"The Secret to Good Speechwriting Is..."

A preliminary note of gratitude: danke to everyone in class for being understanding about my delay in bloggin'. My family emergency is, henceforth, resolved, and so I bring you a Carmen Rios original about last week's adventurous WMC Curriculum:

"Where is our student blogger?" were the first words heard by the student blogger herself as she settled into her seat, raised her hand, and assauged all fears. No worries- she was here. Professor Darrell Hayes, an American University Public Communication Professor and noted public relations expert, took his seat in response and began a lecture with three main points: ethos, pathos, and logos.

When delivering a speech, he said, it is most important to begin by thinking of your audience. Maybe, he suggested, you have two different audiences in the same arena: athletes, for instance, combined with musicians. There are a lot of things that could divide those groups- perspectives on art high on a list that could also include lifestyle, personality, and background. Hayes, however, took another path and suggested that students begin their speechwriting practice by thinking of what "unites your audience." Teamwork, for example, is something both divisions in that audience understand. The important of practice, cooperation, and the ability to take criticism and direction are also shared experiences among an audience of bass players and basketball ameteurs. Once you have linked your audience, you can find a direction for your speech and target your points to those unifying thoughts.

That's when ethos, pathos, and logos enter the room. Those three elements, in that order, are essential to good speechwriting. Hayes carefully described each: ethos, the credibility of the speaker, should come as an introduction and motivate the audience to listen to what the speaker has to say; pathos, the emotion, comes next in an effort to keep that audience intrigued and often to make them personally hold a stake in your topic; logos comes last, the logical argument formed in time to explain the other elements and close neatly.

The challenge he then posed was for students in the Writing for Mass Communication class to write a speech as if they were AU's own Dean of Students. Their audience? The parents gathered at Family Weekend receptions and events, particularly the one the Dean was speaking at. And the topic? Underage drinking, and why it should be legal. Students split quickly into groups and worked on making the Dean of Students seem rational and not radical, perfecting language along the lines of, "my sons and daughters" and establishing the Dean's credibility not only as someone personally involved in education as an institution, but also in childrearing as a parent. Relating to parents proved easier, however, than the logos- how could lowering the drinking age ever be marketed to parents?

"Family Weekend is a freshman mistake," one student quipped. "These parents will be terrified."

"Can we say 'children?' They're adults by now," one student put forward. "Sons and daughters! Sons and daughters!"

The students all completed the speech outlines by the end of class and printed them out, with Hayes eagerly walking around the classroom to see how the challenges of speechwriting would be overcome by the small group of honors undergrads.

On Thursday, the students reconvened, this time with the familiar face of Amy Eisman at the front of the classroom. AU Professor Dotty Lynch, a recognized pollster and well-known communications professional, came in to judge and evaluate their in-class project for the day: PSAs.

Following a lecture on the nature of PSAs and the elements that make them successful (directing your audience to more resources, speaking concisely and in easy-to-understand language, writing casually and colloqiually in broadcast fashion, and connecting with your specific target audience), the students once again faced down a group project. They were instructed to compose audio PSA's 30 seconds in length on H1N1 prevention. After looking to their student portals and flu.gov, the room was full of feigned coughs and strained voices.

"Best radio voice goes to Carmen," professor Eisman quipped. The most successful group in the exercise was that who put forth tons of coughs and clever references to the importance of hygiene in everyday life for students, focusing on washing hands as key to prevention. Another group used the slogan "do your friends a favor- stay in," and others experimented with allusions to pop culture and the importance of knowing what is not okay to "share" (namely germs). Lynch was impressed overall with the performance of the student groups.

The week ended with printed scripts and the promise of more PSA work in the future, soon to be fulfilled by the recently assigned PSA assignment (DUE NOVEMBER 9).