TED Talk Proposal

  Everyone makes mistakes, both big and small. Yet many times, they are so large that they are unfixable. These mistakes are commonly political, whether it is a misallocation of funds or resources, or an election of an official. The election and presidency of Donald John Trump is a complete embarrassment and disappointment of the United States of America. My bias is very small, as I am not a supporter of any of the political parties that the United States has to offer, so this is not a liberal rant. Nevertheless, I am obviously biased, being an immigrant from a Latin American country.

  There is a famous saying which says: "History repeats itself", and the Venezuelan people are unfortunately all too familiar with this. Of the 46 presidents which have been sworn into office, 5 have gone on to establish dictatorships, because of this frequency we have developed a keen eye on political leaders and affairs.

  The current dictatorship has been in place since 1999, and the similarities between Hugo Chávez, a man who ran a great country into the ground, and Donald Trump are eerily similar. Although Chávez was never elected into office, he staged a various coups until succeeding in 1998, The way he gained support from the people is the exact same as how Trump does it. Where as Latin America is no stranger to populist leaders, the United States has yet to learn their dangers. What both of them do is act unpolitical, showing their supporters, who are usually the common people, that they are just like them. They often use informal language and speech while at a rally, and unite against a common enemy. In the Venezuelan case, Chávez would accuse the United States whenever something was amiss or in contrary to his policies, again, eerily similar to Trump's approach to the media.

  Since it has only been little over a month since Trump has taken office, I cannot give concrete statements of what he will do to the country. However I can show what happened during the 15 years of Chávez's rule. This horrible man seized control of the country with the largest oil reserves in the world, with the potential to be one of the greatest in the world, and ran it into the ground because of his personal interests and ignorance to the people. Hugo Chávez died of cancer in 2013, and left behind a predecessor which had never had a political office. Now, 4 years later, this failed country has one of the worst economies and a blighted society.

TED Talks

TED's secret to great public speaking | Chris Anderson
  This TED Talk is exceptionally good because it connects with the viewer on all levels, turning very complex terminology into basic ideas which the everyday person can understand perfectly. It lists 3 major tips on how to deliver the ideal presentation, dwelling each topic for the right amount of time, not too short or too long. In just over 5 minutes, it leaves the viewer as a better public speaker with its perfect delivery and explanations.

The Panama Papers exposed a huge global problem. What's next? | Robert Palmer
On the other hand, this TED Talk is crammed full with complicated terminology and ideas which prove very hard to follow. The interviewee is clearly familiar on how offshore accounts work, yet he does not offer a basic explanation for the viewers who don't. The explanation on the whole scandal is also lackluster and a cloud of confusion remained on my mind after watching it.



logos: logic - facts and statistics
pathos: emotion - personal story/anecdote
ethos: ethics - credibility, character and authority

Speech review

  Speeches are made by the dictation, including the pacing, the pronunciation, and the enunciation. The content is also important, but I think that an enthusiastic speaker can make even the most boring story somewhat interesting. But a monotone speaker can make the most interesting story be obnoxious and boring. I feel like I have to work on my intonation and pacing more than anything. I think that I have done a good job as far as eye contact goes, yet I constantly speak too quick or too quiet so the speech still is not perfect. I try to remind myself of that but I usually forget while on the podium or when it is time to present the speech. Watching my classmates deliver their speeches helped a lot because it helped me realize how important the points we cover in class really are. They all had interesting stories to tell, yet sometimes their monotonous tone made our focus sway and wait until it ended. Other times, they would read the story very quickly, so we would struggle to follow what the speaker was telling us. The pose also influences how we view the person, some of us were slouching on the podium or swaying from side to side, which affects the audience’s focus and their perception of the speaker more than I thought; the slouching and swaying make the person seem nervous and not prepared to give the speech. The eye contact also caused some problems, some of us lost where we were on the speech while looking at the audience, which is why structuring it to fit the way you look at the audience is very helpful. But many times, the mistakes were caused by technical problems which are also a factor, such as struggling to read on the iPad.

I wish video

https://youtu.be/q1Qoc81yBSI