Have you ever been scammed out of Penn State football tickets? Thankfully that has never happened to me, but I know for a few, up to hundreds of dollars have been lost to petty thieves looking to profit off the misfortunate. The sad fact is, scammers are everywhere. They run through phone lines, social media, group me chats, text messages, and most commonly of all, emails.
When realizing we’re trying to be scammed, most of us either block the sender or delete the message and move on with our day. But what exactly happens when we answer them? In my favorite Ted Talk by James Veitch, he does exactly that.
Aside from the topic itself being attention grabbing, Veitch’s Ted Talk itself is magnifying in a way. He captivates the audience from the jump, sharing laughs and a few quips, never losing attention or interest. The information, while not the most scholarly or complex of a topic, is compelling. It is a topic that everyone is familiar with, but unique enough that it is memorable and fresh. In relation to his topic and information, it created a more relaxed atmosphere. It lacked the stern formality of a speech and made Veitch become approachable and relatable. The viewers listened to him, not because he was informative, but because he was understandable.
The most effective part of his Ted Talk, however, was his delivery. His tone wasn’t flat, it carried emotion (that was easily reflected onto his face) to make it feel almost like it was story-telling which was emphasized with his arm movements. His facial expressions during certain moments emulated a more dramatic version of what it felt like in the moment of those emails. Especially his usage of pauses, it allowed him to create suspense for the audience, and to really play his jokes out in the most effective manner.
If there is one takeaway I have from his Ted Talk, it is to be more comfortable with the audience. In a Ted Talk, information is more easily digested when the viewers see you as you, as one of them, and not someone who is just here to lecture for 10 minutes. My goal is to try and reflect his gestures and incorporation of emotions, especially since in my last speech, I feel as if I was really lacking in eye contact with the audience (since I admittedly stared at my presentation more than the people). If you have the time, I seriously recommend watching James Veitch’s Ted Talk, it was hilarious (thank you mom for the recommendation).
Source:
- https://www.ted.com/talks/james_veitch_this_is_what_happens_when_you_reply_to_spam_email?language=en
I agree, people who incorporate a good balance of emotion into their Ted Talks manage to be more engaging than those who don’t. A balance is needed and that balance does take practice just like you recognized. I’d like to see how you incorporate your goals into this next project. I’m sure you’ll manage to find a way to emulate skills from your favorite speaker with enough practice. Your writing was very to the point here, and I enjoyed hearing about how a common topic can be turned into a riveting speech!
I like how you captured my attention while reading this blog post by starting off with the rhetorical question. I agree that by this TED talk discussing a topic almost everyone is somewhat familiar with, can be a way for them to not only stay engaged but also feel like they are adding on to the knowledge they already have about said topic. I will definitely have to give this TED talk a watch because it looks very interesting. And, I hope you accomplish your goals as far as the next speech (I personally think you already did great on the last one but of course we all have our own personal things we’d like to improve upon), and I know you can do it. This was a great read!