My favorite TED talk, is a TED talk my high school economics teacher showed us part way through the semester. As a senior in high school, it didn’t resonate with me as much as it does now. The video is about confidence, body language, stress, and how we see ourselves. When you’re a senior in high school, you’ve submitted your college applications, taken all your big exams, and now you’re just waiting for the final decision. As a freshman in college, you’re starting from the beginning. No one knows who you are, you don’t have a transcript, you’re just another body in a sea of people. Many people are overwhelmed with stress. I’m sure many of us have gone through and may still be going through the “Do I belong here?” phase. There’s so much to do and to get done, that we most of us forget to take a step back and evaluate ourselves. Amy Cuddy’s lecture emphasizes how our behavior reflects our internal gauge of ourselves. The primary focus is how 2 minutes of being in a power pose can lower your cortisol(stress) levels and raise your testosterone(confidence) levels. This is very important because those of us who feel like we don’t belong sometimes need that extra confidence to affirm that we do belong and we have every reason for being here.

I really like her style because she starts off with the scientific facts and proofs which display the work she has done in her social experiments about body language. This gives the audience a good understanding of her background and her area of expertise. She also involves the audience to make them feel more comfortable and included in the discussion. She keeps her lecture very simple as to not load the audience with highly technical vocabulary. This makes her more accessible as a speaker. Her presentation is in time with talk, it is also a very simple presentation with mostly pictures. This allows the audience to focus on Amy, and not the presentation only. The slides are only a tool, not a crutch. My favorite part of the lecture is Amy’s recollection of her personal experience. At this point, she has explained her subject clearly and now she is using an anecdote to emotionally connect with her audience. This brings the audience closer to the discussion and, in my opinion, helps them remember Amy and her message better.

I will be doing my paradigm shift paper on stress in the last 50 years, so it’s interesting for me to see the different ways stress can affect someone. Here is the link to the video:http://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are#t-505338