Memorandum

To:

Mrs. Renee Pay

From: Riley Meadows

Date: December 11, 2015
Re:

Professional Speaker Analysis

I had the opportunity to attend the 16th Annual Leadership Conference at Utah Valley
University on Monday, October 26, 2015. The title of the conference was Come Alive. Hoan
Do was the keynote speaker in the conference. Hoan Do was not only entertaining and great at
what he does, but has motivated me to desire to become a great public speaker.
Organization
Hoan had three key main points. The first being, Choose the Right Attitude. This can mean
something different to everyone. Everybody has a different attitude on both different events, such
as school, as well as life. You have to figure yourself out. Going forward from there, whatever
your thoughts and feelings may be, make it positive. Start your day of already deciding to be
positive and let it show. The second being, Find Your Outfit. You need to be your own person,
and do that by finding your passion. You have to figure yourself out and see what fits for you.
Dont let anyone else dictate how you live your life. You have to find your own principles and do
what makes you feel good. Find what YOU love, and dont try to stay within anybody elses
expectations. The third being, Make Meaningful Connections. The people that will help you
out the most are the people that youre personally invested in. This will make them personally
invested in you. Even if you dont have certain connections or skillsets, you can find people who
do, and they can hook you up. Networking and connections will get you much farther than any
kind of business acquaintance because they will only be concerned about themselves. Three
very important types of people are; Mentors, Mentees, and Mates. Mentors are the people who
give us advice and take us under their wing. Mentees are people that we mentor and teach. Mates
are peers, whether thats other students our age, or friends.
The organizational pattern Hoan Do used was Problem and Solution. He gave a few examples of
his personal problems and the way he solved it. One of his examples was that his parents were
poor seeing as they moved from Vietnam. His solution is that he will break out of that mold and
become educated and successful, he became a very good professional speaker. His biggest point
is that when everything is going good, and they life throws you a curveball, you solve it. Its as
simple as that. You cant get down and give up, you have to think of a solution and once you do
that youre already halfway there. You may think your situation is different, but its really not,
its as simple as thinking of a solution and executing.

Hoan Do used inductive reasoning which is defined as characterized by the inference of general
laws from particular instances. He used mostly, if not all, broad statements. He said things such
as Choose Your Attitude and Figure Yourself Out. Thats a broad general statement which
can mean a lot of things, because itll be a different answer for each person that apply that
statement. There were points where he was deductive, such as when he talked about his parents
Vietnam situation and his life. Although the advice for the audience that followed was inductive
and designed in a way that it can be useful to everybody. He didnt give us exact steps we have to
take or a path we have to follow to be successful and happy, he just asked questions to make our
mind think and for us to figure it out on our own.
Supporting Material
Ethos
Ethos is defined as, an appeal to ethics, and it is a means of convincing someone of
the character or credibility of the persuader. In the conference program it stated:
Hoan Do competed in the show American Ninja Warrior and showed us his clip of
when he was on the show. Hoan Do proved what he said, and was emotionally
invested in what he was talking about, and to me that showed that it was real. That
showed that he was telling the truth. To me that is Ethos. Since he was younger,
Hoan Do knew his parents sacrificed to make an escape into the United States
during the Vietnam War. In gratitude, Hoan do promised himself that one day he
would in turn, take care of his parents when they needed it. Hoan Do attended
Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. While he was there, he was recognized
as the best youth mentor by the International Examiner, and now travels North
America to speak at colleges, highschools, and leadership conferences. Hoans
engaging style and ability to share important life lessons in a way that resonates
with his audiences has earned him the Verizon Wireless Motivator Award. This bio
fits Hoan perfect, it describes his prestige, but also his effectiveness. I saw for
myself how Hoan is a very effective speaker and does share life lessons in a way
thatll stick with you. We still say things from his speech in CTEC, and the fact that
he matches his description Is Ethos.
Pathos
Pathos is defined as appealing to the audiences sympathies and imagination. Hoan
Do demonstrated Pathos by telling us his personal story, and stimulating our
sympathy. He told us how he was suicidal at a young age. This is very troubling
because we, as decent human beings, do not want anybody to feel that way.
Depression and suicide is a big problem among teens in our day and age. Hoan Do
didnt do well in high school and this led him to get more depressed. At one point
Hoan was contemplating suicide, because he was under so much pressure, stress,
and was unhappy. Hoan had a lot on his plate. Just like many of us have a lot on our
plate, and sometimes we dont know other peoples struggle. Hoan knew he couldnt
repay his parents for all they do by just leaving, and he knew that it wouldnt make
the problems go away. Hoan decided to get it together in college and went on to be
very successful, just like any single one of us can. To me that story was very
touching, and demonstrated Pathos.
2

Logos
Logos is defined as, appealing to the audience logically. Hoan Do was extremely
skilled at this. He talked our language. He was loud and funny and sometimes silly.
He acted as if he was still in high school, while keeping it professional. Hoan Do
definitely brushed up on his demographics and planned accordingly. He spoke on
topics relative to us. Hoan told us how he felt when he was in high school, he wasnt
anything special. He scraped by, happy just to pass. He didnt challenge himself. He
thought school was a drag and did as minimal work as possible. He was just like
most of us. But then he decided theres a lot at stake, and if he doesnt get it
together soon, hell be a failure to both himself and his parents. He told us he
started studying harder and working harder. He realize how important college is for
the work ethic you learn, not just the degree. He told us how he conquered his
problems and how we can too.
Delivery
Hoan Do was a very prepared public speaker. He didnt have to use notes even
once. He never stuttered, never paused unless it was on purpose for emphasis, and
most importantly he was loud and confident in everything he was saying. Before the
conference he was outside the room and he was listening to his speech, down to the
last second practicing and preparing. Hoan Do took this serious even though it was
for high school kids. I was looking at all the nonverbals that Ive learned make a
good speaker. He had eye contact and scanned the room evenly and didnt just
stare at one spot. Hoan used a lot of hand motions but not in a wild way as to be
distracting. If there was an exciting point in his story, he had exciting body language
such and doing big hand motions or running and jumping. Hoan acted out some
parts of his stories such as when he was in college and he went to an open opera
and was terrible, but it was funny. There was a ton of voice fluctuation and emotion,
sometimes yelling, sometimes whispering. His nonverbal followed the level of
energy in the story.
Hoan Do has practiced everything, down to the little details. He showed us a video
that we loved. He even dressed up weird and danced at one point and made the
whole audience laugh and they were interested. He used, at times, crazy funny or
mad hand motions or faces. He used his whole stage, moving around when
necessary while not taking attention away from what he was saying. Hoan Do used
a big screen that was positioned behind him. He had key points, simple words, and
some pictures. He didnt put the information he was talking about on the screen. He
barely used any visual aids unless necessary. He kept the focus on him, where he
could use pathos and actually affect us.
Motivation
Motivation is a critical element of any speech. Hoan Do did an amazing job and
achieved what he set out to accomplish. While he was making us laugh the whole
time, we were paying attention to the whole speech, and liked him as a speaker.
Using his demographics, he didnt want to come off as a boring, serious adult. So
3

instead, he was funny and talked like us to a point, and while he was doing this to
gain our attention and respect, he motivated us and still delivered his message.
In order to deliver your message, you have to gain the attention and interest of the
audience. You could have the most amazing picture perfect speech, but if its not for
the right audience it wont be effective. You need to use your demographics and
Hoan Do did exactly that. He told us his personal experiences and most if not all of
us can relate to them in some way, and it helps to hear that were not the only
ones, and that we can overcome our trials too. Hoan Do seemed real, he didnt
seem stuffy or bored, he seemed like he loved what he was doing and genuinely
wanted to motivate us, and because of that, he did. Hoan Do is a great person,
leader, and role model.