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Announcements and Reminders
Friday, June 6--Final Course Grades
Greetings, everyone! I enjoyed reviewing your Public Communication that Matters to You projects--well done. Please see your final course grade in the grade calculation sheet in your course folder. I'll be submitting that grade to the college by Monday morning. Once again, thank you for a wonderful term. Maybe I'll see some of you at commencement tomorrow? Keep speaking and keep in touch! -krr
Monday, June 2--Wrapping Up our Term Together
What a semester! What a terrific group of public communicators...
Be sure to see my feedback in your self-evaluations and your full evaluations for your Story of Now presentations in your course folder. You may also see your grade calculation sheet (revised/updated) in your course folders. Now is a great time to understand how your final course grade will be calculated and submitted to the college by next week.
Please complete a course evaluation for our class--I'm always looking to revise and improve my courses.
We'll kick off class tonight by asking you to share some highlights from your Public Communication that Matters to You project: which option did you choose, and why does this kind of public communication matter to you?? Tell us about this project tonight; turn it in via email by Thursday the 5th. Finally, we'll hear your tribute speeches, starting with MA paying tribute to GB and down the class list alphabetically.
Stick around if you have questions about your final course grade or if I can continue to be a resource to you. Otherwise, what a delightful group this has been. I can't wait to see what kind of public communication you continue to pursue. Keep in touch! -krr
Monday, May 26--Congratulations on your persuasive presentations and looking to our final class on June 2...
I am beyond proud of the students of this course. Congratulations on your presentations tonight. Please see your video files in your course folders and complete your self-evaluations by Wednesday or Thursday. To review, the three things on your to-do list for this course this week and next include
reviewing your persuasive presentation videos and completing your self-evaluations,
jumping on your tribute presentations,
and completing your Public Communication that Matters to You Project due June 5.
On Monday, June 2, we will meet for our final class. Please be prepared to tell us what you have chosen to do for our Public Comm that Matters to You Project, and then we'll hear tribute speeches. Looking forward to it. Keep in touch if I can advise on finishing this course strongly. Thank you for being a terrific group, and see you Monday, krr
Thursday, May 22--see you tonight in CHE 102!
Greetigs, persuasive communicators! I will be camping out in CHE 102 starting at 4:00 tonight. Please sign up to meet w/ me, and bring your persuasive presentation outline and strategies for crushing your presentation this Monday evening. Please also help get the word out about our big night--share the flyer and bring a friend. And keep in touch as we head into our final two weeks of the term. What a delight to be working w/ you all...
Thursday, May 15--Looking to May 19
Greetings, talented public communicators! First and foremost, be sure to support your class colleague (and colleague colleagues!) this Saturday at 5:30 in Gates for the incredibly exciting COA TEDx event! Get your free ticket here if you haven't already! And very best to our own RS, as they get ready to dazzle the COA community and the world!
As we look to next week, here are a couple of important reminders:
Monday night class (5/19) will begin at 5:00, when we'll start to check in on your 1st-version outlines for your persuasive presentations before you head to dinner. After dinner, continue to meet w/ Kendra AND practice in pairs. Note in your speech handbook how 1st-version outlines are assessed this week: full credit for a complete outline, half credit for a "half-baked" outline, no credit for no outline.
Also, after dinner, we'll hear a mini lecture on special occasion speeches--thank you, mini lecturer! And fingers crossed we can review the two student speech videos from 2017 and 2023, too...
Having your outline complete by Monday is strongly encouraged! If you need until Thursday, 5/22, you can still earn full credit for your 1st-version outline if you submit it by then. Speaking of Thursday...
To make up for my absence Monday night, you are invited to meet w/ me during an extended office hour on Thursday evening, May 22, in CHE 102. See a sign-up sheet here to sign up for a slot to meet w/ me and continue prepping your persuasive presentations. I look forward to working w/ you on Thursday evening (5/22) to help you stay on track for your goals with this important presentation set for the following week! Yay!
Finally, I'll re-introduce your Public Communication that Matters to You project. What kind of public communication matters to you? While these public speaking skills and experiences are fresh in your mind, what do you want to do with them? This is meant to be a doable, fun final project in our course that will be due Thurs, June 5, but we welcome your brief intro to your project from your seat on June 2.
Keep up the great work, everyone! It's gorgeous out and the end of Week 10 is near, but for now, this is a hardworking group of public speakers, and I'm here to advise you on your success! See you Monday in the LH at 5:00! -krr
Thursday, May 8--Looking to May 12
Let's keep talking about persuasion and the magic balance of ethos, pathos, and logos. We'll finish reviewing two former students' presentations and assess them for persuasiveness, audience adaptation/interaction, use of language, and overall delivery. Speaking of delivery, we'll hear a mini-lecture on the topic, thank you, esteemed mini-lecturer!
I'd like to run three activities, not exactly sure which order we'll do them, but here we go:
a yard-sale activity: bring one or two RANDOM things from your dorm/apartment/house/backpack. Be prepared to speak for one minute and persuade us about that random object by deploying arguments of fact, value, and policy, and have killer nonverbal delivery skills! This will even be a mic workshop.
a credibility activity: I'm fascinated by the concepts of credibility and persuasion. What do you think makes someone a credible persuader? What makes you credible on your topic? See the guiding resource for this in-class discussion here.
a language and delivery activity: see our course schedule, and be prepared to join one of three breakout groups to hold a mini watch party and discuss a speaker's overall nonverbal delivery and use of language.
Please try to lock in your topic and presentation title here if you haven't already. We'll leave plenty of class time to get a jump on your persuasive presentation outline. See you then! -krr
Friday, May 2--Looking to Monday, May 5
Congratulations on your informative presentation this week. I'm still just so thrilled for all of you. I'll have all of your assessments back to you by class time. Let's start our class this week with small-group feedback trios.
As we look to this Monday, see that we're starting to plan persuasive presentations. Note the guidelines for this final presentation on p. 6 of our course handbook. Thanks to our mini lecturer this week, we'll get started in thinking about the persuasive strategies you might want to include in your process.
You'll see two optional readings in the schedule: chapters from (1) The Righteous Mind and/or (2) Think Again. Read some or all of these chapters if you are interested in some more nuanced ways of thinking about persuasion. If we have time, we'll watch the first few minutes of this video, Mr. Rogers and the Power of Persuasion. Some of their examples are a little dated/cringey, but I hope it serves as a conversation starter for real persuasion. Depending on your interest in these optional readings, we might pivot to an activity about persuasion and credibility. We might also start to review this persuasive strategy worksheet and lock in your persuasive topics/titles! Looking forward to it.
See you Monday! -krr
Monday, April 28
SO proud of this class and simply cannot wait to hear your informative panel presentations -- your Stories of US -- on this lovely spring night. I will be in our classroom by 3:30--see you soon! -krr
Monday, April 21
Greetings, gifted COA public speakers! First, here is Catherine Preston-Schreck's slide deck from last week. Next, we'll pick up where we left off last Monday by running an activity I call Mission Impromptu--will you save the world with your impromptu speaking skills? Then we'll hear some mini lectures about speech settings and visual aids (thank you mini lecturers!). Finally, and most importantly, your first-version outlines are due after dinner. I look forward to seeing how you are structuring and supporting your informative presentations. Please see again how first-version outlines are assessed for a grade in your speech handbook (in short, it's full credit for a complete, fully formed outline, ready to start practicing with, half credit for "we both know there still a ways to go on this baby..." and no credit for no outline to go over together Monday night). Please watch the 14-min video linked under April 14 below to make sure you are working on a complete presentation outline. Here are a couple other small things we might also briefly go over together:
A small portion of your grade will come from how your audience assesses your presentation--see how that works here.
If we have time, I'd like to watch this TED Talk by Sarah Parcak. How does she say so much in five minutes and how does she cleverly structure this informative presentation?
How would you like to start promoting your big night to the whole community next week? Let's be sure your presentation titles are finalized here.
Delighted to be working with you! See you Mon night! -krr
Monday, April 14
Congratulations on your stories of self--please check your course folder to see comments from me in your self-evaluations AND to see a full eval and grade for your story of self. On Monday, we'll begin really working hard on your next presentations: Your Story of Us Informative Panel presentation. Be sure to read the details of this presentation carefully here. Before dinner, we'll briefly discuss some research strategies (thank you to Catherine Preston-Schreck for joining us for this part) and then outlinining strategies. I'll review these resources:
I'll go over these examples of good outlining:
Special thanks to our mini-lecturers tonight!
Let's also discuss pieces of the chapter from Escape from the Ivory Tower, and strategies for analyzing your audience. We'll also ask the question: when it comes to public speaking, what does it mean to say that you're not Luke Skywalker; you're Yoda? How will YOU be Yoda in your speeches? Please come ready to talk about Nancy Duerte's TED Talk, The Secret Structure of a Great Talk.
We'll also review a former student's informative presentation and finalize your presentation panels and titles here. Busy night! And don't let me forget to share an extra credit opportunity: join this online talk show event that I'll be co-hosting next Wednesday, April 23. One other thing: we'll complete our Mission Impromptu activity--will you save the world with your public speaking skillz?
Alright, here we go with Week 3!
Friday, April 4--Looking to Your Stories of Self on Monday
Friday greetings, everyone! I'm looking forward to kicking off class this Monday w/ your Stories of Self. See all the details and criteria for completing this presentation well here. You might also see the written sample that I shared last week here. Recall that you do not have to share your drafted SoS w/ me ahead of time, but you are welcome to if you would like some preliminary feedback.
Here is the speaker lineup for next Monday: MA, SC, GB, TD, CE, AG, KL, SM JM, HP, SS, RS, LS. Let me know if you do not see your initials in the lineup. You're also welcome to trade spots w/ someone if you arrange it ahead of time. I'm so excited to hear your first presentations!
After Stories of Self and dinner, we'll continue thinking about plagiarism, ethical public communication, and managing adrenaline in public speaking. And we'll hear our first three mini-lectures (thank you, mini-lecturers!). Come ready to discuss with your mini-lecturers Attack of the Butterflies by Scott Burken and/or Big Feelings by Liz Fosslein and Mollie West Duffie. Speaking of adrenaline, I may reference this WA Post article and this video about humming to reduce anxiety--what do you think? Here we go! Great to be working with you all. -Kendra
Monday, March 31, 2025–Welcome!
What a delight to meet you all tonight! Please email me to continue introducing yourself, your name and pronouns, and your goals for the course. Consider chipping away at the plagiarism activity. See another update/announcement here in another few days. Again, welcome aboard! -krr
Welcome to the COA Public Speaking Workshop! Please access this teaching website for regular reminders, announcements, and updates. I'm delighted to be working with you this semester. Let's begin on Monday night with some personal introductions, course overview, and goal-setting. As an activity, you'll do a syllabus and schedule scavenger hunt, and I'll introduce the Public Narrative Project. After dinner, we'll ask, "What is rhetoric?" And we'll talk about strategies for managing the ethics and adrenaline of public speaking, and we'll at least start this plagiarism quiz. We'll also leave class time to start thinking about your first graded presentation: your Story of Self set for April 7. Ok, here we go! Happy to be working with you.
-Kendra (she/her)
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Thursday, November 16
Looking forward to hearing about your Public Comm that Matters to YOU projects tonight. Please submit them by email by tonight.
Finally, we'll hear your tribute speeches--the best part of the whole semester. If you missed it on Monday, here's Snoop Dogg's Hollywood Star ceremony.
Please note that I will be evaluating all remaining student work over the weekend and submitting final grades and narratives to the college by Monday. I will not review student work after I have submitted final grades and narratives.
What a pleasure it has been to work together this term. PLEASE do keep in touch. -krr
Monday, November 13
Congratulations on your persuasive presentations! I could not be more proud of this group.
Be sure to complete your self-evals. Also, consider checking the grade-tracker in your course folder to understand how the math works for completing this course successfully. If you have ANY questions about your overall course grade, now is the time to address that. Please note that everything for our course is due by class time this Thursday and that I will be submitting final course grades and narratives to the college early next week. Important note: once I submit grades to the college, I will not review any more coursework.
Tonight, let's make time to complete course evaluations and work on your tribute speeches. We'll hear a mini-lecture on tribute speaking, and I'll show one of my favorite examples of a great acceptance speech. We'll also make time to work on your Public Communication that Matters to You project.
What a great term! See you at 6:30.
Thursday, November 9
Looking forward to hearing your presentations tonight! I'll be in Gates by 5:30. We should be able to do mic checks by 6. Quick reminder of speech order: SF, CH, TJ, AB, TH, AM, EB.
If you have any sort of VA, please finalize that in the shared slide deck here. So proud of this group of persuaders!
Monday, November 6
Looking forward to joining Jodi Baker and other members of the COA community for a guided group discussion tonight in CHE 202. I believe the topic will be "Teaching and Learning: What and how do different faculty at COA determine course structures and select materials for different kinds of coursework?" As we participate in this event, ask yourself these questions: What kinds of public speaking skills are valuable in a community dialogue like this one? Which skills from our class are relevant for you here, or how can you challenge yourself as a public communicator in a context like this one? And will this experience be useful for you in completing your Public Communication That Matters to YOU assignment due next week?
We'll convene for at least a half hour of this discussion, then likely huddle in CHE to go over your persuasive presentation prep progress, and do some mic show and tell. I'm looking forward to this discussion, but presentation prep should definitely be your top priority, so if you would rather be practicing tonight--that's a great idea. We'll be available for that, too. See you in CHE!
Thursday, November 2
Tonight is devoted to practicing your presentations and soliciting helpful feedback from each other. We might get to play with the Gates mics, and I'll show you how you'll give and receive feedback next week. And let's talk about logic in a persuasive argument for a sec. Go here for our activity on logical fallacies and cognitive biases. I may also reference this source and this source on the Toulmin Model for crafting a logical argument.
Are you hearing buzz about next week??? See you at 6:30, team. -krr
Monday, October 30
I hope you are all doing well. Last week was challenging for many. I hope our class can be a space for reflection/support and a reliable space for routine and purposeful productivity. If you are still thinking about the role of public communication and policy change in response to gun violence, very few have done as masterful a job as Emma Gonzales in 2018. If you've never watched her two most famous speeches, I recommend doing so here and here.
Note that your first-version outlines are due tonight for 50 points, graded for completion and hitting this deadline. Please email your outlines to me by/during class time tonight.
How did it go to solicit feedback from your peer review buddies? Tonight is all about continuing that feedback, then starting the process of planning your nonverbal delivery. Let's also start advertising our big speech night--make sure I have your name and presentation title correct here.
Happy Halloween Eve! -krr
Thursday, October 26
Greetings, public communicators! Have you been thinking anymore about language and delivery? Any new thoughts on the risks/rewards of swearing in a speech or presentation? If this topic still interests you, check out this 3-min video called, "Does Swearing Make You Likable?" We'll also kick off by reviewing the elements of nonverbal delivery and watching my very favorite TED Talk of all time, and we'll close w/ some questions about the paradoxes of code-switching as a public speaker. Bonus! Check out this absolute GEM of an example Aya shared: A Guerilla Gardener in South Central LA.
Then it's time to GSD: get stuff done. I encourage you to work on your outlines and hammer out some real persuasive progress. I'm happy to see 1st-version outlines anytime! Note that they are due this coming Monday, Oct 30.
Finally, we'll do a quick movement workshop--perhaps in Gates if our lovely colleagues in the Circus Club will let us.
See a draft of the flyer for our big persuasive night here. Let's make sure your presentation titles sound "grabby" and persuasive. Consider structuring them in the form of a command: Do This Thing. or This Thing is Righteous. Also, I'll be sure to introduce our final project of the term: Public Communication that Matters to You.
See you then! -krr
Thursday, October 12
Alright, team! So proud of this group! Can't wait to hear your presentations tonight. Let me know if I can do anything to support you. I'll be in our classroom bright and early. See you then! -krr
Monday, October 9
I'll see if I can bring in a mic to practice using one. You won't need to use a mic for the presentations on Thursday, but you're still welcome to try it out. Tonight is all about doing full run-throughs of your Story of Us informative panel presentations, including running through your visual aids. If I haven't seen outline complete outline content from you, I'll look forward to seeing that anytime. See you at 6:30!
Thursday, October 5
Hello, public communicators! See a community email inviting everyone to join us next week soon, and don't forget to start getting the word out. Tell your roommates and friends to save the date.
Note that a small portion of your evaluation comes from how your audience reports on this question: did you learn something relevant from this presentation? See how that will be assessed here.
Finally, the most important thing to know is that tonight is entirely devoted to showing me your outline and practicing your awesome presentations. As you complete your 1st-version outline, be sure to review the checklist on the first page of this resource and watch/rewatch this 14-min video. Looking forward to seeing your complete outlines--see you then! -krr
Monday, October 2
Tonight, we'll talk briefly about speech settings and visual aids, then we'll spend most of the evening working on your first-version outlines, which are due this Thursday. We also have some excellent mini-lectures lined up for these topics--whoot!
Note your speech team lineups here.
Great teams! We should have plenty of time tonight to work in your groups and make progress on your outlines. See you then, public speakers!
Thursday, September 28
Looking forward to some mini-lectures tonight! Thank you for going first!
Let's prioritize working on your research and outlining tonight. Note that your first-version outlines are due next week. I'll go over these examples of good outlining:
Let's also discuss pieces of the chapter from Escape from the Ivory Tower, and strategies for analyzing your audience. We'll also ask the question: when it comes to public speaking, what does it mean to say that you're not Luke Skywalker; you're Yoda? How will YOU be Yoda in your speeches? Please come ready to talk about Nancy Duerte's TED Talk, The Secret Structure of a Great Talk.
We'll also review a former student's informative presentation and finalize your presentation titles here. See you then! -krr
Monday, September 25
Greetings! Special thanks to Catherine and Kandi for running a terrific class. I look forward to hearing all about it. Did you save the world by completing your missions? =)
Remind me to assign some mini-lectures: See a detailed description of the mini-lecture project here, and let me know when you would like to offer a mini-lecture.
We'll also revisit the topic of ethical speaking and do a plagiarism activity. See that activity here, and the Be Awesome at Paraphrasing resource here. Remind me to reference this resource for refining your verbally cited sources from The Art of Public Speaking by Stephen Lucas.
I may offer some more strategies for evaluating sources by using the CRAAP Model (from CSU Chico), which says to critically analyze a source based on its
Currency
Relevance
Authorship
Accuracy and
Purpose
If you haven't gotten an evaluation and grade for your Story of Self, it's probably because you are in a hostage crisis. Let me know if I can advise on this process.
We'll also look to next week when your first-version outlines are due. And let's lock in your informative presentation topics here. We're off and running, team! See you at 6:30. -krr
Tuesday, September 19 (from somewhere over the Midwest!)
Congratulations on your Stories of Self! What a terrific group of public communicators. Don't forget to see your course folder (emailed access last night) for your video and self-assessment digital worksheet. Simply review your video and answer each prompt directly in that worksheet (read the directions at the top) in order to earn credit on your Story of Self.
I thought about your ambitious request to get your Mission Impromptu mission directions at 6pm (right before class) on Thursday, and while I love the enthusiasm, I don't want the recent release to be too distracting from Catherine's presentation on research strategies at the top of class. Feel free to challenge yourself as much as you want, but I'll keep the TOP SECRET message set to land in your COA email inboxes at exactly 1200 hours on Thursday. And recall that the wonderful Kandi Grey (and possibly also Tiegan Paulson) will be facilitating that activity, offering thoughtful feedback and asking how the mission went for you.
One other thing, would anyone like to volunteer to do the first mini-lecture on organizing informative speeches? Here's what you would do next Monday: take 3-5 minutes to give us some examples of the common structures for an informative presentation. You can do this solo or as a pair. Just let me know, and I will provide you w/ all the details to crush this super easy, fun little assignment. Special thanks to Kandi, Tiegan, and Catherine for their support while I'm in Oregon. I'll be checking my email periodically and happy to answer quick questions. See you Monday!
Monday, September 18
Here we go! Week 2! Looking forward to hearing your Stories of Self presentations tonight. Recall all the details for this first presentation here, and note the strict time limits of 2-3 min. We'll hear these in alphabetical order by last name (student initials EB, SF, CH, TH, TJ, AM, and possibly AB). Let me know if that is a challenge for you for any reason. You'll also be giving specific written feedback to at least two colleagues tonight, and I'll explain how to access your speech videos and self-evaluation form.
I'll also introduce the activity for Thursday: Your Mission Impromptu. If you know someone who has taken this class recently, ask them about it. It's fun; I promise. =) See you at 6:30!
Thursday, September 14
Greetings! And so very nice to meet you on Monday. If you haven't already, please email me to tell me your name, pronouns, and goals for our course. Tonight, let's start with a clever question: what is rhetoric? Where have you heard that term used and what does it mean to you? What does it mean for our course?
Let's also discuss what it means to be an ethical public speaker, and how to harness the butterflies. See the course schedule and the two assigned chapters--choose one: Scott Berkun's Confessions of a Public Speaker (2009) OR the intro chapters from Big Feelings by Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy (2022). To practice some 30-second public speaking, tell us about a time when you gave or received a meaningful gift. Finally, don't let me forget to do a sample Story of Self and make plans for your own. See you then! -krr
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