week6o- Last blog :(

This past week in class we had to write speeches to our state legislature for our company representative to give. This was a very interesting and difficult assignment. I have taken a public speaking class before, but all of our speeches were informative or persuasive and we got to choose the topic. This made it easier to write because I could choose anything I wanted that I had prior knowledge or interest in.

This assignment made me realize the different types of speeches that are out there. I'm never going to have to give a speech on any of the subjects I did them on in speech class. It was just practice on writing and giving speeches. Now I realize that I might have to write a speech like the one we wrote in class one day. I had to know all the information about our company, be able to persuade the legislatures that we needed state funding and do it in an interesting way that they could pay attention to.

This assignment was very difficult and I definitely think it's something I could work on a little more. Especially having to give it in front of the class. I always get nervous talking in front of class rooms (where I get graded). If I practice a little more I can become more confident in it.

Ethics

Ethics has become a huge part of practicing public relations. It is especially important because of the bad reputation that public relations practitioners have been labeled with. Public Relations has been known as persuading people into buying things or believing what you want them to. This isn't true. Public Relations has has a bad reputation in the past and that is why it is important to be ethical so we can gain our trust back with the public.

Here are the important rules of Public Relations in the PRSA Code of Ethics:
http://www.prsa.org/AboutPRSA/Ethics/

Ralph B. Potter Jr. believed that ethical decisions were influenced by four interrelated variables. These variables are loyalties, principles, situation and values. This is how The Potter Box came about. Loyalties- asking what individuals or groups are important in this situation? Principles- Identify relevant ethical principles that should guide your action. Situation- Asking, what are the problems/opportunites inherent in this situation? Values- Asking, what are the values you should take into account such as friendship, trust, loyalty, etc.
Taking these four things into account you will have the right people and ideas in mind, which will help you be ethical in the decisions you make.

Here is a picture of the Potter Box, however, they replaced what we have said as situation to facts.


https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiZ_TkqHRNwIbPuhqmpv8oFoCZ7pS5DkA3NlNoWvVre6ycnB9rCCmaXbCg3ITPpw5UN_j8SueHARnKpxeAnQ2R4qKD7WFjXPXqHWVypkyvJ39DTkJ_8_45Sdip4BnDJZAddloUBPbjF7tu/s320/Untitled-1.gif

Twitter

For our next assignment we are required to make 10 Twitter pitches for our companies. My Company is CommunicAID, a non-profit organization that provides shelters and food banks for the homeless and those in poverty. I think this assignment is very important because Twitter has become one of the most popular social media outlets within the past few years. It is a great way to get information out to the public and it is free!! I have had a Twitter for about a year now and I absolutely love it! I have the Twitter application on my phone so I check it all the time.

My main source of news is Twitter. Occassionaly I'll read online news sites or watch the news on TV, but I follow news twitters for Oklahoma and larger ones. I find out so much from these tweets just by reading a 140 character status update. I also follow a lot of clothing stores and restaurants that I like. They tweet about specials and sales that they have, which is great stuff that I normally would never have known about.

Doing these Twitter pitches will be great for my company because it will be letting information out to people who are interested. They will be able to find out about different things such as our new location and the crisis my company was accused of. A lot of people are using Twitter now and it is becoming as popular as sites like Facebook and Myspace.

Twitter is amazing and I reccomend everyone get one!! You can follow me @jessieprater

Visit www.twitter.com to make your Twitter!!

International Audiences

Understanding international and intercultural audiences is the most important thing when doing public relations for different cultures or countries. You need to be able to communicate in an appropriate way in order to send an effective message without offending anyone.



The Kent book gives examples of basic skills needed to prepare for international settings Here are a couple of good ones:

1.) Learn the language of the culture you will be interacting with. If you are communicating with people of another country you need to learn the language. Be able to say simple words and how to be polite.

2.)Learn the essentials of formal interactions. Do you shake hands, kiss or bow when you first meet someone?

3.)Learn something about the media system in the country that you visit. You need to be able to know what medium to use to reach your target audience.



Communicating with people that speak a different language or have a different culture than yourself can be a very stick situation. This is why it is important to learn the rules of language and check multiple times that your message is being taken the right way.





http://getinternationalclients.com/how-to-prevent-most-cross-cultural-miscommunication-by-examining-your-own-english-communication/



There is a link you can visit that gives you tips on how to prevent miscommunication across cultures.

Here are a few examples the website gives of how miscommunication might happen across cultures:



*People like to use slang words that people from other countries or different languages wouldn't understand. If someone were to say, "that shirt is so tight." They could either mean it is form fitting or they could use tight as another word for awesome, cool, hip, etc.

*Japanese people don't refuse things because it is considered rude. This goes the same as people from Honduras. My Spanish teacher was from Honduras and to be nice one day she made us all homemade chimichangas. Being the picky eater that I am, I told her no thank you on eating them. She later went on to tell me how in Honduras it is very rude to deny anything offered to you, especially food. I felt very bad, but in America I've been raised to say no thank you if I don't want something and that is fine.

*French people are easily offended. A friend of mine studied abroad in France and so I was curious about this and I asked her if it were true. She said that she remembered any time she would talk to someone from France, even if they spoke English, they would be very offended if she didn't atleast try to speak to them in France before speaking English to them.

All of these are good examples of how miscommunication can be very hurtful and how important it is to understand a culture or language if you are trying to reach out to a public from a different one of these than yourself.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs explains the 5 needs that all humans have. The first is physiological. This is the need for food, water and shelter. All the basic needs humans need to survive. This type of audience can be targeted by addressing people that don't have their basic needs. The second need is safety and security. This can be targeted by telling people they don't need to worry and to keep them from a huge fear, death. The third need is love and belonging. This can be targeted with dating sites or adopting homeless animals. The fourth need is esteem. This is the need to feel like you will be accepted by your peers. This can be targeted by ads that try to get you to fit in with what's popular. The bandwagon rhetorical device is used a lot to target esteem. Self actualization is the last need. This is the need to feel like are accomplished. This can be targeted by showing that if they listen to you they will be successful.

Special Ocation Speeches/ week3o

Special occasion speeches are some of the most common speeches given on a day-to-day basis. These speeches aren't only given as presenting something. They are speeches for you friends, families, to entertain and to express how you feel about something. The best example of social media and speeches is obviously YouTube. You can't read a speech and understand the true meaning of it. You have to hear the tone and timing of the speaker to get the full message they are trying to send.



Here are some examples:



A farewell speech- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJrlTpQm0to

This is a farewell to the Yankee Stadium speech by Derek Jeter. In his speech he honors the fans that have been loyal for so long. He appreciates and remembers the stadium for being such a good home for them. At the end of the speech he asks the audience to take the memories they have made with the old stadium and combine them with the memories they will make in the new stadium.

An inspirational speech- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WO4tIrjBDkk

This is an inspirational speech that Al Pacino gives to his football team in the movie Any Given Sunday. He uses ethos when he admits how he has screwed up in his life and he wouldn't want these guys to do the same. He uses logos by talking about times in different fights when people have one by inches. He also uses pathos when he talks about how if they don't work together they'll die alone. The speech is a good inspirational one because Al Pacino uses the speed and intensity of his voice speeding up and getting louder to get the team pumped up and he slows down and gets quieter when he wants them to feel emotion. He leaves them with the question, "Now, what are you gonna do?" This is where the team gets really pumped up and starts screaming.

Tribute Speech- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5pBN3cE-2A

This is a tribute speech to Steve Irwin by his daughter Bindi. She does a great job not only because she is his daughter and expresses how much she loves and will miss him, but because she encourages the audience to keep him in their memory and support saving wildlife like Steve always faught for.

week3

Speeches.

Chapter 9 of the Kent book was about Speeches and Professional Presentations. The chapter talks about the different features of the speech, creating outlines, how to support your speech, and different professional presentation types.

One of the important parts of giving a speech or a professional presentation is getting people to agree with you and change their attitude or take action. The Monroe's Motivated Sequence by Professor Alan Monroe of Purdue University developed this as a guideline to help people present a speech to get people to take action.

The five steps he presents are the attention step which introduces the need of the speech, the next step is the need step which explains what the problem is, then comes the satisfaction step which explains the problem and what needs to be done to fix it, then comes the visualization step which is what the speaker does to help the audience visualize what is in the future if action is/isn't taken, finally there comes the action step where the speaker provides the audience with what they need to do to take action.

Here is a YouTube clip of 40 inspiration speeches in 40 minutes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6wRkzCW5qI

All of these speeches are inspirational because the speaker makes dramatic statements, illustrates what is to happen, and motivates the audience to get pumped up to take action (mostly against the enemy they are fighting against).