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Hickam

Hickam I attended a speech on Monday, October 11th at 7:00pm. The speaker was Homer Hickam, a West Virginia native and author of the Rocket Boys. The audience consisted of people in different age groups and backgrounds. It was also a large, voluntary audience, so most people seemed to enjoy the speech. Homer Hickam mostly talked about his book Rocket Boys from which the movie October Sky was taken. He also explained how he came to write the book and how West Virginia made an impact on his life. Before hearing the speech, I had read Rocket Boys so I was very familiar with the events he had mentioned in his presentation. Hickam had the necessary qualifications to present the speech because it was his book and he knew all the facts. My initial impression of the speaker was a positive one. I enjoyed his book and I respected him as a person as well as a speaker. Homer Hickam also had great ethos because he focused on how West Virginia helped him to survive as a writer as well as an individual. This pleased the audience very much because most of them are The speaker did gain attention effectively. His presence captivated the audience when he walked into the auditorium. Everyone just became silent and listened. Hickam really did not state a thesis. He just greeted the audience and began reflecting on his life. Hickam did, however, make an attempt to dispose the audience favorably toward the speaker and topic. He stressed the fact that he was from West Virginia and how his book had been developed into a movie. The speaker did not clearly preview the main points in the introduction. As I mentioned before, he just began telling stories about his life without really setting up a structure for the audience to follow. The main points of the speech were as follows: his childhood in West Virginia, how he got the idea for his book, how his book became a movie and finally, how he became a NASA engineer. The speaker used chronological order as his organizational pattern. He talked about his childhood in West Virginia first, then he preceded to tell about the rest of his life. Hickam used examples and testimonies of the other “Rocket Boys” who were present at the speech. This was a very effective technique because the audience responded to it. The support was relevant and adequate. Hickam did use good transitions between his main points. The speech did expand my knowledge on the topic because Homer Hickam shared more intimate facts about his life and how I believe that there was an adequate summary. He signaled the end and reviewed his main points. Hickam really did not have a closing device. He just ended his presentation with a question and answer session. The audience appreciated this because all of their questions were answered The stronger aspects of Homer Hickam’s delivery were his geatures, vocal quality, extemporaneous delivery and his incredible sense of humor. His weakest aspect of his delivery was that he used “vocal crutches” a lot during his speech and he also did not give the audience a preview of what he was going to address. I really enjoyed Homer Hickam’s speech. The speaker spoke highly of West Virginia and he had a great sense of humor. His speech was very interesting and entertaining. I also just found his presence very enjoyable. The audience also seemed pleased with Hickam’s presentation. Overall, I thought the speech was lovely. It was the first formal speech where I actually was not bored. I would definitely go see another presentation by Homer Hickam if I was given the opportunity. I would rate the overall presentation as an A! Bibliography:

Word Count: 637