Who’s Ted? This is what I thought when first introduced to the idea of a TED talk. TED, which I now know stands for “technology, entertainment and design,” is an organization that seeks to spread ideas worth sharing. These sometimes short, sometimes long talks are engaging, entertaining, and interesting. And as exciting as this sounds, when our professor said that we would be doing short TED talks I was not overwhelmed with excitement, but a strange mix of emotions.

Public speaking has always been a struggle of mine, and the idea of getting up in front of a mass of “real live people” whom are not fellow college students does not really make me the most comfortable. But nevertheless, as I am trying to overcome this giant obstruction on my way to becoming a more engaging, entertaining, and well put together public speaker, I will try my best to put forth a few strategies for delivering a sound TED talk, which I had discovered on the world wide web.

1. Make it clear and focused

There is nothing worse than a talk that the audience can not follow.

2. Keep it short

I lied, the only thing worse than a poorly organized talk is one that drags on, and on, and on….. Do the audience a favor, and keep it concise, follow the time constraints.

3. Play on the audience’s emotions, leading them through a series of emotion rather than just one

The more emotions you play upon, the greater percentage of the audience will relate to you and your TED talk

4. Connect with the audience

No need to beat a dead horse, but if you aren’t connecting with your audience, what are you doing, really?

5. Being funny is fun, if you are actually funny.

Different people have different styles. Some people are naturally funny. Some people are not. Know what kind of a speaker you are. By all means use humor if you are comfortable, but do not force it. And use it appropriately.

6. Use the power of the pause

Pausing to let the audience ponder, as well as composing your own thoughts is a wonderful tool. Pause when necessary and allow the audience to react to you and feel involved in your talk.

This short list of tips for giving a TED talk no doubt will come in handy, as I am preparing my own TED talk to present. So take a deep breath, calm down, and enjoy the show.

As this past weekend was Halloween, and as crazy as that was for most every college student, the spooky excitement is now over and we are all looking forward to Christmas. Wait, what? Christmas? What happened to Thanksgiving? I’m sure most of you have noticed that each year Christmas seems to be coming sooner than the year before. By this I do not literally mean that Christmas day is arriving sooner than it has in the past, it is still on December 25th the last time I checked my calendar, but the spirit of Christmas is encroaching, slightly prematurely, upon us all. Even before November 1st hits, Christmas decorations and ads can be seen popping up in stores, but as soon as November 1st dawns, it is like a full-fledged Christmas extravaganza in most stores. And so, I question what happened to Thanksgiving? Why do we as a nation seem to just skip over one of the holidays that we should be most thankful for?

The difference in house decorations from October 31st to November 1st really is quite astounding.

Understandably, a vast majority of the population would probably say that Christmas is their favorite holiday, and I would not fight with them on that one. I myself am at fault for giving Thanksgiving the cold shoulder, for instead of having a countdown of how many days there are left until Thanksgiving, I have a countdown on my dorm room white board which has the days until Christmas (48 if you are curious). Upon pondering the reasons for this, I have come up with a short list of reasons why this is becoming a common occurrence.

1. Christmas brings presents, while Thanksgiving you are supposed to be thankful for what you already have instead of acquiring more “stuff”.

2.  I don’t know about you, but I have never gotten excited to break out the Thanksgiving songs, which I do not think really even exist. Christmas songs are where it’s at, I could listen to them all year.

3. College wise, Thanksgiving break is a tease compared to Christmas Holiday break, for we have off for a solid month. Thanksgiving break is a week, which is nice, but the ominous doom of finals still await you upon your return, (may the odds be ever in our favor).

4. $$$$$$$$$ (excuse my excessive use of the $ sign). Christmas is a huge money making business time of the year. When have stores ever made bank on selling Thanksgiving merchandise?

So there you have it, a short list of reasons why Christmas is taking Thanksgiving over. With all this said, Christmas is taking over Thanksgiving mostly because of the marketing and definite large sum of money that there is to be made on Christmas merchandise, and the sooner stores sell it, the more money they will make. However, Thanksgiving is still a wonderful holiday which should not be thrown to the wayside. As this Thanksgiving approaches, really take the time to be thankful for what you have been given, especially for the things which you might take for granted on occasion. Happy Holidays!