We brainstormed:
- Be charismatic (speak loudly and clearly) (be confident)
- Visually appealing (aesthetic)
- Funny
- Complex (unique) (make it stand out)
- Concise, not drawn out or a waste of time
My piece of advice: Regardless of how interesting your content is, if you can’t speak confidently, your audience won’t be able to absorb what you’re saying.
Tips from Dr. A
- Take risks
- Look at the class, not Dr. A
- Have a plan b
- Think multi modally (what can you add to enhance your message) (don’t do it just to do it)
Tips from TED
- Your main goal is to transfer an idea
- An idea is a pattern of information that helps you navigate the world
- Ideas are the most powerful source shaping human culture
- Limit to one idea, allowing you to create a through line that everything else you say links back to
- Stir your audience’s curiosity (you can use questions)
- Build your idea with familiar concepts (metaphors can play a crucial role in making information more absorbable and relatable) (test your talk on friends to see what they’re confused about)
Overall, I’m not worried about presenting; however, the video from TED did give me some new ideas to ponder. My research project is a piece of flash fiction, and for my presentation, I don’t want to just read my story. First, my story won’t be long enough to take up the allotted time, and second, I want my project to be more intriguing than just a script. One way I can do that is by mimicking admirable aspects of TED’s well-designed presentation. He uses gestures, animations, and voice shifts to keep his audience engaged from start to finish. Everything he says or does is performed with intent. He isn’t wasting his audience’s time. Another component of TED’s video that resonated with me was when he asked: Who does your presentation benefit and is it worth sharing? I don’t want my story to purely entertain nor do I want it to align with the dominant worldview. I want my story to challenge the consensus reality prevalent in society. In other words, I want my story to have a deeper level of meaning that makes my story emotional and thought-provoking. In my opinion, that’s what sets a story apart.