Memorandum

To:

Mrs. Renee Pay

From:

Spencer Rhodes

Date:

November 16, 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. He was an
American Ninja Warrior contestant, and a professional motivational speaker for
seven years traveling around the country.
Organization
Hoan Do had three main points: Choose the Right Attitude, Find Your Outfit, and
Make Meaningful Connections. Choosing the right attitude means being the
person you want to be. Having a positive attitude will have an effect on your life,
and gives you a boost in your morning. Waking up and saying affirmations will help
put you into the right attitude. An example of finding your outfit would be looking
through colleges and finding the one that has the subject you want to study. Looking
for the career you want to work for the rest of your life. Find what fits you the best.
Making meaningful connections would be with one of the three Ms, Mentors,
Mentees, and Mates. Mentors are people who help you, if you have a positive
attitude every day you will become a better, more enjoyable person to be around.
Mentees are people that look up to you, you are their mentor. It could be a younger
cousin or a friend that needs help in life. Mates are friends that you depend on,
someone who would be there in a second if you called and needed their help.
Finding your outfit is finding what fits you. Some examples would be, career paths,
friends, positive acquaintances, and your personality and the way you want to be
seen in the eyes of others. To make meaningful connections means to have people
around you that are always going to be there for you. An example, that everyone
has would be your mother, you can always call her with any problem in life knowing
she will give personal and useful feedback. His first story was about taking an
acting/drama class.
Hoan Do was presented with an assignment in which he had to create a dance and
perform it in front of the class. The assignment is a lot like times in life, an OMG
moment where you dont want to do something but you know you have to. Moving
through life you need to remember to keep the right attitude and remember that
being told to have a positive attitude is easier said than done. In order to have a
positive attitude, when times get hard you need to change the station. Most of the

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times our mind plays whack songs on our radio station such as youre not good
enough, youre not pretty enough, youre not smart enough. These songs are
written by something that happened in your past, what you need to realize is the
past is the past and what happened in the past does not determine what you do in
the future. A phrase to get you over the bad songs in your head is to say hold up,
that is whack because the truth is... In life you should make meaningful
connections, you might think you have good friends but when you really need them
they arent there. Have people surrounding you that are there to help you, not hold
you back. Focus on three specific relationships in life, they are the three Ms
Mentors, Mates, and Mentees. A mentor is someone who is a teacher to you, they
help guide you through life. Mates are friends that are there when you need them.
Mentees are people you help and provide guidance like a mentor.
The organizational pattern Hoan Do used was Problem/Solution. Hoan had a
problem, which was the class assignment and the bad songs playing on the radio
station in our heads. As he went through the speech he gave us different ways to
overcome suicidal thoughts and make us a better person. This would also be
considered deductive reasoning, Hoan Do gave us a story where in his theatre class,
the assignment was to get up in front of the class and perform a song. He did not
want to embarrass himself in front of the class, talking to the teacher he figured out
the assignment was a must or else he wouldnt get the credit. One example would
be is to see things the way you want it, and then figure out a way to change it to be
what you want. Another one would be, you can change everything moving forward.
Supporting Material
Ethos
Ethos is defined as the characteristic spirit of a culture, era, or community as
manifested in its beliefs and aspirations. Ethos is the way the speaker places his
words in the context, also the way the speech is given, and it will prove their
credibility. Hoan Do demonstrated Ethos by being a student success coach, author
and competitor and NBCs hit show, American Ninja Warrior. From an early age,
Hoan understood the sacrifices his parents had made in their escape to the United
States during the Vietnam War. Felling indebted to his parents for their courageous
pursuit of a better life, Hoan vowed to ensure that one day, he would be able to take
care of his parents. Hoans hard work took him to Malibu, California, where he
attended Pepperdine University. Recognized as the best youth mentor by the
International Examiner, Hoan travels across North America speaking at colleges,
high schools, and student leadership conferences where he shares practical advice
that helps students to succeed in and out of school. 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.
Pathos
Pathos is defined as a quality that evokes pity or sadness. Using Pathos in a speech
would play with the audiences emotions by telling a sad story or having thoughts
that would evoke emotional appeal. Hoan Do demonstrated Pathos through his
stories and the subjects he talked about. One of the stories that had an effect on
the audience was about his high school wrestling tournament. He would wake up

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early every morning to do his work outs, in doing this his friends were upset
because he didnt have any free time for them anymore. Hoan lost all but two of his
closest friends. The day of the tournament has arrived and Hoan is pumped. He is in
the last match before semi-finals, he needed one point to win the match. Hoan pops
out of the hold and stands up winning the point, he runs off the mat, at that time
the ref walks over to the judging table and takes away Hoans point without any
explanation. Hoan and his opponent are now forced into a sudden death match. The
opponents reposition and the whistle is blown, Hoan steps back and as he shoots in
he slips, his opponent gets behind him and gets the two points winning the match.
As Hoan walks off the mat, tears running down his face all he could think about
were those early mornings, those summer days he spent training, and all the
weekends he spent getting ready for the competition when he could have been
hanging out with his friends.
Hoan pulls your emotions with this story because you are expecting him to win the
match and proceed onto the finals, but it doesnt happen like that. In the process
Hoan learns a valuable lesson, just because you have put time and effort into
something you are passionate about and the outcome doesnt happen the way you
planned, doesnt mean you should look down upon yourself.
Logos
Logos is defined as reason or the rational principle expressed in words and things,
argument, or justification. Logos is the logic in what the speaker talks about. It gives
you an insight and makes you agree with what he is saying. Hoan Do had given
some clear points throughout his speech. Some of them were when those whack
songs are playing in your head you need to change the radio station. Sometimes
changing the station one time doesnt clear the thoughts. You may need to change
the station multiple times before you get the sayings out of your head.
Finding your passion is another topic he went over, there are so many choices these
days with jobs and different things you can do with your life. Really look inside
yourself and see what you love to do, or are passionate about and follow those
dreams. Making meaningful connections was the last topic Hoan talked about,
explaining that you dont want only acquaintances that are there when they need
you. Surrounding yourself with friends and family that will be there for you no
matter what. Hoan had friends in high school that were disappointed with him that
he wasnt spending any time with them due to his wrestling career. Hoan lost almost
every friend in high school and decided he needed to surround himself with the
people that care the most about him. I thought Hoan Do was talking about an
important and understandable topic. He hit points that would help anyone
overcome personal problems they were dealing with. Personally it gave me an
insight in how to get over the bad thoughts that could possibly run through my
head. I enjoyed my experience during Hoan Dos speech.
Delivery
Hoan Do was great at nonverbal, he used his body to show certain emotions. If he
was trying to be sassy he might throw out his hip or put his arm up in a sassy way.

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Hoan was excellent at getting his point across. If it was an important part he wanted
to be memorized, Hoan would raise his voice, have a long pause, or do something
funny before or after. Using these methods bring the audience in and make them
listen closer and think about what Hoan was saying.
Hoan used a PowerPoint with minimal on each slide, one or two key words and a
couple big pictures. Using them this way made the audience listen closer and focus
on what Hoan had to say other than reading the slides. In the end Hoan showed us
his performance, but before he started he pulled out the outfit which was a little
cheerleaders skirt and a vibrant t-shirt. Bringing the performance to a real life
situation instead of just a story Hoan was telling.

Motivation
Motivation is a critical element of any speech. Moving your audience to action is a
difficult talk to overcome, unless youre Hoan Do. He was very motivational in the
way that he talked, he believed every word that he spoke and would back it. Some
motivation is just because youre told you arent good enough doesnt mean you
should believe it. You can do anything you want to if you put your mind to it. Saying
his phrase Hold up! That is whack will give you the confidence and motivation that
you need in times that you feel down or are having bad thoughts.
Hoan Do knew he didnt know us personally but he knew every single person was
unique in their own way and had their own passions. Finding what our passions are
would be hard due to that fact that there are haters in this world. Trying on different
outfits would help us figure out that one passion that we are crazy about.
Sometimes in life it is choosing the right thing over the popular thing. Surround
yourself with people who are there to help you reach your goals not hold you back.
People who put life into your dreams not suck the life out of them. People that will
build you up not break you down.
Finding out who you are wont be the easiest challenge you have ever come across,
but it is one of the most beneficial and important things you could do in your life.
After using these techniques you will become a better person and feel an overall
happiness throughout your life.

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