Analysis of a speech by Sir Ken Robinson

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It’s time for an additional TED Discuss, and this one by Sir Ken Robinson is one in every of my favourites. Robinson is an internationally recognized leader in education, innovation, creativity and human resources.

His latest ebook is entitled The Element. As Robinson states: “The element is the point at which pure talent meets private passion. When folks arrive at the component, they really feel most themselves and most impressed and achieve at their highest levels.” Do yourself a favour and spend some time perusing his website.

Before you achieve this, however, watch his talk below. It's 20 minutes, so find some time when you can watch it with out interruption. Afterwards, we’ll look at some of the the reason why I think it is so great.

So what can we find out about public talking from Sir Ken? Lots! In no explicit order, listed below are among the issues that I appreciated:

    * His talk appeared less a presentation to the viewers and extra a dialog with the audience.

    * He didn't need a single PowerPoint slide or different prop to assist his talk.

    * You may need seen his limp in the beginning as he comes on stage. Robinson contracted polio at the age of 4. Yet he didn't hide behind a lectern. He opened himself up to the audience. (He even joked about his limp at 15:30.) It's comprehensible that he did not transfer about the stage but he didn’t need to; he stuffed it along with his character and intelligence.

    * He spoke passionately concerning the topic.

    * He involved the viewers in many ways: his use of the word “we”; his asking several rhetorical questions; his reference to different things that the viewers had skilled while at TED (e.g., his mentioning at 2:50, 13.30 and 17:55 different talks that the viewers had heard); etc.

    * He let the viewers know, early on, what the discuss was about, especially at three:15: “My competition is that creativity now is as vital in schooling as literacy and we should treat it with the identical status.” Very clear.

    * His humour was wonderful, understated and well-timed. For example, when he stated the phrases mentioned within the earlier level, he spoke with great solemnity and function, rousing the audience to applaud. However, instead of continuous with the same heavy theme, he immediately lightened the temper - “That was it by the way. Thank you very much. So, quarter-hour left.” Classic stuff, however clever too as a result of it allowed the viewers to recharge for the following critical part. Robinson did this throughout the speech.

    * He used two highly effective quotes - by Pablo Picasso and Jonas Salk - at appropriate points in the speech to drive home his points.

    * He instructed stories! Great ones! Memorable ones! Stories that bolstered his principal point. (NB - If you're new to this blog, get used to listening to me beat the drum relentlessly about the importance of telling stories.) The story about Gillian Lynne (15:20 - 17:45) was especially terrific for this talk.

    * He wasn’t afraid to pursue an extemporaneous concept, especially a humorous one that the viewers clearly loved, such because the humour about William Shakespeare as a child (6:50 - 7:50).

    * He ended memorably and passionately with a challenge to the audience.

    * He had fun out there. You possibly can see that he was having fun with himself. It is becoming that Sir Ken’s latest ebook is entitled “The Factor”, as a result of that it precisely where he was - in his element.

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