TED Talk Review and History of Public Controversy Idea

I enjoy presentations and public speaking, and I thought I had an interesting topic.  It didn’t take me long to memorize the short parts that I wanted to memorize and it was much easier to go off the cuff and speak about my topic than memorize certain parts.  The only thing that I would change if I did it again would be the order of my slides and I would maybe add more scientific data to make my claims seem more applicable.  I tend to ramble on and have more emotion and theatrics than I need to rather than have a solely research-based project.  When I watched a few other people’s presentations in our class, they seemed much more well-rehearsed and organized and had many more facts and statistics than my off the cuff spontaneous theatrics.  I had fun doing the project though and anytime I can actually enjoy completing a project for school, it’s a win in my book. However, although it’s much more fun to create and probably more fun to listen to theatrics than facts, it may not be what makes a good grade.

Possible topics for History of a Public Controversy

1. Israeli/Palestinian Conflict

2. Capital Punishment

With both of these, there is no right answer.  I can speak evenly about both sides of the arguments whether it’s pro-Palestine, pro-Israel, pro-death penalty or pro-life.  I think it’s also a plus that not only can I talk about history from long ago, but these topics are both still extremely relevant today.  Not only are they extremely prevalent to talk about in today’s society, but they’re incredibly controversial and they’re conversations that are very succeptible to making some people very fiery, passionate, or angry.  I love talking about controversial topics and I’m eager to start working on this. I’m excited to hear feedback because I think both ideas have potential.