Review of Shafak and Fiction

The presentation I chose to write my speech analysis report is “The Politics of Fiction”. Presenter of the presentation is Elif Shafak who is the most-read woman author in Turkey. She is a person who has international sensibilities have been shaped by a life spend in a very diverse range of cities. Moreover, Shafak’s uncommon political stances have not gone without controversy. One of her book named as “The Bastard of Istanbul” is the most common known example for this controversy. In her presentation, Shafak talked about how to be a fiction and how a fiction is created. She presented her ideas with her life story. For my overall impression on this speech, I can say that I liked the speech in general. She combined successfully her memories with the topic. In this report, I will analyze the speech with respect to three main points.

The first main point of my analysis is organization and content. In introduction of speech, while Elif Shafak gave background information about the topic, she did not a little greeting and introducing herself to her audience. Moreover, she logically divides the topic into related parts as introduction, body and conclusion. Shafak stays on focus throughout presentation and moves smoothly between parts of speech. In addition to being clarity of her ideas, she gave many examples to support these ideas. As well as her life story, Shafak gave other examples which are non-related with her life story. Furthermore, her use of quotation and comparison created more attractive speech for audience. Then, if we analyze the speech, we can see that, even if she used some signposts, she does not give attention to transitions. I think that this made a little confuse for audience. Also, if we mention her conclusion, although it consisted thanking the audience, signaling closure and memorable message, she did not give summary of the speech and invite for questions. Hence, I consider that organization and content of Shafak’s speech has above average value for a presentation. The second point of my analysis is delivery. If I mention physical delivery of Elif Shafak, I can state that she used appropriate and effective gestures. Moreover, she established eye contact and maintained good posture along her presentation. In addition to physical delivery, when we mention vocal delivery, Elif Shafak’s voice was loudly and clearly. Then, she spoke with appropriate pace and avoided frequent repetitions and hesitations. Therefore, Shafak was amazing on her presentation in terms of delivery. The last point of my analysis is audio-visual aids. She used only one slight for presentation. When we examine all speech, we can say that slight was relevant and effective. Furthermore, it was enough to pay attention of audience. However, I can also state that Elif Shafak could use more than one slight to enhance her presentation. As a result, she had above average success with regard to her use of audio-visual aids like organization and content.

To conclude, in my speech analysis report, I did my review on a presentation named as “The Politics of Fiction”. I mentioned my opinions on organization and content, delivery and audio-visual aids. Actually, this presentation influenced to me according to Elif Shafak. I had a chance to learn her life story. Also, even if the topic is abstract, Shafak brought it closer to reality for audience. Andrew Finkel, the columnist of Taraf, stated about Shafak that “Her characters spend their time popping out of categories” and I definitely agree with his opinion. If the topic like “The Politics of Fiction” and a person like Elif Shafak came together, people have the chance to watch quality presentation like this presentation.