Works CitedAlex Bossie11/9/2019Module 7 1Elon Musk: Making Life MultiplanetaryThe past few years my focus has shifted from what is happening now, to what will happen tomorrow, next week, 1 year, etc. The future has been a big part of my life plan. A personwho has really influenced this change in myself is Elon Musk. He has also influenced my career choice, from being an automotive engineer, switching towards a focus to become an aerospace engineer. In this speech or more of a presentation of his plans for his company Space X, he explains these crazy, in depth and extremely thought out plans on how he will put together travel to Mars, the moon, private launching services and the vehicles that will be used . Musk performed this speech at the 68th International Astronautical Congress on September 28th, 2017. Musk was using this speech to inform his viewers about what plans he has drawn out and what the future holds for Space X. According to Real Communication: The Fourth Edition, it states that informative speaking is to increase the audiences understanding or knowledge . . . Or simply put, to learn something (406). Musk did a similar presentation last year at the same place, so while the audience has little knowledge of what his plans were, this presentation was to give the audience the knowledge of what is true and not just speculation. Musk conveyed information in a few ways. He was very descriptive in his explanations painting a picture for everyone. Not only descriptive in his presentation but also used demonstration techniques and explanation techniques to convey the information he presented. Elon has never been known for his wonderful public speaking techniques. Real Communication states that public speaking anxiety is the nervousness we experience when we know we have to communicate publicly to an audience. (378) What I have gathered is that whileAlex Bossie11/9/2019Module 7 2he doesn’t practice so hard at his public speaking skill rather, which shows his early anxious and nervous speaking, he makes sure his information that he is passing on is correct and as accurate as can be. In this presentation the camera angle was at an angle where it was hard to tell If Elon was reading from a script or not. Due to the length of the presentation being an hour long I wouldguess that the delivery method was speaking from manuscript displayed before him with speaking notes. Observing other speeches and presentations of Musk, speaking from his memorywould almost be believable because of how involved he is being chief engineer of SpaceX. In theearly parts of the speech it was noticeable how often Elon would stumble his words, as the speech went on, he became more comfortable and less of a nervous tone in his voice. “One of thequickest ways to lose credibility with your audience is to mispronounce”[CITATION Dan18 \p 387 \y \t \l 1033 ]. While his speech was not perfect and he often paused to regain thought or stuttered his words, he spoke clearly and precise when explaining in understanding detail about everything he was presenting. There was never a moment when it seemed like Musk did not have a type of excitement in his voice, or not looking around and using his hands in useful way to show what he was explaining and not looking around the room catching eye contact from the audience. “As noted in chapter 5, eye contact is an important form of nonverbal communication. . . In public speaking, making direct eye contact can signal respect and interest to the audience”[CITATION Dan18 \p 389 \y \l 1033 ]. During the presentation Musk had a very large tv monitor with slides and animations to go along with his entire speech. The background aided the whole presentation very well since so much information was being passed on. The slides make the presentation thatAlex Bossie11/9/2019Module 7 3much more interesting and helped in the processing of information. As the textbook Real Communications: an introduction describes presentation aids must enhance your speech, accomplishing three goals: help listeners process and retain information, promote interest and motivation and convey information clearly and concisely. (394) “You want to wake up in the morning and think the future is going to be great andthat’s what being a space faring civilization is all about. It’s about believing in the future and thinking that the future will be better than the past. And I can’t think of anything more exciting than going out there and being among the stars.” [ CITATION Elo17 \l 1033 ] This was the introduction to Musk’s presentation, which caught the attention of the audience immediately. A strong introduction is key to any presentation. After this introduction, Elon went on to outline themain talking points and how he was going to break down and explain into detail each subpoint. All information that was passed were very well backed up with reliable data because of the reliable person it was coming from. This presentation coming from my point of view, is one of the most exciting and just motivational. Jumpstarting the mind to think outside the box, sparking the perfect amount of imagination. Being properly prepared, having the right kind of presentation aids and having a very organized outline for the speech make the audience interested and understand the information passed.Alex Bossie11/9/2019Module 7 4Works CitedMusk, E. (2017, September 28). Making Life .O'Hair, D., Weimann, M., Mullin, D. I., & Teven, J. (2018). Real Communication: An Introduction; Fourth Edition. Boston: Bedford/St.