University of Texas at Austin 2014 Commencement Address - Admiral William H. McRaven

 

Admiral William H. McRaven is the Commander of United States Special Operations Command leading the speech for the 2014 graduating class. He explains to the graduating class his experiences during his graduation. His experience can be related to almost if not everyone in the crowd graduating just like he did. This can be used to help ease those who are worried or to grab the attention of the audience. Something relatable with the audience. 

Every cited information given is clear and easy for me and the audience to understand. The main meaning is not clear at the beginning but towards the middle, you start to get the gist of one if not the rest of the main meaning. It sounds like every little act can encourage you to continue the train of kind actions or accomplishments. He then continues it into teamwork. It does not matter what ethnicity, or what size you are, as long as you have the will to compete and succeed in any task that is laid out by you or your peers upon your path in life. Life is never perfect, there will always be ups and downs, obstacles to put you down, but you just have to keep moving forward. These meanings were piled upon each other throughout the speech. Every experience he mentioned correlates it with the main point. 

His speech to the audience was easy to understand with and without fully paying attention. Although his speech was very attention-grabbing, I would prefer if he made his point a little clearer in the beginning. He did use a couple of terms in his speech but made sure to have already or after explained the meaning. There were some words he used that were not slang but military terms that were not easily understood by me. 

He looks around the room for a couple of seconds and then looks down and continues this for the whole speech instead of particular people. He stayed behind the podium and did not move his hands above the podium. He swayed from leg to leg a couple of times throughout the speech. His movement was not distracting but instead, was helpful in a way that fit his aesthetic. His posture was relaxed but stern at the same time which works for a speech for graduates that are nervous but excited to see what lies ahead in their future. 

He did not use any visual aids to help with his speech. But his volume was loud and stern enough to show who he was while giving off a friendly vibe. His volume was appropriate for this type of audience. His tone was never monotone and you can hear it when he talks about something he had fond memories of. He gave enough space in between to make it easy and clear to understand. 

I would rate this speech on a scale of 1 to 10 an 8/10. It did give a motivational feel, one to want to go out and help change something for the better but towards the end would have been a drag if he had added more stories. What he had was just

 enough to keep you hooked. Just for the scenario that it was in, the audience probably wanted to get out of there to enjoy and celebrate their recent graduation.