advocacy presuasive/Imagining Community: Advocacy, Activism, and Agency
Advocacy/Persuasive Speech Prompt/
This speech will center on the Speakers’ Forum topic for the Fall of 2016: “Imagining Community: Advocacy, Activism, & Agency” so that you may — if you wish — use your
speech for that event. This speech is given extemporaneously (should be presented from notecards) and should hit at around 5–6 minutes.
The prompt: “Imagining Community: Advocacy, Activism, and Agency” prompts us to examine community as something that is imagined and created via communication. It asks
you to explore how members of communities may practice advocacy, engage in activism, or embody agency (i.e. the ability to act). Below are guiding questions that can
help to point toward these intersections. Your speech does not have to focus on any of these questions, but should attempt to persuade us to engage in some form of
advocacy, activism, or agency.
• Does “slacktivism” or “clicktivism” exist?
• What is the role of social media in building an empowered community?
• Should we be/how can we be interpersonal activists, standing up for ourselves and others within smaller “communities” such as friendship circles and family
circles?
• In what ways do advocacy and activism help us build strong communities?
• In what ways/where can you get involved in Carbondale?
• Is activism an activity associated with a certain political party? Why or why not?
• What is the relationship between individual and community activism?
• How might individuals gain agency from a community? How might communities gain agency from individuals?
• How important––and what is the significance of––forming alliances across multiple intersections of identities (such as political affiliation, sexuality, race,
class, etc.) in order to more fruitfully and constructively promote advancement of marginalized groups? How can this be done?
• How might the often-overlooked factor of geographic placement (such as rural spaces versus urban spaces) be an important variable to consider when attempting
to advocate for marginalized groups, identities, or bodies?
• How does the current political landscape in the US reflect our abilities (or, inabilities) to locate commonalities across difference to ensure the greater good
of all people? Is activism and community-building something that, culturally, our country falls short with?
• Why don’t we typically refer to “institutionalized” forms of community engagement (such as the PTA, Optimist Clubs, Elks, etc.) as advocacy or activist
activities? Would our understanding of “social activist” change if these forms of engagement were called activism?
• How can community members negotiate disagreements arising from members advocating for contradictory/conflicting ideas?
Advocacy/Persuasive Speech Evaluation Form
Speaker Name:
Topic:
Time:
Introduction:
• attention-getter
• thesis statement/purpose of speech
• establishment of relevancy
• preview of main points
/3
Body:
• organization fitting with purpose of speech
• logical flow/progression
• signposts
• transitions
/5
Conclusion:
• Follows the specific-to-general format to review
• Re-establishes important
• Memorable Closing device
/3
Effectiveness:
• did it meet its purpose
• interesting
• ethical
• valuable to the audience
• within time limits
• contains a call to action available to the audience
/2
Non-verbal delivery:
• eye-contact
• physical presence (ie not behind the podium, stance, gestures, etc)
• vocal tone & delivery
/1
Credibility:
• citations
• dress
• language
• audience appropriateness
/1
Major distractors
• nonverbals, time management, ethics, etc
/-
Total: ¬¬¬¬_____/15
Comments:
