A Critique of a TEDxBrownU Talk
Ted Talks are speeches given by experts in a variety of fields that are meant to educate and inspire their audience. The official conference of these talks has been held annually for thirty years now but the format of Ted talks has been adapted and spread all over college campuses and these types of talks are now a way for aspiring students to practice public speaking and students to engage in the content their peers are passionate about. This piece of media, a ted style talk given by Julmar Carcedo, a student at Brown University, on how journaling makes people happy and successful, is on track with the ideas of my Ignite speech and website.
The talk begins and he addresses the topic of journaling. Overall the structure of his talk followed the line of hook, background information, solid argument and thesis, personal connection, research and evidence, and the what to write and how to’s of journaling. Carcedo argues that though he was skeptical at first, journaling has changed his life and allowed him to find happiness despite his troubled upbringing in the Philippines and therefore it can work for other people too. Though I agree a personal connection is a good way to get the audience engaged as well as be relatable, the talk started off in a way that made it seem as though the entire argument was based solely on his personal experience and I began to wonder “where is the scientific evidence?”. His personal connections allowed him to show first hand experience in the matter and for people who identified with his struggles of domestic violence, financial insecurity, sexuality, and the stress of college, it gave his claim credibility. Carcedo’s audience is his peers and his delivery seemed to cater to that. Though he could have added more personality and dynamics into his speech, he didn’t fall short on personal connection to the topic. “I can’t go on achieving success out of anger and hurt” was a quote that resonated with me because I noticed it was a commentary on the way that success can be viewed by many people today. The mindset of achieving goals for reasons such as revenge or as a distraction of struggles you are faced with is a practice that journaling combats and one that so many people today do without realizing it. He touched on the way that journaling about goals creates a sense of pride and a way to preserve your success and happiness for yourself, not for anyone else.
Though he spent a big portion of the talk showing off his successes that he credited to his new found journaling, the talk went on he began to get more comfortable and I felt the pace and personality of the speech got better. With audiences of college students there is a place between talking too much about yourself and too much about research that gives you both reliability and credibility while maintaining interest. Cacedo incorporated research and the allure of mentioning how famous success stories often kept journals and his use of quotes was well thought out and effective. “You don’t have to be perfect to be perfectly happy” and “Be self aware not self critical” are good tips that I think speak beyond the practice of journaling that he was arguing for but also are relevant to any college student who struggles with school and the pressures of success. His mentioning of a book about our inner self critic to set up his point that journaling fights this critic and builds your positivity in your brain was interesting. His evidence was from other college’s studies, as was much of the research I found.
Cacedo did a nice job of giving his audience next steps to end his talk. The journaling tactic of writing down “Feelings, Goals, and Memories” to preserve your happiness made me feel like it was an attainable practice and had positive effects. A talk that doesn’t leave the audience with next steps is in my opinion ineffective, especially when it is a Ted talk designed to inspire and educate people. I found myself pushing back on his claim against journaling on your laptop or digitally. He argued that it was a cause of distractions but I believe if one if committed or using a journaling service online to help them with prompts and stay accountable, it can be just as effective as paper journaling. Overall, I thought the talk had good structure, a strong argument, and personal connection, but lacked stage presence, interesting presentation content on the slides, and was disproportionately personal experience to actual research and evidence.
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