Reviving Hippie Spirit: Analysis of Michael Lenz's Speech

The speech that I attended was The Revival of the Hippie speech given by Michael Lenz on Wednesday March 30th 2016. We were a voluntary audience who attended the speech on our own free will (Chp 6 p 34). Lenz started off his speech with two quotes to give his audience an understanding of his hippie spirit. His speech was an informative one to inform us that the ideas of the hippies are “coming back” to America. Lenz had several strong areas in giving his speech and a few areas that he could work on in his speech.
One of Lenz’s first strong points was that he used a presentation aid. It was a Microsoft word document with the main points of his speech typed on a big screen. Presentation aids are very important in giving a speech because people

process and retain information best when they receive it both verbally and visually (Chp 20 p 275). He used a clarifier to show us the statics of the things that Americans believed or how they felt on different matters in the United States. He also had a picture to show us what a hippie farm looked like. Lenz also kept his presentation aid simple so that his audience did not get overwhelmed or distracted which is also very important. (Chp 21 p 288). He used the same design element throughout his presentation aid and he used appropriate typeface and font and no color so that it could be read easily (Chp 21 p 289).
Lenz also used a lot of non-verbal communication.

Nonverbal communication behaviors play a key part in the audience’s perception of your competence, trustworthiness, and character (Chp 19 p 262). Audience members receive information beyond the actual words that a speaker says (Chp 19 p 262). Two types of nonverbal communication is paralanguage and body language (Chp 19 p 262). Audience’s only derives 7% of what the speaker’s meaning from the words that they say, 38% comes from the speaker’s voice and 55% comes from the speaker’s body language and appearance (Chp 19 p 262). He smiled at the beginning of his speech to welcome the audience and to have mutual comfort (Chp 19 p 263). He used different facial expressions so that we knew what he was feeling. He maintained great eye contact with the audience and was constantly scanning each section of the room so that no one felt left out. Eye contact is important because it maintains the quality of directness in a speech delivery, it lets people know that they are recognize, it indicates acknowledgment and respect, and it signals to audience members that you see them as unique human beings (Chp 19 p 263). He was dressed in a very casual outfit consisting of a brown almost too tight long sleeve shirt, blue jeans, flip flops, a necklace and bracelet, glasses, and his long hair in a ponytail. For the speech he was given I would say that his outfit was appropriate due to the fact that it was a hippie speech and he looked like a hippie. Dressing appropriately is important because it is the first thing that an audience notices (Chp 19 p

265).
When used properly in the delivery of a speech, your voice is a powerful instrument of expression that should convey who you are and deliver your message in a way that engages listeners (Chp 18 p 256). Lenz did a great job with his volume, pitch, rate, vocal variety, and pronunciation and articulation (Chp 18 p 256). He projected his voice so that it could be heard throughout the entire auditorium. He also changed the volume of his voice when he got excited or serious and things like that. His pitch and intonation conveyed his mood and level of enthusiasm. He adjusted his speaking rate to go with his mood but he made sure not to speak too fast so that we could keep up with what he was saying. He did a good job with pronouncing words and articulating them so that we could understand what he was saying.
He portrayed great qualities of an effective speech delivery. He showed a lot of passion and enthusiasm in his speech with what he was saying. Enthusiasm is contagious, and seldom criticized (Chp 17 p 250). When you are passionate and enthused about your speech then the audience is going to be more focuses on your message (Chp 17 p 250). He showed a great deal of confidence while up on the stage. Being confidence inspires the audience to be confident in you and your message (Chp 17 p 250). A confident delivery directs the audience’s attention to the message (Chp 17 p 250). He was very direct in giving his speech. He also stayed within his time frame which is a must in giving your speech because you do not want your audience to walk out on you. His delivery was speaking extemporaneously. You could tell that he was well prepared and had practiced in advanced and he spoke from an outline of keywords and phrases (Chp 17 p 254). More speeches are delivered by extemporaneous delivery than by any other method (Chp 17 p 255).
There were two weakness in Lenz speech that I noticed. The first being that he used too many gestures and moved around a lot. He used a lot of gestures to convey what he wanted to express. He was constantly walking around stage and moving all around. Gestures and movement help the audience maintain interest and not get tired of listening to a talking head who remains in one place behind a microphone (Chp 19 p 264). It also helps to stimulate a sense of informality and closeness with the audience (Chp 19 p 264). But in his case I feel like he moved around way too much and it was almost distracting. If there were no words with his speech then I feel as if he would have looked like a monkey bouncing around the stage. The second weakness in his speech was that he kept trying to interact with the audience and ask questions that no one knew the answers to or responded to. I feel if the audience was older then they may have been more knowledgeable of the questions. Generational identity of an audience is important because it determines how listeners will react to a speech topic (Chp 6 p 88).
Lenz gave a very interesting and informative speech and over all I believe that Lenz did a wonderful job in giving his speech. He had several really good areas of his speaking skills including verbal and non-verbal communication, a good presentation aid, and a great speech delivery. He only had two areas that he could have improved on including gestures and movement, and generational identity. Becoming a good speaker like Lenz can be done by repetition of practice, practice and more practice.