Daniel Levitin: How
to Stay Calm When You Know You'll Be Stressed
The topic was how the brain clouds your thinking when you’re
stressed. When you’re stressed your brain releases cortisol, which muddies
thinking, which is why you should have systems in place to deal with times you
feel stressed. Additionally, he gave some useful tips such as to designate
certain places for items you lose easily. He begins by telling a story of how
he “broke into his own house.” This opening is very captivating because it
draws people in and makes them wonder what he means by this curious statement,
because it is extremely unusual to break into your own house. He then proceeds
to explain the methods he took to break into his house because he forgot his
keys, and due to that stress he forgot his passport at the airport the next
day. The opening was particularly striking because he utilized a personal
anecdote to explain how he became interested in finding out how stress impacts
thinking. He also used self deprecating humor and wasn’t afraid to speak about
embarrassing situations he landed in which helped audience members warm up to
him as a presenter and improved their first impression of them. He ends by
leaving the audience with a key takeaway: accept that you’ll fail sometimes
because all of us are human and we make mistakes, but put systems in place so
that you are prepared to fail. Then, he talked about the resolution to his
stressful situation of forgetting his key in the beginning: he installed an
electronic pad to access his house. I thought this message was a concise and
effective ending because it summarizes his whole speech, lets the audience know
what they should learn from his presentation, and brought his presentation full
circle by linking it back to his opening.
Matthew O'Reilly: “Am
I Dying?” The Honest Answer.
The talk was about whether you should tell someone that
they’re actually dying or lie to spare them the pain of the truth. He then
tells a story about an incident that changed his approach: he would tell the
truth to that person and say they were about to die. The patient’s calm
acceptance inspired him to forever tell the truth to patients from then on. The
universal patterns he observed throughout his patients were a need for
forgiveness, remembrance, and meaning in their life. He starts by stating his
position (a critical care EMT) and immediately jumps into the topic of
impending doom and death, a stimulating topic for most people and thus he
immediately draws them into the talk. I think the beginning was effective
because he immediately captures the audience’s attention with his unique and
intense occupation. He ends by telling another striking story about a rescue
and concludes that when you’re told you’re about to die, the littlest things in
your life give you the peace and acceptance to come to terms with death in your
final moments. The ending also worked well in my opinion because he reels the
audience back in with another arresting rescue story of a woman content during
her last throes in life and summarizes the lesson he is sharing that he learned
from his experience: little moments bring you peace in your final throes of
life.
Richard St. John: 8
Secrets of Success
This talk is one of the most concise and to the point Ted
Talks, which is one of the main reasons I enjoyed it so much. The entire talk
focuses on the 8 traits successful people possess. He begins the talk by telling the story of a
poor teenager who asked him on a plane what leads to success, which instigated
his curiosity about what causes success. The main components that he found out
pave the path to success are passion, hard work, practice with focus until you
become good at something, push yourself physically and mentally, serving your
community, having great ideas and persisting through obstacles. He also used a
lot of humor such as saying CRAP represented criticism, rejection, assholes,
and pressure, which made both the audience and myself laugh because it made him
more human as a presenter. Richard’s ending was also extremely short and just
summarized the 8 traits he talked about. It was effective because he paired his
summary with a captivating visual slide, which had 8 words and pictorial
representations of them, which reinforced his message and allowed people to
better remember it. Overall, I thought his speech was well planned and
effective since it was only about three and a half minutes and eloquently
succinct and crisp.
Arianna Huffington: How to Succeed? Get More
Sleep
I chose this
particular Ted Talk because when I was scrolling through many talks, this one
caught my eye due to its relevancy to my and all of my friends’ lives. We all
strive to do everything: academics, social life, and extracurricular
activities, while subsisting on little to no sleep. We even brag about how
little sleep we got last night as if it is a competition to see who works the
hardest, when in actuality the amount we push ourselves to stay awake so we can
achieve more is self-detrimental: it actually damages our mental and physical
health. When I saw this Ted Talk I immediately knew I wanted to watch it because
I was curious about how beneficial sleep actually is to our success. Arianna
opens with the contrasting statement that a very little thing can unlock a
myriad of ideas within us. This statement makes me curious as to what that
thing could possibly be: and she proceeds to say that small idea is sleep. She
explains how lack of sleep has become almost a symbol of success and that
people actively boast about how little sleep they are able to get and still
succeed. Lack of sleep makes people think they are being busy, influential and
productive, but in actuality, Arianna says, there have been many influential
leaders who have made terrible decisions due to lack of sleep. A powerful analogy
she uses is of the watchman not being able to see the iceberg that hit the
Titanic to illustrate how lack of sleep can negatively impact our decision-making
and judgment. Throughout her talk, she also utilizes the power of humor to keep
the audience engaged and laughing. She closes with a strong and influential
message: to close your eyes and get some rest so you can also unlock brilliant
ideas within yourself. The closing was brief and I thought the talk was even
more effective because of its short length, which maintained the audience’s
attention for the entire duration.
Matt Cutts: Try
Something New For 30 Days
He began with a simple but effective hypothetical scenario
for the audience to ponder – think about something you’ve always wanted to do
and try it for the next 30 days. During his talk, he describes his experience
in trying various activities for 30 days, such as biking to work or writing a
novel. What he noticed was that his time became much more memorable when he
underwent these 30 day challenges (he could remember exactly where he took a
picture for every day), and he also grew much more self confident and
adventurous. A crazy message he delivered that hit home for me was that if you
want to do something badly enough, you can do pretty much anything in 30 days. I
wholeheartedly believe that because if truly want to accomplish something,
you’ll try everything in your power to do it and won’t make excuses for
yourself. As the old saying goes, where there’s a will, there’s a way. At the
end of his speech he left us with the key takeaway message that small changes
are sustainable. Things that we are more likely to keep doing are things that
are more likely to stick. He leaves the audience with a powerful question: What
are you waiting for? The next 30 days are going to pass whether we like it or
not, so why not give something you always wanted to do a shot? This was an
extremely powerful closing because it left the audience with a proposition they
could act upon that very day – will you take the challenge to improve your life
and try something new for just 30 days?
Cameron Russell:
Looks Aren't Everything. Believe Me, I'm a Model.
Cameron starts out the talk by saying how many make think
her dress is inappropriate and then proceeds to change into a more conservative
outfit – this is a successful opening because it draws the audience in when she
completely transforms her image. She uses her opening to transition into a talk
about how image is powerful and dictates her life. I appreciated how honest she
was when she described why she was on stage – because she was a pretty model
and she recognized that superficial looks accounted for much of whether you
succeed or not and how people treat you. Cameron then proceeds to describe two
pieces that led her to become a model: winning the genetic lottery and having
the legacy of being slender, white, feminine, and even details such as having a
symmetric face. It was shocking to listen to Cameron say how being a model was
not a career path and describe what she learned – which was basically how to
pose. I always thought everyone who was a model loved it but never thought
about how little they actually learn. Additionally, she informs the audience
that she received free handouts in life because of how she looked and not who
she was. The most arresting statement was Cameron admitting that she’s insecure
because she is forced to think about her physical appearance everyday. That
makes her more human in my eyes because everyone faces insecurity; normal
people just believe models never feel that, which is untrue. I also loved her
true honesty about how she is a big beneficiary of life because of her genes.
She ended with the takeaway that says how image plays an influential role in
both our perceived successes and failures. I thought the closing was good, but
she definitely could’ve made it stronger by leaving a more impactful message
and I personally thought the weak ending was a bit anticlimactic compared with
the rest of her talk which really defied stereotypes.
Kelly McGonigal: How
to Make Stress Your Friend
Because I, and many of my peers, I am sure, am currently
suffering from stress from schoolwork, I decided to watch this video because I
thought it would be helpful in allowing me to better manage my anxiety. I
thought Kelly’s opening was highly impactful because she opened with a survey
of the audience members, asking who’s experienced little, moderate, and a lot
of stress. As she asked each question in turn, more and more people raised
their hands, so everyone could see that everyone else had underwent a lot of
stress in the past year and they weren’t alone. Her talk is about how stress
itself isn’t actually bad, but rather the belief that stress was negatively
impacting you. Changing how you think about stress you can actually change your
body’s response to stress. A healthier way to view stress is realizing that
when your heart pounds and you begin to feel anxiety, that is your body’s way
of allowing you to rise to meet the challenge that stress brings. Additionally,
oxytocin is actually a stress hormone that motivates you to seek support from
others and enhances your heart. The key
to stress resilience is human connection. She ends by answering a question
proposed by someone who comes onto the stage and saying go after what creates
meaning in your life and trust yourself to handle the stress that follows. It
is a meaningful closing that encourages people to pursue what they love and not
worry about the stress that comes with that.
Ze Frank: Are You
Human?
This was probably the most unique Ted Talk out of all the
ones I watched. Not only did it consist of a series of questions, but he also
has quiet organ music playing in the background and speaks in a low, solemn
tone as if to mystify the talk even further. It doesn’t really have an opening,
just launches straight into all the questions that he prepared that makes
someone human. He begins by asking many silly questions, such as if you have
ever picked a booger in your nose, and sets an air of humor, making everyone
laugh after almost every question. Ze then gradually proceeds to propose deeper
and more serious questions, such as whether you have ever had a breakup with
someone that you really loved and woken up realizing that they left you. He
closes by asking whether you have ever come to the sad realization that your
future life will still go on even without someone that you previously could
never imagine not in your life. This is an especially powerful ending because
it recalls to mind a sobering experience almost everyone has faced after a
heartbreak; personally I felt a strong connection to everyone in the Ted talk
room and Ze himself because we all have felt the intense and sad feeling of
moving on with your life after being with someone for such a long period of
time and believing that they will always be a part of your life.
Adam Ostrow: After
Your Final Status Update
Adam begins this interesting talk with a very blunt
statement: we all have social media, and the one thing that all of us have in
common is that we will eventually die, leaving all our social media behind. His
talk outlines several social media services that archive your life after your
death, even one that leaves memories for your loved ones to reminscie on after
you’re gone. However, the main point and most jaw-dropping point of his message
is that machines may be able to continue to allow our digital personas to
interact in the real world long after we die thanks to the vast amount of
material we have created online and technology’s ability to predict our next
tweet or message based on our past posts. It is a completely mind blowing
thought to imagine robots interacting on our behalf after we die purely based
on our online content and characteristics and kind of scares me how easily our
presence as human beings online can be replaced just like that. Personally, I don’t
like how technology based our society has become and the increasingly more
technology centric direction it is headed. Adam closes his speech by asking the
audience if that is what they want our society to become and if so, what it
means for the world that they may be able to still have plausible interactions
with their loved ones post mortem. It is a strong closing because it plants the
phenomenal idea in peoples’ minds of possible interaction after death and what
that means in terms of actual life and death.
Renny Gleeson: Our
Antisocial Phone Tricks
Renny begins by outlining his his speech: he wants to talk
about the rise of culture availability, expectation of that availability, and
an obligation to that availability. During his short talk, he outlines the
physical tactics people use just to be on their phones (the “lean”, the
“stretch”, and the “love you, mean it.” Renny reveals a link between the
possibility because of increased availability and the fundamental need to
create shared narratives. In fact, it is these shared narratives that make up a
culture. The blunt truth that he speaks is that we believe the reality we’re
living in right now is not nearly as interesting or cool or fun as the story
we’re going to post about later. One impactful tool he uses throughout his
presentation to allow audiences members to visualize what he’s saying is the
insertion of multiple vivid photographs that grab the audience’s attention. To
end his speech, Renny addresses the innate fear that many of us have been
feeling recently: devices are making people less human, not more. These phones
are actually causing us to lose the context of our identity, and it is becoming
increasingly important that what we share online agrees with what we are
actually living out in real life. We aren’t creating ourselves, we are projecting
ourselves through technology and creating a life online that we don’t even
really live. The closing is impactful because of how sobering and true I know
it is: everyone tries to portray their own life as enviable on social media,
but in reality, we all dark moments and forget to appreciate the good moments because
we are constantly calculating how to depict them to the world later.
