Frances Ce Liang

Professor Erin Dietel-Mclaughlin

WR-13300-SS13

9 December 2014

TED Talk Reflection

When TED Talk first caught public attention several years ago, I was a middle-school
student who knew nothing about public speaking, not to mention the rhetoric or
argument. However, I was deeply impressed by the passion, insight, and intellectual
ideas addressed in these less-than-ten-minute-long presentations. Years later, after an
entire semester of learning, participating and practicing in academic rhetorical writing,
I finally had a chance to combined all the strategies leaned, and give a mini TED Talk
in class.

In general, my TED Talk is based on the research project I completed after fall break.
Due to the time limit, I had to narrow down the perspective and present the results of
my research in a simplified, 9-miniute long presentation. As a result, I made a careful
selection of what is to survive when drafting my script: while maintaining three of my
main arguments, I deleted the parts which are too complicated for the audience to
follow when presented orally; also, I emphasized the parts which may evoke the
interests of audience, such as personal stories and brief introductions of several
mainstream popular films. The most importantly, I made a substantial revision to the
body paragraphs of my research paper to convert them to a script which is easier for

the listeners to follow by using a series of punctuations, breaking the lengthy,

complicated sentences into several shorter ones. This change did help me a lot when
delivering the presentation.

Besides the script, I also spent a large amount of time on the slideshow showing the
audience images and citations that may add to the credibility of my supporting
evidences. Also, I made a careful selection on the animation, in order to emphasize
the visual evidence while not overwhelming the audience. What is more, with the
guidelines of my talk and a number of citations listed in the slideshow, it did a great
job helping me remembering the script and orienting the audience when the speech
was delivered.

Finally, it was the day! Although I had spent an entire night practicing my
presentation in a group-work room in the basement of the library, I still could not stop
trembling before the class. However, despite the panic at the very beginning, I
managed to stay calm after the first one minute of my speech, and was greatly
encouraged by the responses from the audience. I tried to make several jokes since my
topic is highly academic, and it worked well both in keeping the audience interested
and keeping myself relaxed.

Among all the tasks I have done this semester, the TED Talk is the only one that
requires oral expressions, and it was through this project that my research skills are
developed, critical thinking skills are strengthened, and research outcomes are
demonstrated. Also, it was so exciting for me to make a talk on a topic that I sincerely
love, and to influence an audience through my own rhetoric. In one sentence, I believe

that this TED Talk serves as a perfect demonstration of all the strategies I learned
during the entire semester, including storytelling, rhetoric and research.