After viewing the “Your Body Language” talk assigned for this “Communication in the Digital Age” virtual Session, produce a plan for your own TED-type talk using the five-step protocol outlined in the “Communication Skills to Boost Your Effectiveness” section of the day’s chapter. You won’t actually present the talk; just do the plan. If you choose not to come up with your own topic—which can be outside the “technology, entertainment, and design” domain—you may instead analyze one of the thousands of others (besides Cuddy’s) that are linked to TED.COM.
Here is the assignment for each of the 5 steps you will take, outlining in just a couple of sentences each step either creating your own plan (or analyzing what the speaker seems to have done to produce the actual talk you selected):
Step 1—Frame Your Story. State your topic and identify your audience, noting what your objective is. Indicate how you will frame the story in a way that takes your audience from where they are to where you want them to end up? (The textbook chapter provides more guidance on this and the next 4 steps.)
Step 2—Plan Your Delivery. Indicate which of the 3 basic ways you will adopt, and indicate why you chose that one, probably based on aspects of the topic and your own individual strengths.
Step 3—Develop Your Stage Presence. What are the presentation aspects you will most want to address. Again, this is based largely on your own personal strengths and challenges. Are there any techniques you need to think of to increase your own efficacy?
Step 4—Plan Your Multimedia. This isn’t a lecture course, so don’t limit yourself to PowerPoint. Again, your personal preferences and the specific qualities of your topic will help you decide what goes here.
Step 5-Put It Together. What strategies and timetable will you use to make sure the talk is a success?
