Something Useful

Chapter ten already has a bunch of useful information but what stood out the most to me was the Action Step of the speech. We write speeches to connect with people, teach them something we believe in or just want to share. Every speech should summon some type of action from the audience or at least make their topic stick with them. 
The Action Step involves the speaker to call upon the audience to personally get involved with their subject that was previously discussed in the need and satisfactory steps. In my first public speech class I gave a persuasive speech on why we should floss our teeth. I made it funny, informative and ended with asking my audience to make the effort to always floss their teeth. I made it to the finals in a speech tournament and was actually having a conversation with a friend from that class who laughed and actually quoted a line from my speech. I was shocked but they told me it stuck out because the humor I used mixed with facts. He also said he flossed for a little and then forgets to, haha. But, the action step does exactly this; it sends a message that gets received by the individuals in the audience and they act in accordance to your message. It's a pretty cool concept and I feel it's one of the most important when delivering a speech. Calling attention to something, expressing a need and then producing satisfying result all depend on the action step. We can talk and talk and talk but nothing will get done unless we act on it. It's an important step and not something to be overlooked in my opinion.