In the year 2012, at the Democratic national convention, the former combatant Jason Crow delivered a passionate speech concerning both his military experience and his socio-political views. My analysis will concentrate on how Jason Crow managed to use the strategies of story-telling, pauses, intonations, and the art of delivering a speech in general. Moreover, his talent to engage and maintain his audience’s interest as well as evoke their sympathy is worth admitting.
Taking into consideration the three main divisions of a speech, it is worth mentioning that his introduction was rather bright and impressing so as to capture the audience’s attention. The main principles of his position were expressed in the body of his speech, and all the ideas he wanted to convey were summarized in his conclusion.
Jason Crow opened his speech in a confident and determined tone, loud enough to be heard by the audience. Jason mentioned that he was a warrior, a captain of the army who served in Afghanistan. He told about his family in Colorado. It consisted of his little son and his wife. He used some pauses to make a greater effect and spoke in short and rather simple sentences. Jason Crow did not overload the audience with some long descriptive details of his military experience in Afghanistan. Nevertheless, he mentioned his oath to defend his great country. According to the speaker, the country made a promise too. It was the promise to support the warriors overseas and to do everything possible to make them come home. It is stressed in Crow’s speech that the President kept his promise. In spite of the fact that many soldierswill never return home, their commander-in-chief does his best to help their families. As for sharing his military experience with the audience, Jason Crow admitted that most soldiers returned home with some visible and invisible scars after the battle. The speaker kept the direct eye contact with the audience and stood erectly. Jason Crow drew our attention to the abolishment of the “ don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. He expressed his opinion concerning any kind of discrimination of soldiers in the army. Crow spoke passionately about his indignation because of the fact that any soldier could be discharged from the army because of his or her gender beliefs. He strongly supported Barack Obama’s position concerning this issue. It is stressed by the speaker that the President Obama thought about warriors and their families every single day in spite of not mentioning the troops in Afghanistan in any of his great speeches.
Jason Crow used some good logical and verbal transitions as he moved from the introduction, through the body, and in the conclusion of his speech. He encouraged the audience to support his commander-in-chief Barack Obama and join him in his policy. I was captured by Jason Crow’s speech from the beginning. The speaker seemed to be sincere and trustworthy. His message was clear and logical. He carried his speech so that every word could be heard and understood. In spite of the fact that Jason Crow’s speech was only two and a half minutes long, the speaker managed to express some of the fundamental principles of his outlook and socio-political views. Furthermore, he managed to share the most important expperience of his life with the audience and succeeded in delivering an important political message to people.
To tell the truth, it is much easier to criticize the speeches of other people than to make your own speech. Without any doubt, it is not a piece of cake to stand in front of the audience making people understand your position and your point of view and making them excited and interested in what you are trying to convey.
Not everybody can be a great orator. Nevertheless, sooner or later, everybody faces the necessity to speak in public. When I am given the tasks connected with public speech, they always bring me some anxiety. In fact, a great number of people deal with speech anxiety. Some of its most common symptoms are rapid heartbeat, shaking, dry mouth, sweating, and trembling voice. People worry that the audience will not respond to the speech. The lack of confidence in the information being given and the size of the audience are also important reasons of the fear of public speaking.
As for my own speech anxiety experience, the most effective method of dealing with it is looking for the friendly faces in the group or in crowd. Making eye contact with such people and feeling their positive feedback such as nodding in agreement or smiling always gives me some encouragement and makes me stop feeling nervous.
To sum up, I dare say that the best way to overcome speech anxiety is experience. The more speeches you give, the more skillful, confident, and fearless speaker you become. As the famous saying goes, experience is the mother of wisdom.