Week 9 — Two Takes: Measure Your Delivery and Name the Moment — Traditional alternative (no AI)

Instructors: publish this instead of the adaptive version if you prefer, and unpublish or delete the adaptive one.

Assignment 8 of the term — read the week's delivery table, deliver a short passage of your own speech twice from one card, measure both takes, and explain to a friend why the words still matter.

This week you learned the four delivery methods, the six elements of vocal delivery, the five elements of physical delivery, the correction of the "7-38-55" figure, and how to compare two recorded takes. In this assignment you work four short problems on the week's delivery table, explain each one, deliver part of a speech you will really give, and explain the idea to someone who has never taken a speaking course. This week's lecture tutorial, quiz, discussion, and Speech Workshop practice the same ideas from other angles. It builds on Week 6's speaking outline: you deliver this week's passage from one of your own keyword cards.

The task

This week's shared example is the delivery self-assessment table, which is illustrative and attributed to no one. Chapter 9 walks through it. One speaker delivers the running speech twice from its five speaking-outline cards, and each take lasts 6 minutes:

• Take 1: 780 words spoken, 12 filler words, 21 seconds of eye contact in a 30-second sample, 9 deliberate pauses.
• Take 2: 720 words spoken, 6 filler words, 24 seconds of eye contact in a 30-second sample, 12 deliberate pauses.
• The fix named after take 1: "Pause after the hook instead of racing into the central idea."

Chapter 9 also walks through an illustrative chatbot that, given a description of take 1, answered "Great energy! Work on your delivery and try to sound more confident."

Work these four problems, and show how you reached each one:

1. Take 1 holds 780 words spoken in 6 minutes. How many words per minute is that?
2. Take 2 holds 720 words spoken in 6 minutes. How many words per minute is that?
3. Take 1 holds 21 seconds of eye contact in a 30-second sample. What is the eye-contact share, in percent?
4. Take 1 holds 12 filler words in 6 minutes. How many fillers per minute is that?

Then deliver a 60–90 second passage of your own next speech twice, speaking from one keyword card each time. You choose how to capture it: a video on your own phone, an audio-only recording, or no recording at all, with a trusted listener timing you and tallying fillers. You never submit or upload the recording itself, and you may delete it as soon as your counts are written down.

Beside each answer, add one brief explanation, using your own two takes for the parts that ask for them:

• Problem 1: say in one sentence why the table's rate is not a "correct" rate. Then give your own words per minute for each of your two takes, with the words counted and the seconds timed.
• Problem 2: name the delivery method your two takes used and explain why it is extemporaneous rather than memorized or impromptu. Then quote the words right before one strategic pause you planned, and say whether a filler you noticed in your first take was gone in your second.
• Problem 3: explain what eye-contact share measures and why a short sample is only a slice of a take. Then describe one physical-delivery change between your takes (a descriptive or emphatic gesture you added, or an adaptor you cut) and name the moment it happens; if you used no camera, say how you checked it, for example in a mirror or with your listener.
• Problem 4: critique the illustrative chatbot feedback described above (you do not need to open any tool): name what it lacks (a moment, a measure, and a fix) and explain why a chatbot that only read a description could not judge the take.

Explain it to a non-expert

Your friend is about to give a short toast at a family reunion and says, "Words barely matter; it's all body language, so I'm not going to plan what I say." Write a 3–5 sentence message that explains, in everyday words, why the words still matter, where the famous claim comes from and why it does not cover a toast, and one delivery tip to try, such as one planned pause. Include one limit, such as that a little nervousness is normal or that no single speaking speed is correct. Explain any course term in everyday words. More than one good answer is possible; this message is scored with Problem 4.

For a different, ungraded example, imagine a neighbor who will announce the results of a block-party raffle and says, "As long as I smile, nobody will notice if I mumble the names." Model answer: "Smiling helps, but the whole point is that people hear their names, so the words have to come through. Slow down on each name and say it crisply, then stop for a beat so the winner can react. Look up at the crowd between names instead of at the list the whole time. It's fine if your hands shake a little; most people get nervous, and nobody minds as long as they can hear."

Use that pattern for your friend, with your own wording and examples.

Show how you got each figure. A reader should be able to check every rate, share, and count without guessing which numbers you used.

Deliverables

Submit a single piece of work containing:

• the four answers, each with the arithmetic shown and the brief explanation the task names for that problem;
• your two-take counts, your planned pause and filler check, your physical-delivery change with its moment, and your critique of the chatbot feedback; and
• your message to the friend, explaining in everyday words why the words still matter, where the famous claim comes from, one delivery tip, and one limit.

You do not submit the recording of your takes; your counts and the moments you name are the evidence. Keep it to roughly one to two pages. Clear and specific beats long.

Choose how you show it. Present your work as written text, or as a spoken explanation recorded as audio or video of about three minutes with a transcript. Every form is graded by the same scoring criteria. Submit in any accessible file type or as a link; a recorded response may be submitted as audio or video with a transcript, or as text.

How you'll be graded

The full analytic rubric is attached to this assignment in Canvas.

Academic integrity and AI use

This version is designed to be completed without AI: do the measuring, the counting, the explanations, and the writing yourself, without any AI tool. Problem 4 asks you to critique a described, illustrative piece of feedback; you do not need to open any tool to do it. Submitting AI-generated work as your own, reporting a count you did not take, or copying another student's work is an integrity violation under the course policy.

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