Memorandum

To:

Mrs. Renee Pay

From: Chase Whitehead

Date: October 29, 2013
Re:

Professional Speaker Analysis

I had the opportunity to attend the 14th Annual Leadership Conference at Utah Valley University
on Monday, October 21, 2013. The title of the conference was STEP UP: Fighting the Fear;
Finding Your Voice. Matt Townsend was the keynote speaker in the conference. He was an
excellent speaker who used a variety of techniques to keep the entire audience both entertained
and inspired. Matt has proven to be an excellent role model for those who wish to improve in
public speaking.
Organization
Matt Townsend demonstrated how you can use your experiences to improve yourself in almost
any situation. He brought up numerous occasions of his past in which he failed. However, in
every single example he gave as a failure he also showed how that failure helped him to improve
and become the person that he is today. One example was of how he judged somebody
prematurely. He felt that because she was in a wheelchair and handicapped that asking her to a
school dance would have made for an extremely boring night. However, he countered this by
describing just how amazing the night ended up being because he asked her to the dance. He
mentioned how it was nothing but a great time and it was the best dance he had ever been to.
Townsend also described how he had failed in life when he had accidently blown up a can of jam
with his scout troop, but later went on to succeed when he visited his troop master after he was
suffered from seizures. It showed that even though everyone was making fun of him for blowing
up the jam, he was still able to do the right thing and succeed. Along with scouts Townsend also
mentioned some experiences from school, such as misspelling lion and from then on being called
loin boy or the fact that for most of his schooling he made fun of a student named Yoda. These
experiences made Townsend seem more relatable to the audience and Matt concluded with
saying that he is who he is by everything that has happened to him, and he likes himself. This
lead to Matts conclusion which was to persuade us to believe that failure leads to success and
that success lies within each and every one of us; it is up to us to bring out our own hidden
potential.
The organizational pattern Matt Townsend used was Cause and Effect. The cause is an event or
situation that leads to or builds up a specific effect. The effect is the feeling or result of the event
or situation that occurred previously. He used several stories as examples and allowed us to
individually deduce the meaning and purpose of these stories and conclusions. One example he
gave was asking a handicapped girl to a school dance. Matt told the story of how he asked her
and how the night went. He concluded that story by explaining how it was the best dance he ever
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went to because he asked this particular girl to the school dance. This showed the cause being
Matt asking the girl to the dance and the effect resulting in the best dance he ever had. Townsend
also gave an example with visiting his troop leader when they got suffered from seizures. Matt
really wanted to go visit his leader and when he did the effect was feeling a great sense of selfpride and self-appreciation. I believe this pattern was the right choice to use given the audience.
It allowed him to gives us several examples associated with what he wanted to achieve. He then,
allowed the audience to come up with their own purpose so that they could make it applicable in
their life in their own unique way.
Supporting Material
Ethos
Ethos is defined as a persons reputation or credibility, what makes that person a viable source
for what they are doing. Matt Townsend demonstrated Ethos through founding and presiding
over the Townsend Relationship Center. Matt uses his skills and talents to empower people to
communicate more efficiently. Matt improves the lives of many through entertainment and
humor and is involved in a variety of church and corporate events. Matt trained with Franklin
Covey for 9 years and earned his Bachelors and Masters Degree in communications and even
earned a second Masters degree in Human Development. He also has recently received a PhD in
the field of Human Development. Every Saturday Matt also goes on his own radio program,
The Matt Townsend Show. Matt contributes weekly to the morning show on KSL and has a
weekday radio show on Sirius XM. All of this experience and training combines to make
Townsend an extremely viable source for information regarding communications.
Pathos
Pathos is described as an emotional appeal, how the speaker attempts to use a persons emotions
to keep the audience attentive. Matt Townsend demonstrated Pathos through different stories and
examples from his life that created numerous different feelings within the audience to retain their
attention. He kept the audience happy, upbeat, and excited by making numerous jokes
throughout his speech. Matt made the jokes humorous, but about a relatable topic to play on
another emotion at the same time. The jokes Matt used were small, such as Matt being the Jam
Bomber or making fun of somebody named Yoda, yet these small jokes still had a big effect.
They brought up feelings of happiness because they were funny; however, they also brought
feelings of sadness because they were relatable and many people have had teasing problems
within their school. He also kept our attention through using sad experiences as well, such as his
scout leader not being able to attend a camp because they suffered from seizures. This was so
effective because many people have or know someone in their lives who has been diagnosed
with a serious disease or disability such as this one. Using these emotional situations that are
relatable is an effective way of demonstrating Pathos.
Logos
Logos can be defined as the logical appeal to a situation, or doing what one thinks is the smartest
choice in a situation. Matt Townsend showed Logos through his numerous examples of his life.
In the example where he was debating about whether or not he should ask the handicapped girl
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to the dance really shows Logos. Logically if he has not experienced a dance where he enjoyed it
and had a great night he should change something to see if it changes the outcome. Changing
who he asks to the dance would be the smart thing to do if he has not had a fun dance yet.
Despite showing Logos throughout his speech he did show a few fallacies throughout. The main
fallacy found was that his Ethos showed him as being a smart successful person; however, most
of the experiences and stories Townsend shared were about him failing in his life. Examples such
as burning his entire scout troop at a campfire, making fun of another student because their name
was Yoda, and always messing up the picture in school dances. Over and over again he discusses
how he failed in life despite his credibility suggesting otherwise. Logically this would be a
fallacy in itself, however, Matt gave enough support for his logos that this fallacy is overridden.
Delivery
Matt Townsend was a very prepared public speaker. He used an extensive amount of nonverbal
to bring his speech to life and supported it the entire time with visual aids. He displayed a great
use of his hand gestures to display what he was discussing, but he did not overuse his hands to
make it seem like it was forced. He also stood tall with a great posture and only moved when he
was making a point or emphasizing some part of his speech. Good eye contact was also noticed
throughout his entire speech. He was never caught looking down at his feet or the floor and was
always shifting his gaze to see the entire audience. His visual aids were also very effective. He
used them to support what he was saying; however, they were simple enough that they did not
take our attention away from Townsend and were merely they for support. His visual aids also
included a variety as well by including a power point, pictures, and a variety of colors throughout
the speech.
Townsends overall delivery was exceptional for the situation. He adapted to his audience very
effectively and made a few decisions about his speech that made the entire speech very enjoyable,
entertaining, and intriguing. One of the main decisions that he used in his speech was making it
relatable. He gave several situations, all of which were very relatable amongst the audience
which made the group have a desire to pay attention to what Townsend was saying. He studied
the audience very quickly in the beginning and adapted his speech in such a way as to make it
enjoyable for every member of the audience. By doing so Townsend made his entire speech rise
tremendously in quality and delivered it very well.
Motivation
Motivation is a critical element of any speech. If the audience is not motivated they will not pay
attention whatsoever to what the speaker is saying. Townsend used multiple different strategies
to attempt to motivate the audience. One strategy he used to motivate the audience was to
maintain a light, upbeat mood throughout his speech. He was very enthusiastic the entire time
and this energy he gave off kept the audience in a good mood as well. He also told lots of jokes
and used humor to try and keep us smiling. This was a risky move because if the audience didnt
find them funny he would have been in trouble. It paid off for Townsend though, because the
audience was very entertained by his use of humor. Townsend also motivated us by sharing
several famous quotes from common movies and people. Using these quotes emphasized the
points he was trying to make and kept us both motivated and inspired.
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Matt Townsends purpose for the entire speech was to move the audience to take action on
improving ourselves. He more than accomplished this with his speech. He gave several famous
quotes and examples that inspired us to improve ourselves. One of the most memorable quotes
Townsend used to inspire us was by showing off our light we unknowingly give permission for
others to do the same. He used this quote after sharing a sad experience about one of his leaders
being diagnosed with a disease. His choice of how to present this quote made it extremely
effective because it used every form of supporting material and really emphasized his initial
point. It also inspired the audience to make an honest effort to change the world. Through all of
these points Matt proved that we everyone is amazing, and everyone has the potential to change
the world. When one chooses do so, they inspire others to do the same. The entire speech was
very successful and Matt Townsend accomplished his purpose with ease.