TED Talk Reflection
Overall I was quite satisfied with my TED talk. I think certainly it could have gone better but it could have gone a lot worse. I hadn’t seen the room before and honestly it was nothing like I was expecting. The size took me aback a lot. I was expecting a large, open room with some sort of stage/studio area that a presenter could pace about on/in and still be in good lighting. I wasn’t expecting the audience’s feet to be inches from mine. The eye contact thing was very strange, not looking at the people because it was being filmed. But technical aspects aside…
My actual speech was decent I think. I watched it later that evening and I noticed a couple of things:
1. I wrung my hands almost the entire time. I’m not sure if that’s something I normally do, but I don’t remember it ever happening before. Perhaps it was an artifact of the interesting room setup.
2. It seemed awfully report-y. I knew finding the balance between a TED talk and a report would be difficult. In high school all we ever did were reports and so that’s all I had experience with so it’s almost like a default. I tried to make it more TED talk-y, and I think I succeeded, I’m just not sure I went far enough.
3. There’s something really weird about watching yourself give a presentation in front of a PowerPoint. It looks so official but you know everything that went into it and how uncontrolled and whimsical so much of the creative process was. Or at least that was my thought.
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The TED talks were definitely different from our speeches. Unfortunately I didn’t get to see yours, but I’m sure you did great. The room was nothing like those in actual TED talks. I delivered mine this past Thursday and was shocked when I showed up. I think the setup alone was very difficult to overcome. I’m impressed that you actually watched your TED talk afterwards. I, like many others in our class, am terrified to watch myself on tape. What if I did something super awkward? You know what I’m saying? There’s a plus to all this anxiety and public speaking: it’s gets a little easier every time!