#134
Purpose: The purpose of this project is to introduce or review basic presentation software strategies for creating and using slides to support or enhance a speech.
Overview: Select a speech topic that lends well to a visual presentation using technology. Use the content of this project and your own research to help you develop your slides. Give a 5- to 7-minute speech using the slides you developed. Your speech can be humorous, demonstrative, or informational, and it may include stories or anecdotes.
Script:
Good evening Dear Toastmasters! Today I'll be walking you through how I've learnt to apply the lessons I learnt in photography to toastmasters. Through the lens of a camera, I've trained myself to look at things in different perspectives. Through the real lens which is our eyes I'm learning to observe the things around us, weave them into a compelling story, and captivate the audience via a speech.
In today's speech I will be using a visual component to reinforce my message. And what better way to use powerpoint slides than when depicting the photographs iIve taken over the years to 'show' you all what I've learnt via photography to apply to in TM speeches? Okay let's get started.
Lesson 1 - Focus on the main subject
As with the pictures you see here, both the flower and twig are in focus. Although there are other items in the background the main one is in focus. The same principle holds when you're giving a speech. Try not to confuse the audience with multiple components such that. They're unsure of what the main topic of ur speech was. It's a good idea to have one topic or one story that your speech revolves around
and then maybe you can interweave other components such as 3 key points, or 1 key message or 2 incidents that tie to each other in the end. By focusing on the main subject, you ensure that you cater to the audience's attention span and also reinforce your key takeaway by doing so.
As with photography, it's all about timing. In the first picture if the ball isn't there in the frame, if the bowler already bowled the ball, it wouldn't have been an interesting picture that tells a story.
In the pic on the right, if I had waited a second longer it would've been too late and the bird would've taken flight. All I would've captured is a plain old rock and a blurred bird! Ask yourself the same wrt speeches. Are you burying the message within a long sentence and delivering it at a fast pace without any pauses? Make sure to grab the audience's attention on the point of your content by delivering them at the right time in the right manner. If you are narrating a story that has some mystery to it, build up the suspense and leave it a mystery till the end. If you spill the beans right at the start or in between somewhere, it will have lost its charm. So remember, it's all about timing.
Next would be to learn from ur experiments. In the pathways level 1 project 2 you give a speech and apply that feedback to another speech. Similarly, for contests if u participate in multiple contests and decide to give the same speech you can learn from the experiments of your previous attempts on what worked and what didn't. In tenth grade i was extremely fascinated with smoke photography and light painting. What did I do? Experiment. What did i learn? One, while light painting may seem mesmerising at first, it doesn't make for a compelling photo because of lack of subject and lack of story
and with these Agarbatti photos, while the smoke is captured decently well, if the spark of the Agarbatti was seen as a speck of reddish orange, it would've enhanced the picture a lot more.
I reiterate - don't be afraid to experiment, but don't forget to learn from the outcome of those experiments and apply those lessons.
Next, try to capture the unseen. In both pictures here, the scene was a crowded place outside the Gateway of India in Bombay. The place was bustling with people, it was chaotic and cacophonous, but I was able to capture the unseen. Two folks, with exasperated expressions, trying to get by in that summer heat by selling an assortment of peanuts as with the man on the left and some sort of bubble toys as with the woman on the right, got mixed with the rest of the crowd. But through my lens, I was able to capture their poignant expressions, which alone tell a story.
Similarly, in your speeches, what is that one thing everyone may easily miss since it's commonplace or workaday but you have put a spin on, captured the unseen and observed something under a different light?
Finally, sometimes less is more. In this picture, the helmet on the field alone conveys so much without needing any explanation. You know by the looks of it that it's a cricket helmet on a cricket field. Interpret of it what you will. Maybe there was a match played there. Maybe someone left that helmet there and forgot about it. Maybe someone left it intentionally anticipating it might make for a good picture. In this slide, all I have is this one picture to explain the message that less is more. The slide too can convey this with just one picture and doesn't need any more.
Follow the same for your speeches. You don't always have to pack hundreds of words or stories or lessons in your speech. Stick to one story and just a handful of takeaways. Try to prune what's unnecessary and by making your speech contain 'less' content so to speak, you will have actually had more of an impact than if you had perhaps packed more to say.
So to summarize, here are the takeaways you can get from this presentation that will, I hope, not only help you in writing and delivering better speeches but also see better through this lens when trying to capture something from the lens of your phone or camera. Focus on the main subject, try to capture the unseen, learn from your experiments, remember that it's about timing, and keep telling yourself that less is more.
With that I conclude this presentation and my speech. Thank you, over to you TMOD.
Evaluation:
- A picture is worth a thousand stories, in this case
- There was both an implicit and an explicit message in her speech
- She connected every photography technique with a speech technique - subject, timing, experiments, unseen, less is more
- She also gave an analogy for each technique
- Got to learn how she used these techniques in her speeches
- She took something she is comfortable with, she loves photography and made us go through that journey
- Recommendations:
- 1 suggestion: the amount of effort put in the presentation could've been more
- Not using a template would've been less distracting
- Overall, great presentation
- The implicit message was that we all have something we can learn from and apply to other areas of our lives
- For me, I learnt about life via embedded systems
Video:
Through the lens: https://youtu.be/u2CORxhjzuo?t=2079
Evaluation: https://youtu.be/u2CORxhjzuo?t=4756
Presentation:
Initial PPT made by me
Updated PPT with edits suggested by evaluator
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