Seeing a TED Talk on the internet is completely different from seeing a TED Talk live and in person, well at least TED Talk RCL Style. Overall, I feel that everyone did an amazing job on the TED Talks. I feel that the people who did the best, were the ones who not only researched their topic very well, but actually had an interest in what they were saying. You could easily tell whether someone was actually interested in the topic they were discussing by the way they engaged with the audience and the tone of their voice. I liked the way that people included examples that most college students would understand and relate to. These speakers sounded more engaging with the audience, and after seeing around 8 TED talks, it’s nice to see that the speakers are not willing to let go of the audience’s attention.
I was pleased with my overall TED talk. I managed to get all my points across within a manageable time and I think that by using family dynamics within movies and TV shows that a lot of college kids watch, it was more relatable. When I mentioned Neil Patrick Harris, I saw a few faced light up in the audience because anyone who watches How I Met Your Mother loves NPH, it’s just a fact. I was happy to see that I knew the material well enough to not have to look at my powerpoint directly and that I managed to look out to my audience and engage with them. Now with the positives, there are negatives. I wish I could have held more eye contact with the audience, but the minute I have direct eye contact with someone, I immediately get nervous and start fumbling up my words. That’s why I tend to focus on the back wall or look above people’s heads but I hope to one day be able to look directly at people and give an effective speech.
SORRY WRONG TED
I really enjoyed watching the TED talks too and agree that as a whole, everyone did a good job. Like you said, people were very good at connecting with the audience. I think it was easier to come up with ways to engage the audience since it was all college students and Adam and being the same age demographic as the audience allows the speaker to easily connect with them. Nevertheless, everyone did a very good job at using their knowledge of the audience to get them engaged with their TED talk.
I also really enjoyed seeing your TED talk and found it quite interesting to see the whole process of you work and the transformation from a paper to a TED talk. Although you didn’t make a ton of eye contact with the audience, you were still very engaging and by looking at the wall, it will seem like you have good eye contact in the video of your TED talk.