Summary Of Thomas Henderson's Speech

Fans are screaming and cameras are flashing as the football leaves the quarterback 's hand. The spiraling balls seems to float through the air, meant to be caught by only one man, but just before the ball finds the pair of hands it was meant for Thomas Henderson pulls it out of the air and takes off. Once the ball is in Hendersons grasp, no one can take it from him as he dances past the opposing team into the endzone. Thomas Henderson was an incredibly effective football player and now he is an equally, if not more effective public speaker. Henderson is no stranger to to poverty and hardship. However, this would not be apparent to someone at the beginning of his speech. Henderson walks out on stage clean shave with a wrinkle free black button up, an expensive pair of black dress pants, and a pair of black black dress shoes so clean they seem to reflect the light. His entire outfit was brought together by his gold watch and ring. Henderson wins the audiences respect and attention simply with his appearance. However, his appearance does much more than win the audiences respect and attention.

One that Henderson uses particularly well is the language he uses. Instead of using formal language, as one might expect, Henderson talks to his audience as if he is having a casual conversation with a friend. Which can be seen in this quote from his speech, “I ain’t gonna relapse on that” (1, 2:24). Another example of this is how after he makes a joke or semi serious statement he follows up with, “ya know what I’m sayin” or “ya know what I mean”. Henderson takes this technique to the next level by using off color language. For example, “Finally the dog say, ‘hey fool if there was anyone out their I’d be barkin’ dammit now stop it’”. The technique of using informal language is a great way to connect with an audience because it makes them more comfortable by removing the intensity that comes with a formal