Guest Speaker Critique: Benny Agosto

Mr. Agosto came to speak about persuasion and gave tips on how to effectively persuade

someone. He began with the definition of argument and contrasted it with the definition of persuasion.

He transitioned to the body with a quote by Aristotle. He immediately established credibility by talking a

little bit about his background in law. He created a connection point by letting the audience know that

he is a UH alumna.

He was dressed professionally and had a good posture, no leaning or swaying of any sort. He

gave different examples about persuasion that clarified his points. In certain parts of the speech, he

demonstrated to the audience with his body, the points he was trying to make. By the way he presented

himself and the material it was apparent that this was a subject that he is well versed in and one that he

enjoyed.

His visual aid complemented the speech very well. It helped to effectively display the

information that he was presenting in a manner in which the audience could easily understand. He

made good eye contact with the audience and engaged the audience by asking questions and making a

few jokes. He gesticulated and moved around enough to keep the audience’s interest but not enough

for the audience to be completely distracted from what he was saying. He transitioned well between his

points and at the end he summarized all of his main points.

His overall delivery was very confident and smooth. He was very articulate and eloquent with his

speaking and he projected his voice very well. He did curse once but he used professional language for

the most part. He did not have any obvious checking of his notes nor did he have any disfluencies; he

was very easy to understand. He was very relatable and did not use jargon that the audience would not

be able to understand. It was enjoyable to watch and listen to him present.

Elizabeth AyokoInstructor Wilson, 9AM