2010-05-10

TED talks: Lies, damned lies and statistics

The task was to pick up one TED show and write an opinion - be it either positive or negative - in the blog. So do ICVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV (oh! thanks to my cat Vassia for this note)

So do I.



I have chosen the video called Lies, damned lies and statistics because I know this ironic expression, which points out implicitly to statistics as the biggest lie. Bearing in mind that this video is devoted to TED talks – a series of very impressive public presentations – I found it very interesting to me because nevertheless I have dealt a lot with presentations; I still need to improve my speaking skills.

This video is all about the statistics that Mr. Warnickle compiled, having analyzed more than five hundred TED talks, existing by now.

So, he shares the results of his research with the audience in a funny way; however, at the same time, he does it in a very professional manner. Juggling with some excerpts from diverse TED talks, he shows how it really works; what impact on the public it has.

Apparently, Sebastian is an outstanding speaker because not only is he capable of flaming the audience but also he can rule the presentation, draw spectators’ attention to the most important points in his agenda.

Moreover, at the end of the presentation, he calls for action – this is the classical presentation structure – calls to use his TEDPAD, the tool, which can create automatically either the white (best) or black (worst) TED talk by combining the words and phrases that are, based on his statistics, positively or negatively perceived by spectators.

From my point of view, he highlighted the three essential components of any good presentation: the topic, the way of delivery, and visuals that the speaker uses on the stage. Nothing’s new for me here, but Sebastian is absolutely right that it is much more important how you look and how you speak than what you speak. Fair enough, because people perceive information rather visually.

I am not sure whether his conclusions about these word-combinations, speaker’ hair length, and dress color have something to do with the reality, but there is no doubt that all presentations can be different. I mean it depends on how we make them.



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