Jacob Brennan For my speech critique I attended church at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Port St. John on Sunday, October 05, 2014 at 9AM. I attend this church on special occasions and holidays so I decided to attend this week to see something that I don’t see on a regular basis. This way my critique is not biased due to the fact that I see the speaker weekly. The deacon used several message strategies; he made sure that the audience understood the sermon and it was clear that he had practiced the sermon many times before delivering the sermon. He made sure that the audience understood his message by being very specific. He made sure that every point he made was spelled out to the T. He did not want there to be any gray area in the message that he was attempting to convey to his audience. He used clear, concise words and referenced many different portions of the bible and many aspects of his own life. He told an anecdotal story that made the message easier for the audience to relate to. It was also very evident that the deacon had thought a lot about what aspects of his sermon he would include. He used a lot of different rhetoric and strategies, but he only used the ones that really helped the speech. He did not use anything that did not add to the message of the sermon. During the delivery of his sermon, it was evident that the deacon practiced many delivery strategies; he also used wit and nonverbal cues. These strategies added to the effect of the sermon that the deacon gave. He used wit when he added a few anecdotal stories about his own life. He encouraged the audience to laugh at the story and encouraged them to think about a time that they may have been in the same situation. The deacon also used nonverbal cues. He talked with his hands a lot which kept the audience engaged in his sermon through the entire speech. The deacon was very successful this week. I have been to this church on other occasions where the deacon or priest was not as successful in administering the sermon. The audience really seemed to like the message that the deacon was talking about this week. I think that the strategies that the deacon used this week is really what made his successful. One time that I went to this church the deacon was completely unsuccessful. I don’t know if it was because I personally did not enjoy the message that he was trying to convey, but he did not keep my attention the whole time and it looked as though some of the other audience members felt the same way I did. There were a lot of people looking around the room and fidgeting; that was not the case this week and it was a nice change for me. The audience seemed to take well to the sermon and they seemed to enjoy the message. They were all actively engaged in his sermon through the entire 35 minute speech. I didn’t see anyone really fidgeting like I have in the past. It was clear