Orebro-Stanford || Cross-Cultural Rhetoric Video Conference || Feb 9, 2011
Activity: Exchange of International Perspectives on Speeches focused on global
issues.
I. 18:10- 18:20 / 9:10- 9:20am (10 minutes)
Location: Marratech Room A at http://switchboard.stanford.edu
Opening Remarks from Professor Anders Eriksson and Christine Alfano.
II. 18:20-18:30/Getting to Know Teams in a Cross-Cultural Context (10
minutes)
Location: Rooms A, B, C at http://switchboard.stanford.edu.
Activity: Introduce yourselves by name, age, course of study, place of origin. Share
with each other your cultural/personal object.
 As a speaker: Share why you chose this object. Discuss what is says about
you personally – then discuss what it says about you culturally. Consider
how much context to give your listeners to help them understand the
significance of your object.
 As a listener: Ask questions about the object in relation to the speaker’s
personal/cultural identity. What cultural differences become apparent in the
speaker’s interpretation of this object? What cultural assumptions are at
work? What additional cultural context do you need to understand the
object’s significance?
II. 18.30-19.10 / 9.30-10.10 am (40 minutes)
Rhetorical Analysis of Rhetoric in Speeches
Activity: In your globally-distributed team, rhetorically analyze the speeches
assigned to your group. Have the discussion together, referring to the notes that you
took in preparation for this exercise, and exchanging perspectives on some of the
following focus questions:

Think about the argument: claims and persuasion.
o What is the speaker’s argument or central claim? What is the purpose of
the speech?
o Do you find that argument persuasive? Why or why not? What could the
speaker have done to make his/her claim more convincing?

Think about rhetorical situation: persona, audience, context.
o How does she or he create a strong persona in the use of oral rhetoric as
well as in physical appearance, gesture, voice, etc?
o What rhetorical strategies does the speaker use to address a specific
audience (appeals to ethos, pathos, logos, kairos) in his/her speech? Did
these strategies seem effective and appropriate? Would they work for
different contexts or communities?
o Finally for the rhetorical situation: How do the context and moment seem
to affect the content and delivery of the speech?
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
CCR Video Conference: February 9, 2011
Think about cultural values: doxa. How does the speech reflect or construct
particular cultural values (doxa)? Through what word choice, allusions, jokes,
historical references? How might other audiences respond to these parts of the
speech? What new vision is the speaker trying to communicate? What do you
learn about doxa, or cultural values, concerning this issue?
Note: All speeches are linked at http://ccr.stanford.edu/workshops/2011.02.09.html
Tech tip: You cannot open speeches to watch simultaneously through Marratech; it
will crash the system. If you want to re-watch part of the video, watch separately on
an Internet browser on each side, and then discuss it together.
III. 19.10-19.25/ 10.10-10.25 (15 minutes)
Collaborative Group Work
Activity: Prepare a statement from your team to present to the other groups:
collaborate on your statement
by using the Marratech whiteboard to draft presentation notes. Your group statement
should have two parts.

Part 1: Choose ONE of the speeches that you watched. Create a 1-minute
summary of it to share with the larger group. Questions to answer might
include:
o Who is the speaker?
o When was the speech given?
o Who was the intended audience?
o What is the argument?
o What strategies does the speaker use to persuade the audience of
his/her claim?
o What are the rhetorical characteristics of the speaker and speech?
o What DOXA does it draw on? What are the underlying cultural
assumptions?
Note that you will only be summarizing ONE of the speeches. Your summary
of the speech should be one minute in length.

Part 2: Imagine that the speaker of the speech that you summarized is
invited to give a speech to a very different audience and a very different
rhetorical context. As a group, select that imaginary context, and then
prepare a 1-minute statement in which you
o Identify this context
o Talk about how the speaker would need to adjust his/her persona or
delivery style
o Talk about what different rhetorical strategies the speaker would need
to employ and why
Note that this part of your statement should be one minute in length.
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CCR Video Conference: February 9, 2011
Further details: Choose 2 speakers (1 speaker from each side) from your group as
presenters: one person will deliver Part 1 of your response, the other will deliver Part
2 of your response.
Keep in mind, that this is a moment of oral presentation. Think about the lessons you
learned from watching all the speeches assigned to your group. Both Part 1 and Part
2 should be well-written and persuasive pieces of oral rhetoric in their own right.
Think about your delivery, your strategies, your voice intonations, and your argument.
Draft, revise, and practice, practice, practice your delivery of these statements. Give
each other feedback on the oral delivery of the group statement.
Overall time limit per group: 2 minutes.
IV. 19.25-19.40/ 10.25-10.40 (15 minutes)
Presentation of Team Statements and Closing Remarks
Activity: Presentation of knowledge; teaching other students about cross-cultural
learning
Goals: To learn effective communication across cultures and as mediated through
technology; to develop active listening expertise; to teach others about persona and
cultural values; to learn from others
Location: In Marratech, switch back to Room A, at http://switchboard.stanford.edu
(Stanford students, wait for tech assistants to come into your room to help you switch
in Marratech – thanks!)
Instructions:
1. Each Team will present its 2-minute statement.
2. Listeners can type into the chat words of praise or feedback.
3. If we have time at the end, we will have an open forum for any last
comments/questions.
4. Closing Remarks by Professor Anders Eriksson and Christine Alfano.
V. After the Video Conference
1. Debrief at Individual Universities:
What did you learn about intercultural communication and global rhetoric across
cultures?
2. Please post a reflection on today’s video conference as a comment on the CCR
blog post at http://crossculturalrhetoric.wordpress.com/2011/02/08/videoconference-between-orebro-and-stanford/