- One of the TedTalks that I found interesting was Fried’s talk about work, and how people don’t actually get their work done at their offices. This speaker was very engaging and interactive with the audience. He was giving a formal speech, but spoke in a way that made it seem like he was having a conversation with just one person. He made jokes, and asked rhetorical questions that kept the audience thinking. He also spoke about the fact that he is manager, and that many managers need to work on not interrupting their employees, including himself. His awareness of this issue made him likeable, and easy to listen to. In order to explain his ideas, he gave the audience some insight into what it is like to be working, and have your day interrupted at the office. He also talked about employees, and how he has found that all of the people he talked to about the subject preferred to work somewhere other than the office. He spoke to the audience member’s experiences in their favor, which most likely helped them know that he understands their struggles at work. Overall, I thought that this TedTalk was very interesting, and made a lot of sense.
- One of the talks that I listened to that I thought worked well with evidence was Heffernan’s speech. This is because she gave many examples that enriched the information she was speaking about. For example, she began her talk by speaking about a business chain that wanted to become more efficient. Heffernan says that this business embraced technology called a task allocator in order to do this. Instead of the business allowing for collaboration, the employees got assigned tasks, completed them, then went back to get more assigned. This did not end up being very efficient because the new technology could not predict different changes throughout the day at the grocery store. The main purpose of her talk was to show that if we rely on technology so much for efficiency, we will lack skills to deal with changes or unexpected occurrences throughout the day. I believe that Heffernan was smart to begin her TedTalk with evidence like this because it gave the audience a clear understanding of what she was going to be talking about.
Writing and organizational cultures
I like your point in the Fried speech about the tone: The way he delivered it was very conversational and comfortable, sort of like two people just having a normal chat. Having built this trust with his listeners, it is much easier to present his points for his argument. I liked his style a lot with this.
Heffernan’s delivery was a little different like you pointed out, and I too thought it was nice and direct how she started off with evidence to give us an idea of where this story will be going. She was organized in her thoughts and delivered it in a way that wasn’t boring (which could easily be done in a speech filled with evidence and less personal bias).
Specific examples matter tremendously, both to an audience’s understanding of the abstract issue under consideration AND to their willingness to put faith in the speaker’s argument–we need concrete information on both counts.