Purpose

Oprah Winfrey's 2008 Stanford Commencement Address

By-Praveen Sidola

Opening

• Interactive(connect with the student)

Stress Main point

• Significant voice modulation (‘fine tune’ “pitch and tone”)

Information Delivery

• Do whatever you want to do ,you will regret only for those thing which you did not do.

Thought flow and sentence transition

• Attempts to identify with the audience. • This helps in getting the attention of the

audience.• Presents herself as a down to earth person,

irrespective of her wealth and achievements.• Sentence transitions are smooth and do not

seem out of place or odd.

Repetition of key points

• In her speech at Stanford in 2008, she keeps repeating various important parts of her speech such as her goddaughter, Kirby, the lessons of life she’s learnt and how just studying in an ivy league school doesn’t make you a successful person.

• Anything repeated long enough by a strong willed personality can be assimilated by the masses, even if it is untrue.

Impact

• Engaging audiences at their level means she can gauge their interest/disinterest.

• Her speech at stanford was interrupted by applause frequently, and she received a standing ovation at the end of it, we can therefore say she had a strong impact on the crowd.

• Her talk shows also introduce pressing real life issues such as hurrican katrina, drug abuse and the 9/11 attacks, unemployment.

• Discussions pertaining real life issues increase audience participation and interest.

• Pictures, video, real life stories and documentaries also leave indelible impacts on the collective psyche of her audience.

Power of the pause

• An endless stream of words exhausts/bores an audience.

• Oprah’s pausing is flexible and not rhythmic.• Through this, she can speak TO her audience,

not AT them.• It again helps her in identifying with her

audience and capturing her attention.

Rapport Establishment• Being "in sync" with, or

being "on the same wavelength“ as the person with whom you are talking

• Oprah Winfrey’s Speech- Body Language- Eye Contact- Listener’s Interest

Play with Voice• Good & Polite voice.

• Oprah creates a sense of excitement in the listeners by playing with her voice .

• Pitch Variation and proper Word Emphasis

Delivery, Diction & Word Flow

• Delivery – Oprah uses clear speech, good enunciation and volume variations.

• Diction – Use of appropriate words and expressions.

• Word Flow – Oprah uses short and context appropriate words, and some words like feeling, failures etc. that makes the listeners understand the morality

she desires .

Sentence Construction

The structure of a sentence includes the use of nouns, verbs, adverbs, etc.

There are four types of sentences depending on the structure. They are:

• Simple• Compound• Complex

Oprah uses a mixture of simple and complex sentences.

• “ Black and bald sitting on TV.” Contains a subject and a verb.

• “TV can be more than just a playground but a platform for service.” Contains two independent (main) clauses joined by a coordinator. It may or may not have a subordinate clause.

Personality and Presence

• People-oriented and fun-loving.• Warm and enthusiastic.• Good motivator and communicator.• Tends to exaggerate.

Simplicity

• She uses graceful lines in an elegant and balanced form.

• Her voice was intelligible, unobstructed and distinct.

Directness• She gains and holds the attention of the listener.• Creates precisely the desired impression by

conveying to the audience, importance and sincerity of her utterances.