, not your mom." Quite interesting and hilarious at the same time. Her nephew just couldn't see how "Granny" could also be "mom".

Finally; To some I am husband, brother, son, cousin, nephew, friend, student, teacher, coach, etc. Even when it comes to my faith I struggle with a one word definition that would be recognized yet not include those with ideas that I don't agree with. I am proud to call myself an American but I certainly don't agree with everything that we as a nation do. I am a Christian while I am not proud of some things done in the name of Christianity. I am a Baptist, but we can't even get Baptists to agree what that means. I am a fundamentalist but in today's society that has been used by those who would hurt others. I am evangelical and I look into our past and see how that has been used to enslave whole groups of people. In the end, I am Ryan Reeder. And even that title is used by some guy in Utah who is all over youtube trying to win converts to Mormonism. Oh well.

Speech Diary week one

Personal goals for Class:

I want to become better at delivering all information that is prepared. Many times I finish speaking and I wish that I had said this or that. I'll sit down and realize that I skipped an entire point that I had wanted to make. By controlling my nerves I can control the length and content of messages.

I need to listen more effectively when others are speaking. When others are speaking, I find myself coming up with the next thing I will say instead of completely listening and comprehending what they are trying to communicate. I usually jump to conclusions about what and why they are trying to communicate. I do this because my communicative reaction time is historically slow and I want to be ready to respond as soon as they are done talking.

I also hope to be more prepared when speaking to audiences. Making outlines and practicing speeches is something that will help me when preaching. Learning to find a balance in the amount of source citations to make and improving the general flow of speaking will help me to reach more people with my messages.