Avellana, Jose Antonio L. C. Dec.

12, 2019
12 - 7 Giordani 2nd Semester

EAPP PeTa - Critique Paper

=====================================================================

BACKGROUND
Talker: Mr. Julius Ezra Gundran (Keynote Speaker 1 - “SUCCESS”)
Date: Nov. 19 - 22, 2019 (Nov. 20, 2019 - Wednesday)
Theme: Bosconian 4.0: Integrating the Knowledge of Head, Heart and Hands
Event: Don Bosco Makati Senior Highschool Days

On the 20th of November, 2019, Wednesday, the second day of Don Bosco Technical
Institute of Makati’s Senior High School Department’s SHS Days had taken place. At around
8:00 AM that day, in the Braga Auditorium of the school’s newest building, a string of
informative talks that tackled a myriad of different subjects had ensued. The series of discourse
had begun with Mr. Julius Ezra Gundran, a former student--now alumnus--of Don Bosco
Technical Institute of Makati. Mr. Gundran now currently studies in De La Salle University
taking up the course of BS-MS Mechanical Engineering, but invited to return to his former alma
mater for the event. (“LinkedIn,” 2019).

Before the talk proper, Mr. Gundran had been introduced with great honour and regarded
highly for his accomplishments, which were then further exemplified within the contents of his
speech. Having this set into mind, expectations for his performance heightened, making sure to
take note of each and every detail, be it non-verbal gestures to word choice and diction. Let us
start with Mr. Gundran’s exterior appearance and demeanor. According to Morgan (2018), a
study had recently shown that one’s external appearance proves to have a great effect on how the
audience will perceive and expect your performance to be. It can be treated as one of the aspects
that constitute a good speech delivery. For Mr. Gundran’s case it would seem as though he took
into thought every detail that would help discern what apparel he should wear. With the nature of
this event being somewhat of an academic one, he chose to adorn himself with semi-formal
clothing. He had on him a buttoned-up long sleeve polo with a light-cool shade of color that goes
easy on the eyes; a pair of slacks lengthy enough to pass his ankles, keeping to his strengths of
imposing a professional image; his hair was neatly cut, with his face completely seen, enabling
him the capacity to make facial gestures that would provide him another medium to convey his
message. Overall, in terms of external appearance, he possessed the optimal look and donned
professionalism. Moving on, we examine his posture. It must be noted that confidence holds
great value when it comes to doing performances or anything for that matter, included therewith
is giving talks. Having good posture emanates confidence and attention. (“Posture Is Everything:
How To Have Excellent Posture As A Business Professional,” 2018). To be quite honest, little
can be said about his posture, as he chose to remain stationed behind the podium placed on the
stage for most of the duration of his talk. Any time he chose to step away from the podium was
for the reason of permitting himself gestures and non-verbal communication, which will later be
touched on. Every time he did, it was apparent that he stood tall and straight, commanding
attention. He made little-to-no unnecessary movements, keeping still leading the audience’s
focus to be directed towards what he was trying to say. Now, we tackle the verbal aspect
beginning with his voice. It is said that the voice plays a critical role when it comes to
presentation going as far as being twice as crucial as your speech’s content. (Belknap, L. 2014).
Volume and modulation: I found that at the start, Mr. Gundran was quite reserved with his voice,
which wasn’t necessarily wrong, as it may be good to build up momentum lest you want your
audience’s expectations be unmet, but considering the circumstances of the talk, it would’ve
been completely acceptable to start strong and command attention from the very beginning.
Diction: his word choice was above average. He could have gone about in different ways:
perhaps it would have served well him to utilize sophisticated words, then later discuss them if
he wishes to come off as high-class or make use of relatively not-so complicated words but keep
the message impactful. His choice of pursuing the latter was most suitable as the audience
consisting of young high school students have shorter attention spans, and so employing the use
of less words to get to the point would be most advantageous to springboard your message.
Finally, let us address the speech itself. Mr. Gundran’s speech revolved around the idea of
success, how it is attained, external factors and everything in between. According to Boyd,
(2007) your speech’s content must be anchored solely on your purpose and listeners, in the
circumstances of Mr. Gundran a discourse on success, trial and acceptance was most suitable for
his audience as students around this age are quite susceptible to the difficulty shift as they pass
on through different stages in life.

Overall, I would say that Mr. Gundran did a phenomenal job as a speaker. His external
aspect of a good speaker was well defined, carrying himself professionally from head to toe. His
speech was well delivered taking into account his voice modulation, diction and timing.

REFERENCES:

LinkedIn. (2019). Retrieved from https://ph.linkedin.com/in/jeggundran/zh-cn

Morgan, N. (2018). What Should a Speaker Wear. Retrieved from

https://publicwords.com/2018/02/13/speaker-wear-2018-update/

Posture Is Everything: How To Have Excellent Posture As A Business Professional. (2018).

Retrieved from https://a1alimo.com/posture-is-everything-how-to-have-excellent-posture-as-a-
business-professional/

Belknap, L. (2014). How Your Voice Impacts Your Public Speaking Success. Retrieved from
https://www.ethos3.com/2015/10/how-your-voice-impacts-your-public-speaking-success/

Boyd, S. (2007). Contents Of The Ideal Speech. Retrieved from http://www.speaking-

tips.com/Articles/Contents-Of-The-Ideal-Speech.aspx