- In the Ted Talk “Why work doesn’t happen at work” by Jason Fried, the overlying message is that the structure of office work in our society is flawed because of mandatory distractions in the workplace. Fried is a technology entrepreneur who in this presentation it is easy to tell that he is passionate about this topic. It seems that the audience he is aiming towards would be people who currently work in an office environment (or who have in the past).
His message of why the office environment is actually counterproductive is because while asking the question “Where do you go when you want to get things done?” (which is something he’s asked many people for quite a while) hardly ever comes back with the answer of “the office”. He came up with the phrase “M&M” being the cause of the biggest distractions in the office- it stands for managers and meetings.
His style is very conversational, almost like he is talking to a group of his peers and not in an academic sense, and he uses a bit of humor to make his points come across more comfortable for the listeners.
2. In the Margaret Heffernan speech “The human skills we need in an unpredictable world” we hear a very powerful message. She is a former CEO of multiple companies, and the audience of her speech is/can be a very broad one: it can be geared towards a group of students or it can be more of a social/political speech such as a state of the union address. She begins with using an example of a grocery store chain switching to a digital format to capitalize on efficiency, and uses this to delve further into some anecdotal messages of how this actually makes people and companies less efficient because it doesn’t account for the human element, or that the world is just naturally unpredictable.
Further on however, she uses more concrete examples of this point: CEPI, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness has to prepare for upcoming epidemics. They do not know when, what, or where they will be, but they have to prepare anyways. This might not be efficient but it’s robust (which is one of the central themes of her speech.) Another is the English rugby club who goes on expensive, unorthodox team building trips and adventures which strengthens their bonds together. Banks holding more capital than they need, which is different from the past. Then she gets a bit more into the political economical realm about countries building trade relationships, putting in the time and effort into befriending many nations because it is better for their economy.
She smoothly translates this into the theme of automation in our industries and personal lives, saying that the more we allow technology to take over, the less we become involved in things, and it doesn’t suit us well to do this.
Hello Aaron, these two presentations provide very different styles and topics in their attempts to sway the audience. Jason Fried is an entrepreneur who speaks to the audience in a very casual manner as he attempts to show them how the office is not the best workspace. On the other hand Heffernan provides a more broad speech about the future of the world and how we are digressing through our constant use of electronics. She provides multiple examples of how although we hold so much untapped potential we continue to waste our skills.
Never underestimate the rhetorical power of humor–as way to connect with one’s audience, as a way to hold their attention, as a way to cushion a difficult message. Research-based writing and humor are not necessarily incompatible.