All of us have experienced a presentation in our lives, whether it was in class when the instructor

taught a lesson or at a conference of some sorts where the speaker was sharing his knowledge on a certain
subject. It could’ve been on a captivating subject we just wanted to learn more about, or it could’ve been
on a subject so boring that we almost fell asleep. Whether or not we were interested, we can all agree
that the speaker/presenter has the power to create an effective presentation. I believe that a great
speaker can make an audience interested in any presentation. My goal is to analyze some TED
presentations and see what I can learn to become a better presenter.

The first TED Talk I watched was “How Sampling Changed Music” by DJ, musician, and producer
Mark Ronson. (https://www.ted.com/talks/mark_ronson_how_sampling_transformed_music) The first
thing I noticed was how he introduced himself. He started by
making music from the online TED Talk music intro by
remixing it with some of the video and audio clips of previous History of
Impact of
Sampling Music
TED Talks. I realized that this shows the audience that Mark Sampling Music
Today
Ronson is also an avid TED Talk watcher. It also allows the
audience to gauge his credibility without him having to say
all of his achievements. After he finishes the DJing remix, he
shares about his personal life and his history.

The perfectly timed comedic moments helped me look at Mark Ronson with a deeper connection.
It helped me stay interested while also helping me relate to what he is thinking. Moments of comedy
really help to break the monotony in a talk or presentation, and it definitely helped in this instance. One
of my favorite moments of this talk is definitely when he shows the impact that sampling has in our world
today. It’s one thing to present the history and the idea, but it’s another to share how this has changed
the way we listen to music. When giving a presentation that has a lot of history involved, It’s always a
good idea to bring it back to modern times, and to compare what that history has done to change our
lives today.

I also watched “An Instrument Anyone Can Play” by musician and software designer Tim Exile.
(https://www.ted.com/talks/tim_exile_an_instrument_anyone_can_play) In
this presentation, Tim talks about how we don’t need formal musical training
What would
or even any musical knowledge to play music. He brought together his
a musical
knowledge of music with his knowledge of software to create a way for non- conversation
musicians to just play around with sounds to create music. It really helped me be like?
understand his perspective when he made many comparisons and analogies.
Tim compared music to language and photography. What was most
captivating was when he said, “Instagram has made us all
photographers, so now we speak photography. That’s
what I’m trying to do with music.” This really helps me see Music Language Photography
how his goal has been achieved in a different creative
branch and listen closer to what he can do to bring it to
music.
 Tim Exile also proposes a lot of questions. He proposes questions that he’s going to give the
answer to later in the presentation. This helps us think of answers in our heads, which in turn helps us
stay focused on the presentation as we want to hear what the true answers are. “What if we could speak
and understand music on a whole bunch of different levels?” and “What would a musical conversation be
like?” are some examples of this from his presentation. To bring all of this to the next level, Tim performs
on some digital music controllers, focusing on “improvising music sentence by sentence.” This ties the
whole presentation together, proving that ‘speaking music sentence by sentence’ is quick, easy, and
effortless.

The last presentation that I watched was “Creating Music on the Go” by James Bickerton.
(https://www.ted.com/talks/james_bickerton_creating_music_on_the_go#t-327732) This wasn’t a very
substantial presentation, but it had
a message that it needed to convey, A Good
and it was definitely delivered Presentation
elegantly. James shared about how Keeping Audience
he makes music on the go without Interested
having any instruments with him. He Music to Help
even shares how he doesn’t really Audience Focus
play any musical instruments but
can make music through the power Music to Energize
of software. The technique he used The Audience
in proving that you don’t need
formal training is by playing his
music for us to judge. He shared his creation which not only is a great piece, but also proves to us that he
can make music without that formal training. After this, James continues to speak but doesn’t lower the
volume of the music all the way. I love how he did this, as the music acts as a sort of background music.
Not only that, but since the music is upbeat, the audience stays energized and listening to the
presentation.

When James describes the process of creating music, not all of us understand right away. This is
perfectly fine, as he gives us a chance to understand not through the language of English, but through the
language of music. A speaker can only say so much before they need to show you what they mean. This
is exactly what James did, and showed us by playing what he tried to convey through his words. This is a
great approach to help the audience understand more easily and deeply. What I noticed at the end is
pretty extraordinary. Some people may be familiar to the concept of tension and release in music theory.
When James kept the music playing in the background, it built tension of some sorts. We wanted to hear
all of that tension release at one point. James plays the rest of the song to show what vocals can do to
music, and not only did it show us the power of vocals in a piece, but it also released all that tension built
up throughout the presentation.
 Mark Ronson was very good at keeping the audience engaged. He introduced himself through his
own craft, proving his capabilities before he even tells us. He also had very perfectly timed comedic
moments, which helped us relax and stay interested in him. After showing us the history of sampling, he
showed us how that has impacted our lives today. Tim Exile was able to make us think about his ideas
from our own perspective before he shares his by proposing questions. He also made many comparisons
and analogies which helped us see his perspective even more. He then shows us how we can use this to
have ‘musical conversations’. James Bickerton showed us with our own ears how he can make music
without having any formal training. He kept the music playing which kept the audience engaged and
entertained. He also played to explain further what he meant by his words. At the end of his presentation,
he played the whole song which made the whole presentation seem more satisfying. These are all
techniques that I can take note of to make myself a better presenter.

Audience Audience wants Audience has

Speaker asks a Speaker answers
reflects on to hear speaker’s deeper
question question
answer answer understanding

Analyzing these TED Talks was definitely a huge experience for me. I love listening to TED Talks
and watching the presentations and being immersed in the experience, but I’ve never really analyzed
them while watching them. Subconsciously, I knew which TED Talks were good presentations, but I never
really understood why. I learned that different speakers can actually use the same techniques to get
different results. This really proves to me that a great speaker can make any presentation engaging and
exciting. Analyzing the techniques used by the speakers really helps me reflect on my ability to give a talk
or presentation.