Tracia Elder
3/28/14

A. speaker’s name – Mr.Phil Gans
B. title of speech/presentation –Prisoner #139755 Aushwitz III Labor Camp Survivor
C. location of speech –Clearwater Campus ES104
D. date and time it started and ended –9:30-10:45am
E. function/occasion –Speech

I saw an older man dressed in what looked like a stripped prison uniform, it was blue and white and across the left side the numbers read 139755. He started the speech by asking where was God when 11 million people died? I thought the speaker had the audience in the beginning in just wearing the uniform, I felt it was a very effective way to gain the audience’s attention. In my opinion, the speaker gained my attention and he may have improved his speech by having more eye contact and giving us a presentation with more inflection in his voice and maybe even had a better introduction.
The thesis of this speech was to tell a story of how a man became a survivor during one of the most trying times in the world, The Holocaust. He wanted to relay his story but also to tell us on how a man could have so much hate in his heart against a human people. The thesis was spot on for the occasion and the audience, to me you knew what you were going to this speech to hear about a man surviving the holocaust in a slave labor camp controlled by the Nazi’s, German soldiers with Hitler as their ruler. Also in this speech the thesis could have been based on how it is to overcome even the worst defining obstacles in your life.
The speaker Mr. Phil Gans did not necessarily include a preview of main points however, he did show illustrations and had props to show some main points. For example the story of his father and the hat and maps of the travel he had to go through to try to remain hidden from the Nazi’s. For me it was easy to figure out the thesis due to these techniques. To me he told his story and his experience through a timeline and events. * A map of his travel in the concentration camps. * Photos/videos of family. * Photos/videos of people who harbored. * Photos/videos of Nazi’s. * Hat of the prison uniform. * Video on how bodies were used as Science experiments.
The speaker used a part of the uniform they wore in the slave labor camps and what it represented. The hat. Then with that he told us a story about how his father a grown man who once owned his own business was beaten because he kept the hat on after day labor because it was so cold. The speaker showed us video of how the women and girls were separated from the men and boys, he showed us this video while telling the story of how him, his brother and father were separated from his mother and sister and how they were given bars of soap and told to go into the chamber to bathe and then they were put to death by gas.
He pointed out the number on his uniform and how he was known as that for years and then he showed us a tattoo on his arm to remember. He showed us video of the concentration camps and what types of torture was used for death of all those people. He showed more video of the Nazi’s and the technique used to control all the people, and more video of the bodies piled up in trenches, he showed the cremation chambers and boxcars full of people. He showed videos of his Fathers business and maps of where they traveled during the time of hiding.
The speaker concluded that he survived because he never gave up hope. You knew the speech was coming to an end because he started showing video and speaking of how the 99th Infantry came in and put up their flag, handed out their rations to the starving camp survivors and had them see doctors, gave them medicine, clothes, food and safety. I was satisfied with the closing, however I was so intrigued with the story I wanted to know more, not just about him but that era.
 I rated a 5 on conveying enthusiasm and maintaining the audience interest because his story telling technique kept me interested and with the uniform and videos kept me involved.
 I rated a 3-4 on handling eye contact because the speech involved changing clips to the video to show the story he was telling so eye contact was minimal.
 I rated a 3 he didn’t ask the audience questions while giving his speech however, at the end of the speech he did ask(tell) us why hope was so important to him and he gave the analogy of just because you have a bad day or get a bad grade, don’t quit, don’t give up hope.
 I rated using the body and voice a 2 he used body once to show his tattoo, but it was not used in an inflection way, neither was his voice per say, his story was somber even though it was also about survival to get there he was more monotone throughout.

A. The speech taught me that public speaking can be about sharing a story as well as giving a demonstration. I believe that public speaking is a difficult thing to do, you need confidence in my opinion not only that you need inflection in your voice and you need to have contact especially in the demonstration sense. Public Speaking depending on what you do is a part of everyday life but not necessity. B. I learned from this speaker that you don’t necessarily need to maintain eye contact all the time especially in storytelling. I learned also that it is important to be well organized especially when you are using props and or video demonstrations because they need to be in synch with the speech. I also learned that a speaker can tell a story and have the audience involved just by the depth or meaning. C. I will apply story telling techniques to my speeches I believe it will make me more confident and have more of an audience involvement. I will also ask questions to get attention from the audience and I will use visualizations as a technique to receive positive feedback in my critiques.