There was very
little that I liked about David Christian’s speech about the history of the
World at the TED Talks. First, I think the opening with the egg was a good
idea, but he barley addressed the egg. I feel like if you are going to use a
video as an example of a larger, more complex concept, then you should explain
it so that the audience is left with no questions about the connection. Even
though he was at the TED talks, I feel as if Christian did not establish his
ethos at all during the speech. It is very difficult to watch a speech about
something you personally disagree with and be affected by it if the person speaking
has no credibility in your eyes. I think this is the main reason that I
struggled to watch this speech. Second, there was an overload of logos in this
speech. Even for the context of the TED talks, there needs to be a balance of
pathos, ethos, and logos, which Christian did not have at all. I personally
believe that the content of Christian speech is so irrational, but I was open
to hearing a different viewpoint about the issue of the existence of the world.
Christian, however, did not do anything in his speech to capture the audience
of those who do not agree with his finding and hypotheses. This one reason is
enough for me to say that is was not an effective speech. Also, his monotone voice
was not captivating or moving. Christian did have very great graphics, but that
does not matter if the audience is not fully engaged in your presentation.
Graphics cannot save a failing speech, but the can contribute to the extreme
success of a captivating speech. I do understand that I was not the target
audience for this speech, but I still think it is important for speakers to
take into consideration all the possible persons in the audience, especially at
the TED talks that are viewed many times outside of their original context.
On the other hand, the most
effective speech we have watched so far in this class was Jimmy Valvano’s
speech at the Espy Awards. At the time of the speech, Valvano was battling
cancer that was quickly taking his life. He has since lost this battle.
Everyone sitting in the audience knew that Valvano was extremely ill at the
time of the speech; in fact, he needed help even walking up the stairs. Because
the majority of the audience (at the ceremony and watching from home) knew that
he was battling cancer, it was important that he addressed his illness in a way
that the observer was not have a pity party for him throughout the speech.
Valvano did this by using humor as a way to talk about his cancer. He made
small jokes about things like the cue-cards telling him he was out of time. He
claimed that he doesn’t have much time left on this Earth so why would he let a
time card shorten his time on the stage. This humor really helped break the
tension and the sadness that the audience was experiencing as they listened to
this remarkable coach accept his award and promote his foundation. Valvano used
humor throughout his speech to talk about his time as a coach, as well as the
things that he has learned in his life. At this type of award show, humor is
the best way to relate to the audience. This was an effective use of pathos.
Moreover, Valvano’s ethos was established long before he walked on the stage. His
ethos was established when he was a successful coach, but it amplified by the
fact that he was being recognized for all of his passion, courage, success, and
inspiration. Because of the context of his speech, Valvano also needed to cast
vision to the audience. Everyone wanted to know/ would come to appreciate what
a dying man has to say about life. He says “To me, there are three things we
all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. No. 1 is
laugh. You should laugh every day. No. 2 is think. You should spend some time
in thought. And No. 3 is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could
be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry,
that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week,
you're going to have something special." This is such a beautiful
image that he puts in the minds of every single listener. You might not know
who he is or what he is known for, but after hearing this speech, I think you
will remember that he said you should laugh, think, and cry every single day. I
would say my biggest critique of this speech is that the structure and
organization was a little bit all over the place. He addressed the same
concepts (ex. laughing, thinking, and crying everyday) at multiple times during
his speech. He also talked about his time limit several times throughout the
speech. I think the comments would have been more effective if he would have
structure his speech so that he only had to use the same joke once, as well as
only casted his vision for the listeners one time. But it is really hard to
critique this speech because I think it was overall one of the best speeches I
have ever heard, especially for the context.
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