TABLE OF CONTENT

1) INTRODUCTION
a) History of Barrack Obama
b) Types of communication
i. Oral Communication
ii. Non-Verbal Communication
c. Purposes of speech and presentation

2) ANALYSIS ON BARRACK SPEECH

a) Oral communication
b) Non-Verbal communication

3) CONCLUSION
1) INTRODUCTION

a. History of Barrack Obama

Barrack Obama is the first African-American to be elected as United States of America. He was
born in on August 1961 in Honolulu Hawaii. He has a multiracial family background history;
mixed parentage where his mom named Stanley Ann Dunham from Wichita Kansas while his
father named Sr Barrack Obama from Nyanza Province Kenya. They met each other at
University of Hawaii in Manoa and married on 2nd Februrary 1961

Their marriage could only last few years and when they separated Obama in only two years old,
Obama’s mother then remarried a year later in 1966 to Lolo Soetero from Indonesia while Sn
Obama went to Harvad to pursue his PhD. They moved to Jakarta Indonesia a year after and
Obama Half Sister Maaya Soetoro Ng was born. By the age of 10, Barrack Obama was sent to
Ann’s parent in Hawaii because of incidents happened in Jakarta where the safety of their family
was in jeopardy , Barrack was the first to be sent and his mother n half sis joined him later.

Obama enrolled to Punahou Academy where only 3 black peoples in the academy. Being
different often being subjected of racism but Obama still continue his studies and graduated with
academic honors in 1979 also excellent at sport like basketball. He went to Occidental College
in Los Angeles to further his studies in degree but he transferred to another university in New
York which is University Columbia and graduated with a political science major degree with a
specialty international relation in year 1983.
After graduation, he worked in business sector for two years and moved out to Chicago as
community organizer in year 1985 till 1988. His works involve helping low income residents in
Roseland and Altgeld Garden communities by setting up a job program, a college tutoring
program and helping on the tenants’ rights. During in mid 1988, he went to his father’s country
to visit of his paternal relatives and his father’s grave who died of car accident in 1982 for the
first time in his entire life

After the emotional visit to Kenya, he felt a sense of renewal to make changes. He entered
Harvard Law School at the end of 1988 and he worked during his summer at Sidley Austin in
1989 and Hopkins & Stutter in 1990. He met his future wife Michelle Robinson at Sidley Austin
who is assigned to be Obama adviser.

Obama graduated with magna cum laude a Latin term for people who gained honor in their
respective course and was the first African-American editor on Harvard Law which leads to his
publishing contract of a book called Dreams from My father. He practices as a civil right lawyer
under the firm of Miner, Barnhill & Galland after graduating from law school and taught at
University of Chicago Law School.

Obama married to Michelle Robinson in 3rd October 1992 where they were blessed with two
daughter named Malia borned in 1998 and Sasha in year 2001. They moved to Kenwood after
their marriage in the Chicago Southern Side.

His political career started during 1996, running as Illinios State Senate as Democrat and
maintained his position in years and in year 2008 he competed as Democratic U.S presidential
seat. He defeated Ruplican presedential nominee John McCain and became the 44th United
States president which is the first American-African in history.
 b. Communication

Communication is defined as a process by which we assign and convey meaning in an attempt to

create shared understanding. This process requires a vast repertoire of skills in intrapersonal and
interpersonal processing, listening, observing, speaking, questioning, analyzing, and evaluating It
is through communication that collaboration and cooperation occur. (OSPI)

Communication can be breakdown to few segments which are Oral communication, Non-Verbal
communication.

a) Oral communication

defines as uttered by the mouth or in words (Merriam-Webster) Primally referring to

spoken verbal communication, typically relies on both words, visual aids and non-
verbal elements to support the conveyance of the meaning. Oral communication
includes presentations, speeches, discussion, interpersonal communication and many
other varieties. In face to face communication the body language and voice tonality
plays a significant role and may have a greater impact on the listener than the
intended content of the spoken words. (Wikipedia)

ii. Non-verbal communication defines as being other than verbal <nonverbal factors>
(Merriam-Webster). It describes the process of conveying meaning in the form of
non-word messages through such as body language or posture, gesture, facial
expression, object communication such as clothing, hairstyles, architecture, symbols
and infographics, as well as through an aggregate of the above. (Wikipedia). Below
is the table of non-verbal types

Kinesics body motions (blushes, shrugs, eye

movement, foot-tapping, drumming
fingers)
Proxemics spatial separation (in relation both the
social and physical environment)
Haptics touch
Oculesics eye contact
Chronemics use of time, waiting, pausing
Olfactics smell
 Vocalics tone of voice, timbre, volume, speed
Sound Symbols grunting, mmm, er, ah, uh-huh,
mumbling,
Silence absence of sound (muteness, stillness,
secrecy)
Adornment clothing, jewellery, hairstyle
Posture position of the body (characteristic or
assumed)
Locomotion walking, running, staggering, limping
Expression frowns, grimaces, smirks, smiles, pouting

2) PURPOSE OF SPEECH OR PRESENTATION

There is variety speech or presentation purpose so the speaker has to determine the purpose of
the speech by identifying the nature of audience. A speaker must satisfy the expectation of
people who came to listen to the speech in to hear or learn something which they don’t know.

Giving speech is not a routine act and to be expected without the need of explicit attention to
establish speech which cater the audience. Audience will be less receptive when they detect the
speaker unwillingly or unenthusiastically during the speech

a) The Central Purpose of a Speech

It is crucial to engage the audience with central idea or proposition. Speech has dynamic
relationship between the speaker and the audience so speaker has to view their audience as the
main purpose of the speech content or they might lose the audience attention.

A good delivery of speech must involve the interaction of audience and the speaker must think of
the best way to communicate the idea towards the audience. The speaker has a central
responsibility to assure that the process of communication is expeditious, effective, and pleasant.
More importantly, however, the speaker must recognize his or her obligation to interact with the
audience. Not recognizing this special relationship will lead to a failed speech.
 b) Additional Objectives of a Speech

A single speech usually has three objectives, and a speaker attaches different weights to these
objectives depending on the circumstances. The three objectives include:

i. To convey information or insight. This objective is by far the most common

objective for most speeches, and it is difficult to imagine a speech that did not satisfy
this objective minimally. Oral presentation is an efficient method of conveying
information, particularly if it occurs in a situation in which the audience can ask
follow-up questions. This objective requires a careful review of the audience by the
speaker: repeating familiar knowledge is boring and a waste of time. Similarly, this
objective demands an almost complete command of the information by the speaker
since transmitting information to an audience requires the ability to condense,
simplify, and organize without compromising the integrity of the information. There
are some forms of speech-making that do nothing more than convey information, but
these forms are rare and quite specific to a particular field. More often, speakers go
beyond the simple transmission of information and try to persuade the audience that
one ought to hold certain views about the information.
ii. To persuade. Most oral communication goes beyond mere reporting of
information and attempts to persuade others that a specific conclusion, interpretation,
or assessment based on the information is true. The element of persuasion is hardly
unique to oral communication, but it usually constitutes a central objective in a
speech. Persuasion occurs when an audience believes that it shares the speaker's
conclusions.

It is difficult to determine exactly how this process of persuasion occurs, but the
process rests upon the degree to which an audience believes that a speaker ought to
be believed. To persuade an audience a speaker must appear to be truthful, well-
informed, and sincere. Furthermore, a speaker ought to articulate a conclusion that
resonates strongly with the understandings and sentiments of the audience. This link
between the information and the conclusion is crucial, and to be persuasive the link
must be supported by both the information and a clear explication of the logical
relationship between the information and a likely or desired outcome. This
 connection between the information and conclusion is the argument, a concern
which is developed in greater detail below.

iii. To motivate. Once the argument is established, there is often an action that can
bring about the likely or desired outcome. Many speeches will try to stimulate the
audience to take that action. A speaker who wishes to motivate his or her audience
will assert not only a conclusion, but also a conviction: the conclusion is not simply
true, it is a moral imperative. This objective requires that the speaker understand the
passions of the audience.
ANALYSIS OF OBAMA STRATEGIES

A good speaker does not come naturally, it must be practice and well prepared on knowledge of
speech. Barrack Obama using the knowledge he gained from his background as lawyer to create
a good speech by incorporating oral speech techniques and non verbal communication skill in his
routine. Speaker who is able to master these techniques will get crowd attention and the purpose
of speech can be delivery effectively towards the listener.

i. Oral Communication

From the video we watched earlier, Barrack Obama is well prepared judging from the
deliverance of his speech and he was reading his keynotes during the earlier stage of speech.
Keynotes are different from script whereby important notes are written so the speaker would
know the direction of his speech by reading the short sentences description.

Obama started his speech in a unique way, he taken his time to say thankful towards the mothers’
in the crowd. This is to evade standard speech approach which can be boring to the listener. By
doing the unique opening speech will grab the attention of the crowd

During his speech, he made several jokes on his experience related to his speech content. At one
time he stoped his speech just to say Amen towards a response from one of his listener. Natural
humour is acceptable in speech but in short manner to lighten the mood and refresh the mind of
the listener after certain period. Human brain is capable to absorb information only a certain
period of time and this can be fill in with humour or something beside thinking.

Word emphasizing is a technique used to remind people of particular issues by repeating the
same word at the beginning of sentences using speed and the pitch of voice or intonation
delivery. Barrack Obama mention “refuse” words few times in his speech regarding the history
of a great black woman named Dorothy Irene Height who died in the age on 98

Asked question towards the listener after the end story where Dorothy Irene Height was denied
to university enrolment because she is black. The resolution and finding solution towards her
problem based on true story can be a motivation to the listener.

Obama convey his thought on American-African by giving actual facts compare to other races so
people would know the truth of current situation and create awareness among them. He gave
them advices on improvement based on history and shared personal experience so they can learn
from previous mistake and ready for the upcoming challenge.

ii. Non Verbal Communication

Adornment is category as non verbal communication; take a look at Obama’s clothing. He wore
blue ceremonial dress which is the official graduation wear Hampton University to match the
graduator clothing. This is to create the feeling of unity and belonging image towards the
university.

From the beginning to the end of speech Obama looked right and left intervally in front of him.
His attention is divided equally towards the listener and makes use of eye to eye contact so the
communication is not lost and keep their interest is keep intact.

Facial expression can show the person’s mood or what is inside their head. Obama facial
expression showed his interest toward the school history and changes accordingly to his speech
content. Judging to the expression given, without saying a word people would understand and the
combination of facial expression along with word will make the story more convincing.

Pause or stop after finishing his sentences, regularly shows that he thinks before muttering words
so his speech becomes effective and to give people to think the meaning of his words so they can
absorb the information delivered

Hand gesture is commonly used by us whether we notice or not, it came much variety of sources.
Barrack Obama use hand gesture in his speech. Hand gesture is same effective as word, but it
can be used alone to deliver the meaning of word. By incorporated two in the same time, the
effectiveness doubled. As in public there is interruption of surrounding but with the hand gesture
we can able to decipher or know what we have missed.

Obama speech is about 22 minute’s duration and during the time of speech he stand firmly
ignoring the heat of the sun. He stood with minimal movement nor sloppy casualness over the
podium with weight equally distributed on each foot. A good posture shows that the speaker is
confidence and poise in his speech
CONCLUSION

Based on Obama’s speech, Obama were identified using oral and non verbal communication
effectively to capture the heart of his listener. Lenny Laskoski concludes 6 elements of effective
speech. The first thing is you have to very well prepare before speech and given the time period
to practice. Secondly give of yourself means using example of personal experience and stories to
emphasize or support your point. Number three is to stay relaxed during the speech focusing on
the speech message than audience. Number four is to use sense of humour by making fun on
what you did or said not the audience. Number five plans your body and hand position where
non verbal action is being used to match the spoken word. Lastly pay attention to all details
means getting to know the purpose of speech, how big is the crowd in order to plan your speech.
From my conclusion, President Obama is indeed a good speaker able to incorporated all the
elements needed in the effective speech where by his background as lawyer make up for
readiness and confidence while dealing with variety of peoples enrich to his personal experience
for his communication skills
REFERENCES

1. A&E Television Networks, http://www.biography.com/articles/Barack-Obama-12782369

Retrieved on 5th March 2011.

2. http://www.docstoc.com/docs/3899664/Coomunication-Skills, Retrieved on 6th March 2011

3. Lenny Laskowski, 1997 LJL Seminars, http://www.ljlseminars.com/elements.htm

retrived on 9th March 2011

4. Murphy, Herta A., and Herbert W. Hildebrandt. Effective Business Communications. Seventh
Edition. McGraw-Hill, 1997.
5. March 2011, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communication, Retrieved on 9th March 2011.