Imagine spending countless hours over a few days leading up to your presentation constantly practicing your TED Talk over and over so that you know every last word inside and out. Then, when you finally get up in front of the class, the bright lights are shining on you, and the camera is rolling, you go to advance to your next slide and....nothing. But then suddenly your PowerPoint skips randomly through the next couple of slides, revealing what you'll talk about next.
A little sense of panic sets in as you quickly try to flip back to the slide you want to be on. You're thinking to yourself, "why does this only happen to me and not anyone else?" I don't know if it was something that I was doing wrong when I pressed the button on the clicker or if technology is to blame, but this technological malfunction was one of the few mishaps of my TED Talk.
Going through my preparation process for my TED Talk, I took the route of memorizing my talk that is outlined in Chris Anderson's article "How to Give a Killer Presentation." He states that many of the best and most successful TED Talks have been memorized word for word, and he goes on to say that this is the best way to go if you have the time to do this.
I probably didn't have the time to do this, but I took on this daunting task anyways, probably driving my dorm room neighbors insane from the number of times that I repeated a sentence over and over again until I had it memorized. I did not want to be stuck in the dreaded "valley of awkwardness" that Anderson touches on as well, which is where a person hasn't quite memorized their talk yet so it would be easy for the audience to sense this. I was able to get past this point by continuing to practice even when I thought I was all done, and even recording myself on my phone and listening back to it.
I'm fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to talk in a "high pressure situation" before with the Penn State Campus Weather Service this semester where we produce video forecasts in front of a green screen and professional cameras and equipment (for those that are curious, here's links to my videos: 11/2/17 and 9/7/17). Doing a couple of these video forecasts throughout the semester has helped me to improve on my public speaking skills as well, and a big thing that I've learned is to have confidence when you're talking. With the forecasting videos, we only have about an hour to put together our graphics and record our video, so we obviously don't have enough time to come up with and memorize a script. Therefore, the majority of what we say in front of the camera is off-the-cuff, so confidence helps out a lot. Even though my TED Talk wasn't impromptu, possessing the confidence that you "own" the content that you're talking about really helps to convey your message to the audience.
Looking back on my TED Talk preparation, I probably could have started practicing a little bit earlier to give myself some more time to memorize the script and visit the Undergraduate Speaking Center to practice. Rehearsing my talk in my dorm room was fine, but I didn't have the full set up with a clicker and my PowerPoint behind me. Therefore, I feel like visiting a place like the Speaking Center would have been helpful in preparing even more for my TED Talk.
When it came down to my actual TED Talk, I think that I did a pretty good job of conveying my information and ideas to the audience and I was happy with my performance. I spent a lot of time working on the PowerPoint and the visuals to make sure that they would complement what I was saying and that they would help the audience understand what I was trying to tell them. I felt that going in chronological order with my paradigm shift and pointing out the year markers helped with the progression of my talk, before I came to the significance of the shift at the end of the speech. I also thought that my eye contact was really good, since I tried to look at every audience member, and I think I improved on my volume, in terms of not being too loud, from the last speech that I gave. The use of gestures was something that I did well in my TED Talk as well, I believe, helping me to not look as stiff and to make some of my points be emphasized or made clearer.
The components of the presentation that I would most like to improve would be my tone and my articulation. Although I think I've improved on these aspects of my speaking since my first speech, I still feel like some of my words at the end of my sentences aren't articulated clearly enough and I still have a pretty monotone voice. I tried to integrate a little humor and opportunities for me to vary my tone of voice in the beginning of my TED Talk, but as the talk progressed I feel like I fell back to being monotone for the most part. However, overall, I was very pleased with how my TED Talk went and enjoyed studying the paradigm shift of weather forecasting.
