WIP – TED Talk Prep

Posted by on Nov 1, 2012 in Work In Progress | 2 comments

Thanks to the help of the Gale Opposing Views website I may have found  the perfect topic for my TED Talk. The topic will be on marriage and I will be exploring how marriage can be used in relation to the reduction of poverty rates. Granted, the idea is very far-fetched but I’m sure it will grab my audiences attention. I wanted to choose a topic that I didn’t know much about but still interested me. During my research this particular topic did not fit into my paper but I still kept it in the back of my head. In my TED Talk I will examine how the scholar Janice Shaw Crouse argues that married households are less likely to fall into poverty than single households. The visuals that I will employ will include images of homelessness and poverty as well as married vs.  single individuals.

In Amy Cuddy’s TED Talk she brings up many points concerning body language in relation to one’s personal life and success that are very relevant to my own TED Talk. One point in particular that stuck with me was how she explained the effect of body language on how others judge us.  When I present I will keep in mind that the way I project my voice, my posture, and stance all have a bearing on how my peers will perceive my presentation. I will also employ what Cuddy calls “non verbal expressions of power and dominance”. This way, even though I probably will not be so confident on the day I give my TED Talk, I can at least fake it.

2 Comments

  1. I think that you picked a very good topic to talk about. I’m interested to hear on what you will say about marriages reducing poverty rates. I would think that it is because of having two people live under the same roof, they’d be in better shape financially to cover mortgages and bills. This topic will definitely keep the audience engaged because marriage is everywhere, and with the economy the way it is now, people would be interested on wanting to know why being married is better than not. There may be many couples filing for divorce nowadays but I think people are coming to realize that what you are going to argue in your talk is true. In result, they will stick with their marriages. Once again, great topic, and I’m sure that you will do great on this presentation!!

  2. I think your topic will be pretty interesting because today we have this idea that marriage will never last due to the sky high rates of divorce. It will be interesting to see if we truly need marriage at all and find out whether one group is actually happier than the other. If the statistic that marriage reduces poverty is correct, I think you’ll be able to surprise much of the audience and give a good presentation. Amy Cuddy’s fact about how people judge us based on our body language seems to very accurate because I’ve heard some statistic that states that communication is largely nonverbal because people are analyzing facial expressions and other actions. It’s good that you want to at least plan in the event that you are not confident for your speech, however I think if you truly understand your topic, it’ll be easy to speak even in front of a crowd.

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