Impact

I remember sitting in my high school gymnasium with 500 others watching a young man, only 25 years of age, on the verge of tears while he told us all a story about how he killed his three best friends in a drunk driving accident. It was one of the hardest things I have ever had to sit through, but I still can remember it to this day. The reason it was so memorable was because it was so genuine and raw. He was not trying to sell us anything and he was definatley not putting on a show for us. Instead, he was telling a big part of why he is who he is today. I remember him explaining the whole evening leading up to the crash but what hit me the most was his description of waking up in the car and seeing that all three of this friends were lifeless and not responding. I cannot even imagine the panic he went through. He went on to tell us he had to go to jail for quite some time and now he is paying off some of his time by talking to young people like us. You could tell from his nervousness that public speaking was not what he thought he would be doing with his life, especially about this, but he didn't have an option. Even through his nerves I still think that to this day it was one of the best speeches I have ever sat through. On more of a personal level, I made the decision to not consume alcohol before I turned 21 but it still scared the crap out of me that someone else could be on the road who is intoxicated. It also confirmed my thoughts of when I did decide to drink after I was 21 that I needed to be so careful about being aware of my alcohol consumption and also on if I was going to drive. I know for other students in my school the idea of drinking and driving hit very close to home so it was very impactful.
Another speech which was very impactful was the presentation of Invisible Children, a non-profit org, that comes to our campus every year. This organization is on the mission to rescue child soldiers who were abducted from their families and forced into becoming soldiers for the cruel and unjust leader, Joseph Koney. This movement was all started by three very unsuspecting young men from California who had a dream of film making and decided to head to Africa to see the world. While they were there they learned a lot of terrible information about the corrupt situation in Uganda and decided to bring this information back to the States. Since then they have established an organization that has surpassed anything any of them could have ever imagined. They are changing things, and I get the chance to be a part of it. The reason I am so informed is because the people working with and working for Invisible Children are so well informed. It's so exciting to be a part of a movement that is comprised of the younger generation and it's not something just thrown together or unorganized. No, instead they are so organized, professional, inventive, positive and they ARE making such a huge difference.

My question is, what kind of speaker are you more likely to respond positively to? Someone who is more factual or someone who is more personal? Why do you think that is?