Sheryl Sandberg's UC Berkeley Commencement Keynote Speech: A Critique

Special Occasion Speech Critique
Student’s Name
Institution
Special Occasion Speech Critique
Things that Sandberg does well
When giving a special occasion speech, it is vital to do it in a way that makes the audience attentive and keeps them alert throughout the session. Sandberg’s speech was remarkable because she incorporated the best techniques during the delivery. She gave a performance instead of a speech. Performance is much more of the words that the speaker utters during speech rendition. Speech performance incorporates tension, suspense, and resolutions. While she was discussing the three Ps that are critical of how people bounce back from hardships, she added the fourth P, which she referred to as Pizza. This performance left the audience applauding. In Sandberg’s speech, she tells her compelling stories. She narrates the story about her husband’s death and her first days in the job at Facebook. She bases her motivation in these stories, making her audience active and more attentive throughout the oration. Her intention is not to load the audience with information, which sometimes leads to monotony. The ability to tell stories in this speech improves the concentration of her audience significantly. Sandberg also varies her cadence throughout this talk. She keeps on alternating the speech volume and tone. She deliberately pauses to allow her audience to respond to the speech-through applauding. Her ability to vary her cadence makes the audience to remain alert and awake. Sandberg also maintains eye contact with the audience. She focuses on delivering a speech rather than...