Analysis of the Speech: Protein Pointers by Doctor Andrew Weil

Final Essay | Analysis of the speech: Protein Pointers by Doctor Andrew Weil | | María Andrea Cevallos. | February 17, 2013 | |

Abstract

The objective of this essay is to describe a speech and to analyze five elements of the speaker’s verbal and non verbal communication.
This essay contains three main parts. The introduction, that includes information about the speech, the central idea, a brief biography of the author and the year and place when the speech was released.
The second part is the main body, which includes the analysis of five elements: paralanguage, posture, gestures, facial expressions and eye contact and their definitions and examples from the speech.
After this, we have the conclusion, which includes a summary of the main points, suggestions and personal likes. At last, the references or sources.

The speech Protein Pointers by Doctor Andrew Weil is an informative speech, because the author is telling the audience about the benefits of consuming protein and the negative effects of overeating. The central idea of this speech is to inform the audience about the consequences of eating too much protein. It also gives some suggestions of products that can replace the protein and can help people reduce illnesses. The speech was released in 2011, in Arizona.

The author of this speech, Doctor Andrew Weil is a clinical professor of internal medicine and the founder and director of the Program in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Weil received both his medical degree and his undergraduate AB degree in Biology from Harvard University (MD, 2013).

The first element to analyze is paralanguage. According to the American English Collins Dictionary (2013) paralanguage is “any nonverbal means of communication, such as tone of voice, laughter, and, sometimes, gestures and facial expressions, that accompany speech and convey further meaning” (Collins Dictionary, 2013). As an example of paralanguage, at the beginning of the speech Doctor Andrew tried to hook the audience by telling a personal anecdote and his facial expression showed excitement and he laughed a lot. At the minute 1:10 the speaker was talking about why we should be aware of the amount of protein that we eat and he appeared to be not sure about what he was saying and he holds his head with the hands; this could mean nervousness or anxiety, but not confidence.

The second element I have to mention is the posture, which is “the position of the body; the situation or disposition of the several parts of the body with respect to each other, or for a particular purpose; the position of a figure with regard to the several principal members by which action is expressed; attitude” (WebsterDictionary, 2013). I think Doctor Weil had a good posture in his speech because he had his shoulders and head straight but also maintain a position that convey a positive attitude. This helps the speaker to convey confidence and respectful. Another element that the speaker used is gestures, which “is a motion of the hands, head, or body to emphasize an idea or emotion, express while speaking” (Free Dictionary, 2013). For example, in minute 0:31 he talked about the reasons why people like protein, in the part he said something about how our ancestors saw the person who brought the meat home he used many gestures like moving hands and head to emphasize the message. Another example is in minute 1:16 when the speaker moves his hands to explain the difference about protein with other macronutrients like fats and carbohydrates.

The next element I would analyze is facial expression, which refers to “The expressions used to convey emotions like fear, anger, sadness, and happiness that are similar throughout the world”. The facial expression can tell people how you really feel about any situation or person (Cherry, 2013). In the speech, for example the speaker use a lot of facial expressions in minute 2:40 when he talked about the main problem of the diet in our culture in comparison with the Japanese culture. His facial expressions express seriousness and concern about the health of people when he explained why people eat too much meat in America and how this had affected their health in difference with Japanese culture that preferred to eat carbohydrates and healthy meat like fish.

The last element is eye contact, which refers “to a meeting of the eyes between two people that expresses meaningful nonverbal communication” (Free Dictionary, 2013). “Eye contact between two people is a powerful act of communication and may show interest, affection or dominance” (Changing Minds, 2012). Dr. Weil had a good eye contact since the beginning until the end of the speech. She showed interest to his audience, confidence, and knowledge about the topic. For example in minute 3:10 he talked about the substitutes for protein like high quality vegetables protein as legumes, cereals, beans, and soy-based products.
In conclusion, we have five main elements that we have to improve in order to give a consistent speech. Paralanguage, which refers to the way you say things, like the tone of the voice, gestures and facial expressions that convey the further meaning of the message. Try to have a good posture, this is important to maintain the attention of the audience and to convey confidence. Facial expression is necessary to show the speaker´s emotions and to give the speaker more credibility. Gestures are motions of the hands and head which help to emphasize something that you are trying to explain like an anecdote or examples and to convey emotions during the speech. It’s very important to maintain eye contact during the entire speech because it is the powerful act in communication that expresses confidence, respect, interest and domination on a situation.

In my opinion, the speech of Doctor Weil was very good, because he demonstrated to know a lot about the topic , he maintain a good eye contact during the entire speech and used necessary gestures and facial expressions to convey the message. He also gave an interesting hook and provides many suggestions to help people to improve their health. Even thought he did a great job, I think he should improve his conclusion by giving more suggestions or a brief summary of the speech; he also could improve his pitch and facial expression to show more emotions and emphasize his message.

To make a successful speech I would give some suggestions: emphasize your message with facial expressions and gestures, but avoid mannerism. Avoid touching your hands or moving a lot during the speech, this could distract your audience. Also prepare nice and simple visual aids to help you convey the message better. Be careful to maintain a direct eye contact with the entire audience and to have a good posture to show confidence and credibility. To maintain your audience interest in the topic you could interacted more with the public and tell them to prepare some questions for the end of the speech or you can show a video during the presentation.
References

Weil, D. A. (2011). Youtube. Retrieved February 17, 2013, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdwQ8ea08M4
Changing Minds, C. (2012). Changing Minds. org. Retrieved February 18, 2013, from http://changingminds.org/techniques/body/parts_body_language/eyes_body_language.htm
Cherry, K. (2013). About.com. Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/nonverbalcommunication/ss/understanding-body-language_2.htm
Collins Dictionary, C. (2013). Retrieved February 18, 2013, from http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/american/paralanguage
Free Dictionary, F. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/gesture
MD, W. (2013). MD, Web. Retrieved February 17, 2013, from http://www.webmd.com/andrew-weil
WebsterDictionary. (2013). Definitions and translations. Retrieved February 18, 2013, from http://www.definitions.net/definition/Posture

References: Weil, D. A. (2011). Youtube. Retrieved February 17, 2013, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdwQ8ea08M4 Changing Minds, C. (2012). Changing Minds. org. Retrieved February 18, 2013, from http://changingminds.org/techniques/body/parts_body_language/eyes_body_language.htm Cherry, K. (2013). About.com. Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/nonverbalcommunication/ss/understanding-body-language_2.htm Collins Dictionary, C. (2013). Retrieved February 18, 2013, from http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/american/paralanguage Free Dictionary, F. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/gesture MD, W. (2013). MD, Web. Retrieved February 17, 2013, from http://www.webmd.com/andrew-weil WebsterDictionary. (2013). Definitions and translations. Retrieved February 18, 2013, from http://www.definitions.net/definition/Posture