Communication

Q1. What TED presentation did you watch? Did you enjoy the presentation? Why?

I watched Nina Tandon’s talk on Caring for engineered tissue. I enjoyed it very much because I am particularly interested in the topic. Very interesting visual images were used to supplement the talk.

Q2. Analyse why you did or did not enjoy the presentation.

Some aspects that you could comment on include: delivery skills of presenter - animated, voice,

body language - eye contact - clear key message - interesting content area - use of visuals –

currency of science – credibility of presenter, the use of story etc

You could immediately tell from Nina’s voice that she was very nervous. Despite the nerves, she was able to explain her complex scientific research without the use of jargon and talked the audience through what she was doing, why she was doing it and what the greater implications of her research were.What wasn’t apparent was the key message and she tried to cram a lot of information into just 4 minutes.

Q3. What presentation strategies did the presenter employ?

She tried to use analogies to explain complex concepts. She also described cells as beings. For example, ‘heart cells are very greedy’.

Q4. If you were providing feedback to the presenter what would you say to them?

I would firstly ask them to slow the pace of the talk right down. I would also ask them to let the audience know the direction of the talk in the introduction. I thought the talk was going to be about growing organs from cell culture but it ended up giving life lessons. The concluding remarks did not seem to me to link to the content of the talk.

Q5. Think of the talks that you have presented. What strategies, used in the TED talk that you

watched, would you be able to integrate into your presentation?

I do not use analogies and metaphors very well so I will try to incorporate them into more of my talks.

Q6. Did you enjoy watching a TED talk online? Why?

I enjoy watching TED talks...