Hayleigh Vail

CM 110-02 Public Speaking

April 23, 2019

Outside Speaker Critique

On Tuesday, April 23, 2019, I had the pleasure of seeing Larry “Cha-Chi” Loprete speak

at 1:00 at Worcester State University. Cha-Chi spoke in front of my Beatles and their Effect on

Media course. He spoke about his life, how he began his career as a radio talk show host at

Boston’s biggest rock radio station: WBCN 2104.1 FM, all the people he met through his career,

mainly focusing on the relationship he gained with the Beatles, and how this all transformed his

life. This speech was organized in a chronological pattern. Cha-Chi began his speech speaking

about himself from when he was just eight years-old and chronologically spoke about all the

major events (that had to do with the topic of his love for the Beatles and his career) in his life

that led him to where he is today. Cha-Chi also used language strategies including similes and

amplification. One simile he used was when he stated that someone he had met “smoked like a

chimney”. A hyperbole Cha-Chi used was when he was describing his Beatles memorabilia that

he had collected throughout his life, he stated he had “thousands” of Beatles items, clearly

exaggerating the amount items he actually had.

Cha-Chi had great delivery strategies (verbal, vocal, and visual). For verbal, Cha-Chi was

credible as he experienced all of the stories he told, making them facts/true. He also showed

photos through a power point slide that went along with what/whom he was talking about;

giving himself even more credibility. For example, when he was talking about traveling to
London and was invited into Abby Road Studios, he showed a picture of himself sitting at Paul

McCartney’s piano. As for vocal, Cha-Chi thrived (no surprise), as a radio host, he obviously

used great inflections in his voice. He had a good use of his tone, pitch, pace, volume, and

emphasis. He always seemed enthusiastic and confident when he spoke to the audience. For

visual, Cha-Chi dressed proper; not too fancy, but enough to over power the audience in order

to gain respect, he wore dress pants and a collared shirt, tucked in. His body language was

suited for the topic and environment, he looked comfortable; he wasn’t too uptight or too

sluggish. He also maintained great eye contact with the audience, and used great gestures and

expressions.

Cha-Chi had a great success during his speech. He was comfortable and personable in

front of the audience. He had a great attention getter of an old picture of himself from the 70’s

with his puffed out hair, aviators, and polaroid. He was credible, organized, used language

strategies, used great delivery strategies, and answered questions at the end of his speech.

Cha-Chi was interesting and enjoyable to listen to. Everyone in the audience was zoned in,

interested, and fascinated with what Cha-Chi had to say and present to us. The audience

interacted with him towards the end by making comments and asking questions.

Before the speech, everyone seemed to be excited and waiting on the edge of their

seats for Cha-Chi. During the speech, everyone was intrigued, respectful, and comforted. The

“climate” was very chill, we all wanted to hear what Cha-Chi had to say, and he was ready to

deliver. After the speech, I was honestly sad that it had to end, I was so fascinated with his life

style and all the people he was able to meet and create bonds with, I wanted to hear more!
 I don’t think Cha-Chi could have done anything differently in order to improve his

speech. Maybe if he played any of his interviews that he had with George Harrison, Paul

McCartney, or Ringo Star, so we could hear how they spoke to one another, and could try to

understand his experience even more.