PURPOSIVE COMMUNICATION MIDTERM COVERAGE

UNIT II: MIDTERM

LESSON 5: The Tools Needed in Critical/Creative Reports
In today’s day and age, everyone is expected to be able to give critical and creative reports. This
includes lawyers, engineers, and government employees, not just those who are working in the fields of
multimedia and the arts. Modern technology has made it easier for people to complement their reports
with arresting visual aids and helpful videos, and it has helped tremendously in the spread of all kinds of
information. To succeed in one’s academic and professional life, one should be able to master the report.

Lesson Objectives:

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

1. Create a credible, logical report that is thoroughly researched and fact-checked;

2. Deliver a report using effective verbal and non-verbal communication; and
3. Augment the report with relevant and eye-catching visual aids.

Before-Reading Questions:

1. From your own experience as a student who listens to teachers in classrooms, what is the
difference between a good public speaker and a bad public speaker?
2. Who among the many public figures do you consider to be a good public speaker? Why do you
think so? What do you think makes this person effective?
3. What are the worst traits of a public speaker? How do they affect their audience?

Best Practices of Public Speaking

Introduction. What makes a speech electric? What makes a speech so effective it can make
the audience have goosebumps or make them flush in rage or joy? Some speeches can be so
effective they trigger adrenaline, while other speeches, just as effective, trigger a sense of peace
and calm amid chaos. Great speakers have been called hypnotic, magnetic, and charismatic, and
this is not just because they have a compelling message, but because of the captivating manner
they deliver these speeches, as well.

Performance. Speeches are performances, and they are delivered best when they have the
feel of authenticity and earnestness. People respond when they think that the one speaking is
being honest and sincere, and they respond even more strongly when they feel that they can
relate to the speaker in question. Because of this, a sense of humor helps break the ice, and
strategic shows of vulnerability and concern can make an audience feel closer to the speaker.

Plan the Speech. It is important to express oneself in an expressive and articulate manner. It
is best to choose one’s words carefully, and to ensure that one’s speech builds on the
foundation of logos, pathos, and ethos. To come across as articulate, one must also nurture a
speaking style that is effective, and this style varies from one person to another.

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Eye Contact. One way of coming across as authentic is the ability to make good eye contact
with the audience, and to speak in a manner that touches them. It is important to engage the
audience, and eye contact helps in doing that. Some people, however, have a hard time making
eye contact. Should this be the case, it would help to pick out three people from the audience,
placed in a mental triangle from one’s position, and try to make eye contact with them instead of
the rest of the people in the room. If one is truly hesitant to look at people’s eyes, one may look
at their foreheads instead; this creates the illusion of making eye contact with people without
doing it. On the other hand, if one is comfortable making eye contact, it would help to pick out
people who seem to be friendly or accommodating to look at, so that when one speaks, one
feels confident and ease.

Speaking Style. Different people have different speaking styles, and one can only find one’s
personal style through constant practice. Some people seem to be more effective when they
come across as calm, trustworthy, and reasonable, and their hand gestures seem more open
and thoughtful. Others, on the other hand, can get away with bursts of passion and bombast,
infecting the audience with their fervor and enthusiasm. This is usually matched with pointing
and/or punches thrown in the air, to punctuate their speeches and make a strong impression on
the crowd.

Hand Gestures. Whatever kind of speaker one may be, it is always best to be more
purposeful when it comes to choosing hand gestures. Hand gestures can create as much of an
impact as the content of the speech itself. They must always look smooth and natural, rather
than robotic or artificial. Hand gestures can be useful signposts in making a point, such as the
usual hand gestures of enumeration. They can signal inclusiveness, such as when both hands
are stretched towards the audience palm up, or division, such as when there are sweeping
gestures to indicate difference. Although they are intuitive in nature, they are extremely useful
when used effectively, and note that these gestures are also culturally informed. Some hand
gestures are considered rude, and it is important to be able to match the appropriate hand
gestures to one’s audience.

Recording the Speech for Feedback. One of the best practices in public speaking is to
videotape speakers, and then have these speakers watch themselves. It might surprise them
that they use hand gestures or mannerisms that distract from or lessen the impact of their
speeches. Some hand gestures are so exaggerated they look like policemen directing traffic, and
some people pepper their speeches with too much nervous laughter, or fillers like “Umms” and
“Uhhs” in their speech. This process is usually done inside speech laboratories, where students
can access videos of themselves, and allow them to study their speeches. They can watch for the
flaws of their performances, instead of being too dependent on the teacher or their peers when
it comes to constructive criticism.

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Peer Evaluation. Unfortunately, not all schools have the means to record their students’
speeches. Should this be the case, it is important to have discerning teachers, coaches, or peers
to provide feedback when it comes to the effectivity of one’s speech. It is not enough to be given
a grade for the speech, or just be accorded high praise. Feedback from people is important, and
this will be a great tool in improving one’s speech and one’s speaking style in general.
Observations can range from the speaker’s posture, one’s facial expressions, and one’s general
appearance. This can be done alone with the speaker rehearsing their speech in front of a
mirror.

Appearance. When it comes to appearance, it is important to look credible and worthy of

respect. In the real world, this depends a lot one’s audience, as the way one’s dresses should
match the kind of audience one wants to impress. Whether one’s audience are corporate clients
or creative directors, this should have an influence on the appearance one presents.

Clothing. Traditional audience often call for more formal clothing. For men, this would mean
donning a suit and tie at the most formal level, or at the very least, the use of long-sleeved
button-down shirts, slacks, and leather shoes. In the Philippines, the use of barong and slacks is
acceptable. For the women, a pantsuit or a formal coat and skirt ensemble should suffice. In less
formal instances, a dress or blouse and skirt (or slacks) outfit should do as well.

Good Grooming. In addition, good grooming is a must, and that extends to one’s hair to
one’s nails. If one looks neat and clean, that should be enough to satisfy most audience’s
requirements. Some audiences, however, may require women to wear more (or less) make-up,
don a hijab, or wear high heels – in these instances, it is always best to know the cultural
expectations of the audience and the venue.

Visual Aids. Since we live in a world that is more dependent on information technology, it
has become de rigueur for audience to expect speeches to be accompanied with visual aids,
such as PowerPoint presentations, video or audio clips, and infographics. Any of these are
acceptable, and in most cases, commendable, if they are relevant to the topic at hand.

PowerPoint Presentations. When it comes to the use of PowerPoint, one should ensure
that the font size of the text is not too small. An acceptable size font would be type 24 or larger,
and the text should be in dark colors for easier reading. The best PowerPoint presentations are
not text-heavy; instead, they are visually oriented, which is why the use of photographs,
illustrations, charts, and the like would better serve one’s use of the medium. Video clips may or
may not be embedded in the presentation, as well as audio clips and animation.

The university of Leicester gives a few guidelines about the use of PowerPoint, as well,
when it comes to color, it is best to be consistent and to have the same color and background
schemes for each slide. It also mentions the “six by six rule,” whereby, “slides should have no

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more than six bullet points and each bullet point should be no more than six words long”.
Although it is good to use animation, it would be best no to overuse this feature. Once the
PowerPoint presentation is finished, one can view it several ways; one can view it in the “Notes”
tab to see the comments and notes for the speaker, aside from the actual slide presentation;
another is the “Slide Sorter” view to see the visual impact of the presentation. A good rule of
thumb is one slide for every two minutes. One should also rehearse the speech while using the
presentation, and check the infrastructure (such as the room, laptop, and projector) before the
speech (2017).

Handouts. It would be best to have handouts ready for one’s audience, so that members
of the audience will not have to scramble when taking notes during the presentation. These
should be written briefly, and should appropriate citations.

Feedback. Although the speech is a performance, it is also one where its audience can
participate, often by the speaker asking rhetorical or directing actual questions to the audience.
It is always good to read the verbal and non-verbal cues from the audience, such as whether
they agree with what one is saying or whether they are resisting to certain ideas, mirrored by
their use of body language. The speaker is more responsive and sympathetic to the audience
when they modify their speeches to match the audience’s visual cues.

Conclusion. In the end, public speaking is a dynamic performance that is meant to

disseminate information, create greater awareness, and evoke emotions in the audience. It is
utilized by teachers, lawyers, politicians, and the like. It has been used effectively to promote
human rights on the street and to create policies in government. Although it is a performance,
the most important speeches in the world have had material effects, such as the speeches of
Abraham Lincoln, Susan B. Anthony, and Martin Luther King, Jr., and these still affect the world
today, long after their speakers have already been long gone.
After-Reading Questions:

1. Why is public speaking a performance?

2. Is a good public speaker born, not made? Or is it a mixture of both? Explain your answer.
3. As an audience member, what affects you the most when it comes to the effectivity of a speech?
What qualities of the speaker give the greatest impression to you?
4. Do you want to be a good public speaker? Why or why not?
5. What public speaking practices do you think should be practiced more in your school or in your
class? Why?
6. Why is it important to match one’s appearance to one’s audience?
7. When are visual aids effective when people give speeches and reports?
8. When are visual aids not effective when people give speeches and reports?
9. What is your speaking style? Can you think of any famous person who has the same speaking
style?

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10. Do you think you can still further improve your speaking style? How?

LESSON 6: TED Talks and Critical/Creative Thinking in Today’s Society

In the last lesson, we took up more traditional reports, as seen in television newscasts and reports
in the classroom. For this lesson, we will see how reports can be done in today’s modern world. People
from all over the world share their knowledge on various media platforms, whether they are amateurs
from YouTube or experts on TED Talks. People from the past might have thought that animation and
graphics would have dominated the information revolution, but it turns out that human beings like
watching other humans talk – and that public speaking remains one of the more important ways to
spread ideas in the 21st century. Instead of being extinct in the information age, public speaking has
become even more important. Filipinos, like Mikey Bustos, have huge followings on their YouTube videos,
while Filipino experts have shared their knowledge in TEDx Talks in universities in the Philippines.

Lesson Objectives:

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

1. know the features of a good TED talk;

2. to perform a good TED talk using visual aids; and
3. give a talk in front of a corporate or academic audience, in a business or an academic conference.

Before-Reading Questions:

1. have you ever watched TED Talks? Why or why not?

2. What makes TED Talks interesting?
3. Would you ever want to give a TED talk? Again, why or why not?

TED Talks: Walking the Talk

Sometimes, people with good public speaking skills and mediocre ideas get more attention
than people with great ideas but average public speaking skills. According to John Bates, “I think
the world needs people with great ideas to have the communication skills to match, because we
need those ideas more than ever” (quoted in Clark, D.) when people have good ideas, they
should be able to share it with others. There are times when funding a good idea relies solely on
one’s public speaking skills, or times when groundbreaking ideas need to be shared to create a
social revolution.

It is important to know that content is king. Whatever one chooses to talk about, it should
come from a place of passion. One’s enthusiasm for the topic should shine, and it should be
something worth sharing to the world. All the research in the world will not matter if one does
not feel strongly about the topic. After all, the slogan of TED Talks is, “Ideas Worth Sharing,” and
not, “A Few O.K. Ideas.”

When people speak in front of an audience, they are already on a place of vulnerability, which
is why some people freeze up or are afraid of showing their emotions. The opposite should take

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place – speakers should use their emotions to connect to the audience – it makes them more
relatable and more accessible. Personal anecdotes are great ways to connect to an audience.

Lastly, it is important to speak slowly so the audience can understand the concepts one talks
about. The temptation is to speak as fast as you can to get the experience over and done with,
but that would simply give a bad impression.

There really isn’t much more to say. The best way to know how to give a TED talk is to watch
several, and to study what makes them effective. And the best way to present a TED talk is to
practice and prepare, as much as possible.

Learning Task: Analyzing TED Talks

The titles that follow are TED talks in different topics. You are to analyze each TED talk. Links
are already provided for your access.

1. “What Reality Are You Creating for Yourself?” (Isaac Lidsky)

http://www.ted.com/talks/isaac_lidsky_what_reality_are_you_creating_for_yourself#t-
692833 (retrieved April 11, 2017).
Before-Watching Questions:
a. What are the five senses? Which one do you consider the most important? Why?
b. Do you think that reality is something that we are in or is reality something that we
create? What is the difference between the two?

After-Watching Questions:

1. What did you think of TED Talks?

2. How can people affect their reality?
3. What was the most surprising thing for you in the talk?
4. What made it so effective?
5. How does it personally affect you?
6. What hand gestures did you consider to be effective? why?
7. What was his only visual aid? Why did he use it?
8. How did he prove that he could change his reality?
9. What can you learn about public speaking from listening to the talk?
10.What can you learn about life?
2. “All it Take Is 10 Mindful Minutes” (Andy Puddicombe)
https://www.ted.com/talks/andy_puddicombe_all_it_takes_is_10_mindful_minutes#t-
545342 (retrieved April 11, 2017).
Before-Watching Questions:
a. When was the last time you did absolutely nothing for ten minutes?
b. What does being “mindful” mean to you?
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After-Watching Questions:

1. What did you feel after watching the talk?

2. What would be the benefit or benefits of meditation?
3. Why was his talk effective?
4. What do you think of his use of visual aids?
5. What is the main point of his talk?
6. Could you relate to his talk? Why or why not?
7. Do you think the talk is relevant to society? Why or why not?
8. Have you ever tried meditating before? What do you think of it?
9. What are the benefits of being a more reflective person? Do you think it will help
society if people were more reflective? Why?
10.What problem do we encounter if we are not reflective, and are connected to social
media, all the time?

Other TED Talks worth watching:

 “Confessions of a Bad Feminist” (Roxane Gay)

https://www.ted.com/talks/roxane_gay_confessions_of_a_bad_feminist#t-237630
(retrieved April 11, 2017)
 “Life, Learning and Filipino Martial Arts” (Felipe Jocano Jr.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWzT_dleglw (retrieved April 11, 2017).
 “What Makes a Good Life?” (Robert Waldinger)
https://www.ted.com/talks/robert_waldinger_what_makes_a_good_life_lessons_from_the_l
ongest_study_on_happiness (retrieved April 11, 2017).

LESSON 7: The Importance of Persuasive Speech

Today, it seems that everybody is trying to persuade everybody else. Whether it is to buy a specific
product, try out the newest craze, or join a political movement, persuasion is the name of the game.
Whatever field of profession one plans to join in the future, it is an essential skill to be able to persuade
someone. Although most people nowadays try to persuade using emotional means, it is best to use logic
and reasoning to persuade people as well.

This lesson will be more specific about how one can persuade using correct argumentation.
Furthermore, you will read a little bit about logical fallacies, and how best to avoid arguments using
logical fallacies, as well as not to be fooled by anyone using them.

Lesson Objectives:

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

1. know how to create a solid argument;

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2. understand several logical fallacies and how to spot them; and
3. give persuasive speeches with excellent logical reasoning and argumentation.

The Basics of Argumentation

The ordinary expectation of an argument is an action that involves strong words, possibly
matched with violent acts. However, this appreciation cannot be farther from the truth. In fact, a
well-reasoned argument is not based on violence at all, but one that is based on logic and
evidence.

An argument is composed of three features: assumption, evidence and explanation. If any of

the three features are missing, these are not considered arguments. In the case of assumptions
without evidence, these are merely opinions. In the case of evidence without assertions, these
are simply bald facts that need further contextualization. Unfortunately, most people believe
that if you have one of these features, one can create a compelling argument.

One must know what an assumption is. An assumption is an opinion that needs evidence to
back it up. Hence, saying that the world is round is not an assumption, it is a fact. It is not an
opinion that asks for evidence, because it has already been proven and is true by all accounts.
However, the opinion that women should be given the right to an abortion is an assertion that
needs facts to support it. To do so, would be to look at laws, jurisprudence, and documents from
the United Nations, or similar institutions. There are times when there can be shifts in ideology,
rendering what were once considered facts into matters of opinion and vice versa.

For example, the belief that all states should respect human rights used to be considered a
fact in the Philippines. However, with the election of President Rodrigo Duterte, for some people,
this is now considered a matter of opinion, as human rights have been framed as a Western
concept that has no relationship to Philippine realities. Both assertions have their merits, and it
is now important to closely look at the evidence to see which assertion is more correct than the
other.

Evidence can be any of the following: concrete facts and figures; a philosophical ideology
agreed upon to be true by everyone; and anecdotal evidence. The strongest bodies of evidence
are based on facts and figures, and it is important to that they are true and come from reliable
sources. One cannot expect to get facts from memes, dodgy blogs, and fake news sources. It is
best to get facts from newspapers and academic journals, or their digital counterparts. The
weakest among the three would be anecdotal evidence, as this can be an exaggeration of the
speaker, or even an outright lie.

An explanation tells the audience why the evidence supports the assumption. It should be
clear and concise, and the relationship between the evidence and the assumption must not
commit any logical fallacies. For example, when it comes to the earlier assumption, that all states
should observe human rights for its citizens, the facts that this is enshrined in the United
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Nations Commission for Human Rights (UNCHR) might not be enough for some people.
Therefore, to be more persuasive, one must explain where this came from, that it was a post-
World War II measure to ensure that evils of the Nazi Holocaust would not be repeated in the
world. A stronger explanation would go to the premises of the argument and analyze this point
by point, to make the audience fully understand the argument.

In the end, an argument’s persuasive power is not found solely on logical grounds. It is
important to remember that one is trying to convince human beings with emotions, and not
cold, unfeeling robots, which is why it is always best to add the persuasive powers of pathos and
ethos in an argument, aside from those that stem from logos.

Learning Task: Building Arguments

To apply the lessons learned in the earlier essay, create several arguments for and against
the following topics.

Topic Assertion Evidence Explanation

Divorce should be
legalized in the
Philippines (Policy)
Divorce should not be
legalized in the
Philippines (Policy)
Extrajudicial killings
(EJKs) are good for the
Philippines (Truth)
Extrajudicial killings
(EJKs) are bad for the
Philippines (Truth)

LESSON 8: Persuasive Speech in Private Institutions

Corporations and private institutions rely on persuasion to get investments, broker deals, and find
clients. Persuasion comes, not just in the words that are used, but also with snappy audio-visual
presentations and infectious music. It can be dead serious, as in corporate negotiations, ore seriously
fun, as in marketing products and pitching projects.

In this lesson, you will learn how to use persuasion in marketing, pitching and creating buzzworthy
events. Although this can be primarily used by Business and Advertising majors, it can also be used by
anyone who is interested in putting up a business someday, pitching a product to fund, or getting
something off the ground. It would also be helpful in other professions, because these skills can come in
handy someday.
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Lesson Objectives:

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

1. pitch a project;
2. market a product; and
3. take part in a corporate conference.

Pitching a Project
Many times, people need to look for funding sources to make good ideas grow and develop.
When the internet first boomed in the 1990s, many start-ups, or up and coming web-related
companies, could get investments from Silicon Valley and beyond. Although this tapered off
when the dot-com bubble burst in the 2000s, this is still the case when it comes to people who
have good ideas and need to look for investors to make business ideas grow.

Nowadays, the internet has created sophisticated platforms for people to pitch their projects
so that people who are interested in helping can easily invest with a click of a button. The most
well-known platform for this is Kickstarter, and the pitches are made by uploading videos to the
website. Given here are a few Kickstarter projects that could help as models for students before
they make their own video-audio-visual pitch.

1. “Eat Offbeat: The Cookbook” (Eat Offbeat)

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1094312075/eat-offbeat-the-cookbook?
ref=home_popular
2. “Rising Sun” (CMON)
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/coolminiornot/rising-sun?ref=home_popular
3. “Selfly Camera: The Smart, Flying, Phone Case Camera” (Selfly Camera)
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/selfly/selfly-camera-the-smart-flying-phone-case-
camera?ref= popular
4. “Off Assignment”
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1305026158/off-assignment

Learning Task: Pitching a Project

1. Think of a worthwhile project to pitch. This may be a real project or something you just
invented or imagined. Create a video presentation for the pitch, or if the funds and
technological infrastructure are insufficient, create an audio-visual presentation of the
pitch. You can also add hand-outs and flyers to help with the pitch.
2. The video/audio-visual pitch should be longer than one minute, but shorter than five
minutes.
3. Grades will use a point system from 0 to 10, with the description of the rubric for each
score. The score will be multiplied into 10, so that a perfect score can be total up to 100
points.
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Score Description
0 A pitch was not submitted.
1 The pitch was poorly made and its project was poorly conceived.
2 The pitch was poorly made even though the project had some merit.
3 The pitch had some technical problems that could not be overcome. The project
had some merit.
4 The pitch could have used a better strategy (live interviews instead of stick figures,
and vice versa), depending on the content of the project. The project seemed
worthwhile.
5 The pitch was technically correct, but the project itself and the way it was pitched
had some problems, which made it less persuasive. The project seemed worthwhile.
6 There was some unevenness in the quality of the pitch and the project themselves,
but it seemed persuasive.
7 The pitch was persuasive and had some problems. The project was worthwhile.
8 The pitch was persuasive and had minimal problems. The project was worthwhile.
9 The pitch was persuasive and seamless, and the project was worthwhile.
10 The pitch was very persuasive, looked technically brilliant, and the project itself is
something I would invest in if I had the money.

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