TED Talk Analysis
Jordan McCay
For my analysis of a TED talk, I chose Mia Birdsong's "The Story We Tell About Poverty Isn't True" that was given in May 2015. Mia's talk relates very much to the Step By Step organization in that many of the single mothers and their children are currently experiencing poverty. However, as Mia describes in her talk, this situation does not make them weak. In fact, it only fully displays their strong will and strength of character. They are "broke, but not broken."
Out of all of the TED talks I've watched, I can honestly say that this one struck me as the most genuine in both her feelings for the topic and her quality of conversation. Mia's passion for her topic and her closeness with it was highly evident in her presentation. This was a true showcase of the master within. Her stories, not only about herself, but of people living in the poverty she once was in too, struck deep. It was hard not to become emotional upon hearing of the resilience of these people. As Mia mentioned in her presentation, society has a very nasty habit of trying to demonize poor people. By sharing these stories with the audience, Mia was able to break through some of that and have them be seen as the equivalent human beings they should be. Along with these stories, Mia showed pictures of the people she was discussing, thus providing a multi sensory experience for the audience.
Another cool thing about this TED talk was that I learned of a place called Silicon Valley. It's been a starting point for many companies and doesn't judge based on a person's wealth or lack thereof it. I just though it was neat that somewhere like that exists. It gives one hope that in the near future there will be many places like this, where ideas are valued for their merit rather than the monetary value of their creator.
In a way, I think Mia's presentation was low-key jaw-dropping throughout the entire presentation, but especially as she firmly established the value of poor people in society and gently berated the rest of society for treating them so harshly. I suppose it was so jaw-dropping because she talks in such a way that's both light-hearted (so you don't expect such passion and ferocity to come from her) and intense all at once. Mia's light-heartedness also shown through the humor she incorporated into the presentation, which worked as she was joking with a sense of familiarity and created a sense of companionship with the audience, as well as adding to her genuine nature.
In the end, I was surprised that the speech was a little over 15 minutes long (under that 18 minute rule, of course), because it had felt so short in such a good way. I was absolutely enraptured with her and was with her the entire time. Her ability to stay in her lane and connect everything back to her main point was impressive. I think Mia's TED talk was highly effective and served her purpose: getting the populace to consider poor people in a new light and looking to them as useful resources. I feel like I, too, gained a new perspective by watching this, and I encourage anyone reading this post to also take a look into it. It's well worth those 15 minutes.
Out of all of the TED talks I've watched, I can honestly say that this one struck me as the most genuine in both her feelings for the topic and her quality of conversation. Mia's passion for her topic and her closeness with it was highly evident in her presentation. This was a true showcase of the master within. Her stories, not only about herself, but of people living in the poverty she once was in too, struck deep. It was hard not to become emotional upon hearing of the resilience of these people. As Mia mentioned in her presentation, society has a very nasty habit of trying to demonize poor people. By sharing these stories with the audience, Mia was able to break through some of that and have them be seen as the equivalent human beings they should be. Along with these stories, Mia showed pictures of the people she was discussing, thus providing a multi sensory experience for the audience.
 |
| One of Mia's main points in her presentation |
In a way, I think Mia's presentation was low-key jaw-dropping throughout the entire presentation, but especially as she firmly established the value of poor people in society and gently berated the rest of society for treating them so harshly. I suppose it was so jaw-dropping because she talks in such a way that's both light-hearted (so you don't expect such passion and ferocity to come from her) and intense all at once. Mia's light-heartedness also shown through the humor she incorporated into the presentation, which worked as she was joking with a sense of familiarity and created a sense of companionship with the audience, as well as adding to her genuine nature.
In the end, I was surprised that the speech was a little over 15 minutes long (under that 18 minute rule, of course), because it had felt so short in such a good way. I was absolutely enraptured with her and was with her the entire time. Her ability to stay in her lane and connect everything back to her main point was impressive. I think Mia's TED talk was highly effective and served her purpose: getting the populace to consider poor people in a new light and looking to them as useful resources. I feel like I, too, gained a new perspective by watching this, and I encourage anyone reading this post to also take a look into it. It's well worth those 15 minutes.
Mia's TED Talk sounds very interesting. I was wondering if you found some things in her talk that you could use to help improve your service organization? I was also wondering if you planned on using any of her strategies during your own TED talk? Great job!
ReplyDeleteI was really captivated by the way she told her stories and I think a lot of that had to do with how genuine she was. I'm hoping that I can somewhat emulate that in my own speech. At the very least, it's given me inspiration. Thanks for commenting!
DeleteThis is a great analysis of her speaking style. I clicked on the video with intentions to watch a minute or so of the video to get an idea of what you were talking about, but I ended up watching the whole thing because it was very interesting and pulled me in. It made me think about your TED talk and the stereotypes we associate with the mentally ill, and how stereotypes similarly influence our views on the poor. What kinds of things do you think could/ should be done to prevent these types of stereotypes?
ReplyDelete