High School Graduation Speech Analysis

Decent Essays
Entertaining – High School Graduation Speech
Speech Delivery Right off the bat, the speaker appears to be extremely nervous as he approaches the microphone. His entrance is bumbling, as he fidgets with his tassel, while taking unnecessarily long to begin his speech. In his introduction, he repeats “um” three times in quick succession, indicating his nervousness. He follows it up with five minutes of constant swaying and fidgeting. His body language reeks of tension, as he seems restless and cannot stop moving. It ends up being quite distracting, especially as his tassel keeps swinging rather energetically. Although he does use gestures intermittently, most of the time his arms are limp by his side. His arms, coupled with his slightly slouched
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His voice, unlike his body language, is full of confidence and focus. His jokes are well timed and expertly delivered. For example, when referring to prominent figures of the present and the past, and how they too experienced embarrassing moments in their lives, the speaker expertly uses his voice add to what he is saying. When delivering the self-deprecating punch line (showing up naked to his fifth grade class) to the joke, he purposely speeds up and looks around nervously, adding a personal touch to the story that makes it both endearing and funny. Throughout the speech, his voice adeptly speeds up or slows down, and the speaker assuredly changes volume to emphasize his more important points. It is easy to understand him, as he speaks clearly with great enunciation. Overall, I would advise the speaker to continue with his current style and execution of his verbal delivery. It adds to his speech, rather than taking anything away. He consistently delivers jokes with great nuance, along with expert timing. Where he falls short, is his physical delivery of the speech. Next time, the speaker should be less restless and fidgety. By straightening his posture, he will be able to portray himself as a speaker with confidence. Furthermore, he should either hold on to the podium, or use more gestures instead of just letting his arms sit limply by his side. By following this advice, the speaker will be able to speak …show more content…
It is apparent from the beginning that the speaker has an excellent grasp of the occasion and his audience. His speech is littered with pop culture references that his audience would identify with. Moreover, the content of his speech is highly pertinent to his audience, and appropriate for the setting. A High School graduation is a time to reflect upon your past experiences, and to ponder on the future. The speaker briefly touches upon how the graduating class has grown up quite fast, and then goes on to offer general advice for the future. The advice does not have a specific theme, but is rather general, touching on topics such as seizing the day, perseverance and

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