Boris Johnson is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He gave a public speech in Downing Street, briefing the press regarding the latest updates on the statistics of the global pandemic coronavirus on May 11, 2020. This forensic paper aims to summarize and critically analyze Mr Johnson’s public speech in terms of his delivery method, audience response, and other public speaking skills.
In the public speech, Mr. Boris Johnson starts by greeting the audience. He provides statistical information related to COVID-19 through the government’s ongoing testing and monitoring program. He is giving a briefing for the next radical steps which are required against the eradication of the global pandemic. Mr Johnson is using his newly formed slogan, which says, “Stay alert, control the virus, save lives”, during his briefing. He informed us about the new Covid-Alert Level system to monitor the progress report of Covid-19. The British people have shifted from level 4 of COVID-19 to level 3, which is positive progress. Mr. Johnson talks about the modification of precautionary measures. Steps are being considered to ease down the lockdown. The lockdown will be eased in three steps. After briefing on the three steps of easing the lockdown, the people are advised to stay alert and follow the standard operating procedures as much as possible. In the end, he advises people, from my point of view, to apply the precautionary rules.
From my point of view, Mr Boris Johnson did not give an organized speech; the inclusion of visuals (e.g. graphs) to give information about the statistics is a good technique to entice the audience to understand the statistics. However, Mr. Jonson lacks several critical aspects. The two styles inculcated in public speech are demonstrative and informative. Mr Johnson gives a weak and bland speech without any public speaking skills. He does not use any emotions or persuasive skills to attract the audience. Mr Johnson’sooks as if being out his speech. Mr Johnson’s vocal pitch remains static throughout the speech. He does not use high or low vocal pitch, which is a negative aspect of every public speech. The tone lacked enthusiasm, energy, and activeness, which bores the audience. He had very little eye contact with the audience, showing that he was simply paper-reading his speech. Mr. Johnson did not use any non-verbal communication, such as gestures, to convey his message. The main requirement for giving any public speech is to be calm, confident, and self-assured. However, Mr Boris Johnson is missing these proponents in his speech. He pauses during his speech many times without any reason, which shows that he lacks self-assurance and confidence. He is not prepared to convey a speech. He frames his speech as a simple way of conveying information without any emotional connection with the audience. He does not state anything new or enticing for the people. He states what the audience already knows. As analyzed above, the audience’s response to Mr. Johnson’s speech is very negative. In a nutshell, Mr. Johnson’s speech is vague, weak, and lacks any public speaking strategies.
Works Cited
Johnson, Boris. “Coronavirus: Downing Street Challenge” Covid-19 Update @BBC News – BBC – (11 May 2020) Accessed 2 Apr. 2021. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4XPeAE1M-w.
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