Rhetorical Analysis On Randy Pausch

What an amazing and inspiring speech of Randy Pausch. Not only did I learn about how to put a speech together he also teaches us some valuable life lessons.

I choose to study the message construction: the basic foundations and its parts, the introduction, conclusion and the organization. Secondly, I have chosen to pay attention to the visual aids.

To begin with the introduction, “A good introduction must perform five important functions. 1. Get the audience’s attention. 2. Introduce the subject. 3. Give the audience a reason to listen. 4. Establish your credibility. 5. Preview your main idea’s.” (Beebe, pg.117)

Pausch start to talk about that this lecture used to be called “the last lecture” to grab the attention of the audience he makes a joke that he finally nailed it. He explains that he has cancer but that he is in the best shape of his life. He demonstrates this by doing some push-ups on the stage. “ Because listeners form their first impression quickly, the introduction must capture their attention.” (Beebe, pg.117) As a visual he has a picture of his tumors in his brain. He uses this to establish credibility, he knows about childhood dreams and realizing this because he did so before he looses the fight with cancer. “If you establish your credibility before you begin, your listeners will be more likely to believe what you say.” (Beebe, pg. 55) He states very clear that he don’t want any pity. The cards are dealt and you can’t change it. He uses humor and makes

the audience laugh.” Humor, handled well, can be a wonderful way to get an audience attention. It can help relax the audience and win their goodwill for the rest of the speech.” (Beebe, pg. 121) He starts with an outline what he is not going to talk about. Soon after that he lines out about the things he is going to talk about. He introduces the subject. ” The most obvious purpose of an introduction is to introduce the subject of the speech.” (Beebe, pg.118) In a little preview of the main ideas, he gives the audience a reason to listen.” A final purpose of the introduction is to preview the main ideas of your speech.” (Beebe, pg. 119) He goes direct to his first point, his childhood dreams. He gives a little preview of his childhood, and he uses many visuals for this of that. Paush, subdivide his main points and he had an illustration of this so it was clear for everybody in the audience. “ You can arrange your main ideas according to one pattern and your sub points according to another. For example, the organization of the main ideas of a speech may be chronological”. (Beebe, pg. 106) The organization of his supporting materials is amazing, in all the main points of the body, he shows many pictures and shows videos of what he has done. He even brings on the stuffed animals on stage he won as a child. Pausch, uses the brick wall a lot of times during his speech to show that you should not give up after one try, that is the only way you can realize your dreams. He uses it as a repetition side post. “Your next organization task is to develop sign-post-words and gestures that allow you to move smoothly from one idea to the next throughout your speech, showing relationships between ideas and empathize important points”. (Beebe, pg. 110) Paush, make very smooth transitions, one of them was with a question “how many of you have enabled childhood dreams?” (Pausch) This was such a perfect transition from his childhood dreams, to fulfilling other peoples dreams.” You may also signal the beginning of a new idea or major point in your speech movement”. (Beebe, pg. 160) The transition form the main points to the conclusion is great as well illustrated with a picture of Tiger and Igor, he says choose who you want to be in life. Than he follows with the conclusion, he summarize the speech up with a lot of humor everything he went trough in life, I puts on his school jacket and than uses a dill as a prop this doll was made by a friend.
“ Illustrations or anecdotes.

An illustration or anecdote can provide the basis for an effective conclusion. It can help the audience focus on the main point of your speech and to hold their attention”. (Beebe, pg. 127) The last part of the speech the clincher is absolutely amazing, “This talk wasn’t for you guys. It was for my kids”. (Pausch) “Another way to end your speech is to issue an inspirational appeal or challenge to your listeners, rousing them into a high emotional pitch”. (Beebe, pg.

128)

This speech was put very well together in chronological order. The introduction made it very clear what the lecture was about, the support of the main ideas were all there and the conclusion was a restatement from everything he talked about. Pausch, used visual aids in the form of pictures and video’s. He also had props to support his lecture, and great icing on the cake. He brought his wife on stage to celebrate her birthday. There was a lot of humor and he involved the audience in his speech. He named some people who were sitting in the audience to illustrate his story