Thinking Through Production Exercise

Running for office gone wrong:

In high school, a friend of mine nominated her and I to run together for co-secretary of our school choir. In more ways than one, the campaign speech went horribly wrong. We went before our judges cold to say what we would do if elected. While I tried to list all the benefits of having the two of us for secretaries, my partner suddenly got a case of the laughing bug. She laughed the whole time we were up there and distracted me to the point of no return. To cut a long story short, we did not win the election, and the one person running against us came out victorious in the end.

Step #1: lack of specific purpose

Because it was a choir office position, we really did not take it seriously. We did not take the time to think about what holding this position would mean and why we wanted it in the first place. In the end, I think that it came across to our audience that we really didn't care because we did not even know all that the job would entail. It would have been better to understand our purpose and thoroughly explain it to the people who had the task of voting for us.

Step #2: Our Audience

In one aspect, we did know who our audience was. These were our friends who we socialized and sang with everyday. On the other hand, we did not take into consideration what our audience would want to hear from someone running for office. If we did, then our presentation could have further identified with their likes and concerns about the secretarial position.

Step #3: The larger context

We did not at all think about how the place and time would effect votes. Even though we did not have control over the physical place, day, or time, some things were in our control. Laughing was a stretch and some actually might have been a little angered by it. Things happen in life and those who already had an unpleasant day might have not at all been amused. The best thing that could have been done is my partner and I being honest and serious about our plea.

Step #4: Communication strategies

Communication strategies were not the first thing that we thought of as we walked to the podium that day. We could have eliminated this problem by finding out what our audience liked and disliked about the work of the previous office holder. From here, we could have respected their opinions and showed that we were serious about real change.

Step #5: The medium of communication

In my school choir, it was always common practice, every year, for everyone to give an oral presentation when they wanted to run for office. Perhaps this was not the best choice for us. Our audience was a bunch of teenagers, so maybe we should have went interactive. If time permitted, we could have included some form of visual aid (powerpoint, prop, video, etc.) to better our presentation. This would have surely set us apart from the crowd and helped us to win. In fact, this way we might have avoided the whole laughing incident all together.

Step #6: Arranging and combining communication strategies

In the summary of my experience I mentioned that we went into this cold. Without a plan, we had no idea how we were going to arrange our argument or how the audience would respond to it. To eliminate this error, perhaps we should have outlined our presentation in a persuasive way. The last thing our peers probably wanted to hear was an all over the place plea wrapped up in a sorry presentation.

Step #7: Testing the communication

Lastly, we never took the time to test our presentation. Our parents could have been one outlet of advice. Then, we could have taken our work to be looked over by our friends to see how they would respond. If we had done this, everything would have moved more smoothly and my friend would have hopefully never started laughing in the first place.