A New Perspective

My first blog post dealt with the example of Martin Luther King Juniors' "I have a dream" speech. After taking this class, I still feel that this is a great example of public speaking. It fits many of the requirements of public speaking such as being in front of a large crowd in the public setting. It has a specific purpose to gain support from the audience. King uses his speech to try and convince the public of the importance of the civil rights movement. Although I still find this speech a good example, my understanding of what public speaking is has changed. At the beginning of the class, I thought public speaking was only a formal speech in front of a large crowd. After this class, I recognize that public speaking is done by all of us everyday. It does not have to be a formal speech to be considered public speaking. I now know that it can be done in all types of settings and in front of audiences of all sizes. Also, I already knew that speeches, like King's, had different purposes, but now I have a much better understanding of the many circumstances that shape these purposes. For example, King's purpose in speaking was a result of the racism in America and the need to gain support for the civil rights movement. He had to adjust his message for the audience he was speaking to. Since they were mostly supporters, King made sure his speech focused on showing the public his 'dream' for what America could be like when the racism ended. I now know this technique as the Visualization step in Monroe's Motivated Sequence. I can now look at King's speech and see it as much more than just a famous speech. I can see how it fits into the ideas of public advocacy and civic engagement in his attempts to convince people of his cause and get them to stop the racism. In addition, when listening to the speech I can recognize many of the techniques he utilizes as ones we learned about in class. I would not have picked up on these techniques if I had not taken this class.