1. Use a contrarian approach. Make a statement of a universally accepted concept, then go against conventional wisdom by contradicting the statement. For example, a market trader starts by contradicting the commonly held advice of buying low and selling high. He says: "It 's wrong. Why? Because buying low typically entails a stock that 's going in the opposite direction—down—from the most desired direction—up." This is a provocative opening that engages the audience right away.
2. Ask a series of rhetorical questions. A common way to engage the audience at the start is to ask a rhetorical question. Better still, start with a series of rhetorical questions. A good example of this tactic is Simon Sinek 's TED presentation. He starts with:
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That 's over 31 million football fields of rainforest each year."
5. Provide a reference to a historical event. There are times when the day that you present may have some significance in history that can be tied to the subject of your presentation, as an opening gambit. You can easily look up what happened on any day in Today In Sport or a more general site such as This Day In History. You never know what pertinence it might have that will add some pizzazz to your presentation. It 's worth a look.
6. Use the word imagine. The word imagine invites the audience to create a mental image of something. Ever since John Lennon 's famous song, it has become a powerful word with emotional appeal. A particularly skillful use of the word occurs in Jane Chen 's TED talk. She speaks about a low-cost incubator that can save many lives in underdeveloped countries. Chen opens by saying: “Please close your eyes and open your hands. Now imagine what you could place in your hands, an apple, maybe your wallet. Now open your eyes. What about a life?” As she says this, she displays a slide with an Anne Geddes ' image of a tiny baby held in an adult 's hands. There is power in asking the audience to conjure up their imagination, to play along. This tactic can easily be adapted to any topic where you want the audience to imagine a positive outcome, or a vision of a better tomorrow. It
“Stop trying to be good people.” It is only human to be biased. However, the problem begins when we allow our bigotry to manifest into an obstacle that hinders us from genuinely getting to know people. Long time diversity lawyer, Verna Myers, in her 2014 Ted Talk, “How to overcome our biases? Walk boldly toward them” discusses the implicit biases we may obtain when it comes to race, specifically black men. Myers purpose is quite like the cliché phrase “Face your fears.” Her goal is to impress upon us that we all have biases (conscious or unconscious). We just have to be aware of them and face them head on, so that problems such as racism, can be resolved. Throughout the Ted Talk, Verna Myers utilizes an admonishing yet entertaining tone in
Mogahed is an Egyptian-American that started her career as an engineer. She’s a Muslim that decided to wear her head covering by the age of seventeen. In the Ted Talk “What Do You Think When You Look At Me?”, Dalia Mogahed discusses the predicaments and accusations Muslims have encountered, including her personal experiences. Through the use of all three rhetorical appeals, pathos being the dominant appeal, Mogahed skillfully conveys her message to the audience that 1.6 billion Muslims shouldn’t be shunned because of the actions of a minority.
Alice Goffman, the speaker in this TED Talk, does a great job reaching out to her audience in a great number of ways. Her purpose in this TED Talk titled, “How We’re Priming Some Kids for College, and Others for Prison,” is to grab the attention of all people, but it is directed towards the younger generations, to show them that they have to work together in order for change to be made. The change would be to work together to help end the problem of mass incarceration; to help completely rebuild the Criminal Justice System. Throughout her talk, Goffman uses examples of logos, ethos, and pathos to reach her audience in an effective way, and to inform them of the problems going on with the United States Criminal Justice System.
Could stress ever become your friend? Stress is something that most people have in their day to day life. In a Ted Talk by Kelly McGonigal she talks about how to make stress your friend. But we are not here to just talk about stress. We are also going to be looking at the rhetorical situation, the rhetorical devices, and the overall effectiveness of this video.
Give a brief background of issue. If you must use a slide presentation, keep to a minimum. In person works well, plan on leaving 25% of allotted time for questions.
First, I will start with the aspects that I have exceled at during my informative speech. The first strength would be the use of my sources and how I included them and cited them in the presentation. Overall I found 6 great sources which helped be better
In the essay David Zinczenko wrote about how fast food chains are making it easy for people to become obese especially in children. Zinczenko makes some very good points throughout his essay. At the beginning of his paper Zinczenko stated “I tend to sympathize with these portly, fast-food patrons, though. Maybe that’s because I use to be one of them.”
My visual aid was the strongest part about my speech. I brought in the ingredients to make Tiramisu to show which brands I like to use for the recipe. I also prepared Tiramisu for the class as my hold interest technique. To relate the topic to the audience, I told them that they could make this recipe when they want to impress someone. My credibility was also convincing as I informed the class I had researched and compiled the best recipe. My introduction in general was concise and convinced the audience pay attention to the rest of my speech. I also thought my tone was conversational and not too formal.
Moshe Szyf, an epigenist informed us through his Ted Talk, “How life experience is written into DNA,” of our genes and how they are “combined of two components” (15:17). He used rhetorical strategies to engage his audience in understanding the view of DNA through an epigenetics perspective. He provides many examples of experiments performed which show these layers of information. The two layers include the old information from millions of years of evolution and the epigenetic layer which includes the open and dynamic set up of a narrative that is interactive and allows us to control our destiny.
Is the FBI as righteous as they would like us to think? In the Ted Talk titled, “Trevor Aaronson: How this FBI strategy is actually creating US-based terrorists,” the orator describes in his speech how FBI agents worked hand-in-hand with individuals who would eventually be arrested in sting operations, on terrorism charges. To tackle the complex topic of his speech, the speaker starts off with his thesis, a bold statement accusing the FBI of being for more terrorist plots than any terrorist group on Earth (Aaronson). On top of this, the speakers thesis doubles as his hook, since his Canadian audience would assume that the FBI worked as fighters of crime, and not purveyors of it. To back up his claim, Aaronson describes multiple cases, as well as shows multiple pictures to go along with his stories. The way Aaronson blends stats and stories together effectively explains how the FBI creates terrorists in the United States.
Jackson Katz’ Ted Talk attempts to investigate a solution for violence against women and men through gender equality. This video is created from the mindset of an American educator on gendered violence within workplaces, families, households, and schools. Katz refers to his hypothesis that the human brain’s cognitive structure is programmed to condemn the victim of the violence thus setting back the progression of eliminating gender violence. Katz dissects the fact that we have numerous amounts of technology to develop society’s knowledge of violence and analyzes the significance of brutality as a deeper sociological systemic complication.
Don’t blab on- be short and sharp about your business or whatever you want to say it will be more engaging to those who are listening.
Great authors portray their ideas in multiple ways to reach out their message to the present audience. As Tim Urban in his Ted Talk ¨Inside the mind of a master procrastinator¨ he discussed what the thinking behind procrastination leads to through his own experiences, presenting in a way to make the audience laugh, and to convince them that everyone procrastinates in life. Any great writer incorporates ethos, pathos and logos within their writing, speech or even presentation. Tim did an excellent job portraying to his audience these rhetorical strategies which earn him the right to be listened to respectively.
Hints: You must limit your presentation to twelve (12) slides. You do not want to overwhelm your audience with too many slides or bore them with information they already know.
My introduction begins with a video in which a child asks her mother why he is so fat. It is a good start to get the attention of audience and clarify what the speech topic is about.