Bonus: Founder's Day Convocation Dr. Donald Webb

Dr. Webb's speech was particularly effective due to his use of humor. By using humor, he "woke up" the audience, eliminating the audience's expectation of boredom for such a formal event. With such an introduction, the audience was eagerly awaiting what Dr. Webb would say next. Ultimately, this allowed him to make a lasting impression with his message.

The speaker used humor extremely well by playing on the audience's expectations. Dr. Webb begins by reading the definition of founder from the dictionary. Immediately, the audience begins to think that this will be a long, dry, and boring speech. For after all, he is just reiterating the name of the event. Everyone clearly knows why they are here. Yet, Dr. Webb begins to read examples of founder that do not correlate with the audience's expected notion of founder. For example, one of the definitions he reads for a founder is that of a sinking ship. Clearly, opposite of the audience's first assumption of what a founder means. The audience immediately broke out into hysteria. Another example of Webb's mastery of humor occurs after he tells a joke. The audience laughed moderately. However, Webb adds to this by saying "well, I thought it was funny anyways." The audience then began laughing hysterically. Dr. Webb used several other examples of humor like these. Each was effective at enthralling his audience.

Dr. Webb's use of humor was one of the main components adding to the effectiveness of his speech. It allowed him to defy the audience's presumptions. Thus, the audience was eager to see what loop Dr. Webb would use next. All in all his use of humor made the call to service to seem likewise enjoyable. Combining work and joy will create a better world for us all, as Dr. Webb illustrated.