LINK TO VIDEO Sex,
Drugs, and HIV--- Let's get Rational is a TED talk that was given at TED2010.
The speaker was Elizabeth Pisani. She is a director of a public health agency
in London. She is currently an epidemiologist and is best known for her work with HIV/AIDS. Her TED talk was given in Long Beach, California in February 2010. Although it is not directly stated who the audience of the TED talk is being given to it can be inferred that it is people who are educated on the subject of public health or at least are interested in the subject. It should also be taken into account that the audience includes anyone on the internet, therefore the knowledge that the audience has prior to the speech varies greatly. I assume that whoever the audience may be is expecting to be educated on the topic of HIV as it relates to public health.
The first things that can be noticed about the speech delivery are the tone, gestures, and eye contact. When Pisani is referring to a story that is meant to play with the emotions of the audience her tone of voice becomes very mellow. For example, when she is talking about the "drug junkies" at 2:08 it is nearly impossible for someone listening to the speech to not feel the pain and conflicting feelings that the addict feels, and this is largely due to the tone that is used. Throughout the speech Pasani moves her hands quite frequently. However, these gestures are not used in a way that becomes distracting to the audience. They are used to tell the story just as tone is. In the same example, when describing the addict inserting the needle she physically demonstrates the action to give the audience a visual picture. Eye contact with the audience is maintained at all points during the speech. However, it is important to note that she does not keep eye contact with just one or two members of the audience. She often scans the audience and occasionally focuses in on one person during major points in the speech.
Although Pisani is obviously an outstanding public speaker because she was featured on TED, no one is above constructive criticism. My main criticism is a small one however I believe it could make a rather large impact in the success of Pisani's speech. My suggestion would be for Pisani to move around the stage more. Although she is not completely standing in one place, Pisani spends about 95% of her time in the center of the stage. This is a great spot for viewing by people who are actually seated in the center, however people who are seated on the edges of the room may feel disconnected for Pisani.
Despite this minor flaw, Pisani did overall a great job of conveying her idea, that HIV prevention can be increases by the government, to the audience. She had many personal experiences with HIV cases and even had video interview with a victim in Indonesia. As stated before, her delivery of the speech was superb due to her mastery of tone, gestures, and eye contact.
The first things that can be noticed about the speech delivery are the tone, gestures, and eye contact. When Pisani is referring to a story that is meant to play with the emotions of the audience her tone of voice becomes very mellow. For example, when she is talking about the "drug junkies" at 2:08 it is nearly impossible for someone listening to the speech to not feel the pain and conflicting feelings that the addict feels, and this is largely due to the tone that is used. Throughout the speech Pasani moves her hands quite frequently. However, these gestures are not used in a way that becomes distracting to the audience. They are used to tell the story just as tone is. In the same example, when describing the addict inserting the needle she physically demonstrates the action to give the audience a visual picture. Eye contact with the audience is maintained at all points during the speech. However, it is important to note that she does not keep eye contact with just one or two members of the audience. She often scans the audience and occasionally focuses in on one person during major points in the speech.
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Example of both hand gestures and eye contact that
Pisani uses to convey her message about HIV.
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Although Pisani is obviously an outstanding public speaker because she was featured on TED, no one is above constructive criticism. My main criticism is a small one however I believe it could make a rather large impact in the success of Pisani's speech. My suggestion would be for Pisani to move around the stage more. Although she is not completely standing in one place, Pisani spends about 95% of her time in the center of the stage. This is a great spot for viewing by people who are actually seated in the center, however people who are seated on the edges of the room may feel disconnected for Pisani.
Despite this minor flaw, Pisani did overall a great job of conveying her idea, that HIV prevention can be increases by the government, to the audience. She had many personal experiences with HIV cases and even had video interview with a victim in Indonesia. As stated before, her delivery of the speech was superb due to her mastery of tone, gestures, and eye contact.
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