INAUGURAL ADDRESS

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THE NEW MAYOR

By Carter Reed

• Divide into groups of three. In each group, select one volunteer to become the new mayor and deliver a short inaugural address to the class (2-3 minutes in length). Work together to draft the inaugural address. The city you are to be mayor of is irrelevant and each group can decide what their themes/priorities will be. For example, if you do not like politics at all and are instead interested in sports or theater, perhaps you will pledge to devote your term in office to after-school activity programs. Regardless of your interests, each group should try to incorporate as many different kinds of ceremonial speaking as they can into their speech. The types of ceremonial speeches, as listed in chapter 15 of the textbook, are:

1. Speeches of Introduction: are usually meant to introduce someone else, but perhaps this new mayor is relatively unknown to the townspeople?
2. Speeches of Presentation: are speeches given to present a prize or honor. Maybe this new mayor thinks they are a real prize to be presented?
3. Speeches of Acceptance: are speeches given to accept/receive a prize or honor—beware, not everyone considers government service a prize or honor.
4. After-Dinner Speeches: are humorous speeches that make a serious point. Note: many inaugural addresses lack both humor and a serious point.
5. Keynote Addresses: are speeches focused on a key theme or idea—generally defined by the event or occasion—with the purpose of unification. Note: Inaugural addresses are keynote addresses. For your group, the “keynote” should be your theme for the inaugural speech.
6. Commemorative Speeches: encompass a broad range of occasions and their purpose is to commemorate an extraordinary person, place, thing, or idea. Perhaps you wish to pay homage to the outgoing mayor, even if you did beat them in the last election.
7. Speeches of Dedication: are speeches that are delivered upon the completion, naming, or opening of a new building, memorial, structure, or venue.
8. Toasts: are speeches designed to congratulate, appreciate, or remember. Not typically an aspect of inaugurals, but you were elected to change things, right?
9. Speeches to Eulogize/Memorialize: while eulogies honor someone who has passed away, memorial speeches are usually longer and celebrate a group or important event (i.e. Veterans Day).
10. Commencement Addresses: are designed to recognize and celebrate the achievements of a graduating class or other group of people. Never forget to praise the locals!

• After each team’s new mayor delivers their inaugural address, the rest of the class will discuss which types of ceremonial speaking that team incorporated into their address. We will then ask the team if we interpreted each of their ceremonial speech components correctly and if we failed to notice any they tried to incorporate or did notice any they did not intend to incorporate.

PURPOSE STATEMENT

• The purpose of this activity is to help identify types of ceremonial speaking, to consider ways to incorporate ceremonial speaking into special occasion speaking, and to practice flexibility in the broader context of speaker-audience communication.
• Learning Goals. Students completing this activity should:
  • 1) be familiar with different types of ceremonial speaking,
  • 2) understand the fluidity of these different types of speech within the public address context, and
  • 3) recognize how to use ceremonial speaking skills within the broader scope of speaker-audience communication.
• Course Objectives. Four COMS 130 course objectives may apply to this activity:
  • 1) Analyze rhetorical situations accurately and insightfully in order to craft effective and appropriate audience-centered speeches.
  • 2) Prepare and deliver various types of speeches (e.g., informative, persuasive, special occasion) that demonstrate sound rhetorical judgment.
  • 3) Critically evaluate speeches—your own, those of your peers, and those outside of the classroom—according to the rhetorical principles covered in this course.
  • 4) Rehearse public speaking to achieve greater confidence.
• Activity Specifications.
  • Materials needed: pen and paper
  • Time needed:
    • 5 minutes to explain the activity and debrief,
    • 8-10 minutes for group preparation, and
    • 5 minutes for each group to present and receive feedback from the class
  • Applicable book chapters: Chapter 15, “Ceremonial Speaking”, of Dr. M. Mapes, Speak Out, Call In: Public Speaking as Advocacy.
• Follow Up Questions.
  • 1) Were there any types of ceremonial speaking you found particular difficult to incorporate into your inaugural address? If so, why?
  • 2) Which types of ceremonial speaking easily flowed together? Are these types of speech relatable? Are they interchangeable?
  • 3) Should speeches for special occasions incorporate multiple types of ceremonial speaking or focus on a single type? Explain your reasoning.
  • 4) How can you better incorporate different types of ceremonial speaking into special occasion events?
• Reminders for Students. Before the activity remind the class:
  • 1) To center their audience—in this case the townspeople, and
  • 2) To use not just the keywords of each type of ceremonial speaking (i.e. “dedicate” for dedication speaking), but to expand and use the style of each speech type (i.e. Why are you dedicating something? Is that your priority?).

REFLECTION

Doing this activity with my peers gave me a few important ideas. First, teachers should communicate with students beforehand when class activities include an unassigned public speaking component. This can help students orient themselves with the material and prepare for the possibility they might speak. You can give them details about what the assignment will entail without revealing the underlying structure of the inauguration or you can post the activity online the period before. I personally think the in-class element of working through the different kinds of ceremonial speeches in a unique setting adds value to COMS 130 goals 1 and 3 above. By asking students to analyze a rhetorical situation, insightfully respond, and critically evaluate their peers, students can understand the fluidity of public speaking within even narrow rhetorical windows. Nevertheless, disclosure before the activity may be preferred if the class requires more exposure to material or has greater communication apprehension.

Second, there are other ways of performing this activity. Having them try to include as many different kinds of speech seemed to work relatively well. However, I have to keep in mind that my peers and I are at, what is generally considered to be, a greater level of exposure and practice with oral communication activities such as this. One thing you may consider is having students narrow it down to three or four of the speech types. Doing so will allow you to emphasize that students should fully develop each type of speech, and not just give its classic verbal cues. That said, I did see a lot of value in emphasizing the fluidity of all these different kinds of speeches within one rhetorical situation. It shows students not only that many of these different types of speech are actually very similar but also that speeches that traditionally do not appear to go together—eulogies and commencement addresses for example—can indeed both fit into one rhetorical situation.

Third, consider class themes and ideas in your pre- and post-activity discussions. For example, note that most types of ceremonial speech have a theme. Encourage students to consider themes that might apply well to both the rhetorical situation of an inauguration and to each type of ceremonial speaking. They may not be able to narrow down just one and if not, be sure to ask them what barriers there were to doing so. If they are able to narrow down a theme, be sure to analyze with the class why that theme applies broadly where others do not. Doing this will help students better understand not just the fluidity of speech and speech types, but also the commonality of certain effective themes and ideas in oral communication. This includes a number of lessons from class including rhetorical appeals, explicit and implicit audiences, and creating an aesthetic experience to name just a few. One piece of caution with this advice is that the more you give students to do, the more difficult it may be to fully interact with each concept. While all of these ideas and lessons are important, instructors must be mindful with time and how much work they are asking students to do in short sessions. This is when you go back to considering how much information you give students about the activity beforehand. My plan is to tell them in the class session before the activity that they will be doing an activity that requires full participation from everyone, a few volunteers to speak in front of the class, familiarity with the different types of ceremonial speaking (which we have already reviewed), and an understanding of the kind of broad themes that work with these types of speech (which we have also reviewed). I am confident that considering these factors will make this activity a successful component of the ceremonial speaking section of the introductory course.