Analysis of a Speech by Shukla Bose

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Shukla Bose is the founder and head of the Parikrma Humanity Foundation, a unprecedented nonprofit that runs colleges for poor children in urban India. Parikrma is reworking education so that these kids can have equal access to the very best opportunities. Parikrma manages the whole schooling cycle from kindergarten to college for each child.

On this speak at TED India, Bose speaks humbly however passionately about the necessary work that Pakrikma is doing. Please take the time to take heed to her presentation. Under is my evaluation of what we will study from it from the general public speaking perspective.

So, what can we study from Shukla Bose’s TED discuss? Listed here are some ideas:

    * She just isn't afraid to show herself on the human degree to her audience. Be aware her opening: “I'm standing earlier than you in all humility … I’m not a educated tutorial … not a veteran social worker.” Another example: “It was very difficult to not get scared, not to get daunted.” (2:forty)

    * She uses descriptive language to color an image for the audience. One example: “shiny faces, twinkling eyes.” (1:30)

    * She speaks at a pace that's straightforward to follow. She enunciates her words and makes use of pauses successfully to emphasise some extent or to sign a transition in the speech.

    * She uses statistics in a really clever way. At 1:40, she states: “The numbers hit us.” She then rattles off a number of figures in quick succession to provide us a sense of the magnitude of the problem of making an attempt to coach kids in India. And he or she succeeds. However - and this is a vital “however” - she doesn't anticipate us to recollect the particular figures; she solely needs us to grasp the enormity of the problem. At 2:30, she says that the numbers shortly became “overwhelming” and “thoughts-boggling”. So what did she and her colleagues do? They swept them aside. They said, “We’re not in the quantity game. We’re going to concentrate on helping one youngster at a time.” Too usually, presenters bombard their audiences with too many statistics. Be like Bose; don’t get caught up in the quantity game. In the event you use statistics, make it possible for they reinforce your message the best way they do in Bose’s talk. For those who must present plenty of numbers, highlight those which are important.

    * Bose is aware of learn how to make an emotional connection together with her audience. In a earlier post about the importance of emotion in a presentation, I quoted Mom Theresa: “If I have a look at the mass, I'll never act. If I have a look at the one, I will.” And that is exactly what Bose did by introducing us to some of the youngsters whom she has helped. Hearing these youngsters talk with such excitement about their instructional experiences is moving and uplifting and made me need to know more in regards to the organization.

    * The video clips that she reveals are well chosen. For instance, when speaking about the fact that the schools educate in Engish, Bose has to beat the doubts of those who ponder whether poor children from India can deal with the curriculum. Moderately than handle the issue herself, Bose reveals a couple of quick video clips through which two youngsters themselves provide eloquent testimony to the fact that they are able to address the rigours of the language (5:00). I also preferred the video clips of the mother and father speaking in regards to the importance of sending their youngsters to high school (7:20).

    * Bose tells a number of brief however efficient stories.

    * She ends with the identical humility with which she started: “Once I started Parikrma, I started with a substantial amount of vanity of remodeling the world however as we speak I've been remodeled …” (15:30). I additionally love that she ends with a promise that considered one of her young college students will speak at a TED conference within the future.

How might Bose have made her speak even better? Listed below are a couple of concepts:

    * Bose has a vibrant, expressive personality. You'll be able to see it in her face. And you can see it in her gestures - when she is able to make them. Unfortunately, she was hindered in this regard because of the notes and the remote that she held the whole time. This is a shame. All the more so because, if I'm not mistaken, she didn't make the first slide change till roughly 5:00 and didn't seek the advice of her notes till 7:00. A simple, elegant solution would have been for TED to offer her with a small lectern on which she could have positioned the notes and the remote for those occasions that she needed them.

    * She could have used the stage more. She remained in place your complete time. Purposeful motion helps to maintain audience interest and also allows the speaker to interact extra intently with the entire individuals in the room.

    * I liked the one slide that had text: “Educating our poor - Greater than just a number game”. I like the usage of the phrase “our” instead of “the”. I additionally like the highlighting of the word “number”. I might have made the font bigger. The auditorium was large and my sense is that the phrases might need been onerous to learn for these at the back. Pause the video at 3:50 and you can see that there is plenty of white area that can be used to make the textual content larger while nonetheless preserving it to 2 lines.

    * The sound high quality on a few of the movies could have been better.

I believe that by making these few simple adjustments, Bose might take what is already a terrific presentation and make it much more so.

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