Public speaking is one of the essential social skills humans can possess. Being a good public speaker means influencing the audience and rendering a clearer message, as discussed in this Ted Talk essay on “How to Speak So That People Want to Listen” by Julian Treasure. Moreover, public speaking is essential in professional situations and can help to carve an individual into leadership. In his talk, Julian Treasure provides valid ways to improve communication, including detailing a surprising fact on the detrimental aspect of repetitive prosody and teaching how to improve communication, which is relatable to my personal experience.
The Main Point of the Video
The main point of Treasure’s video is to help people to improve their public speaking skills. The presentation explains how to develop effective communication for speech and interpersonal communication (Treasure 00:37-01:36). Therefore, the video’s main point is to show how communication can be improved and fix common mistakes that people make.
Relation to My Personal Experience
Some of the mistakes I make regarding public speaking are highlighted in the video. Being negative frequently is a terrible way of speaking and can make people insufferable, even for those close to them (Treasure 01:12-01:48). Being negative has been a feature of my speech for a long time. Hence, there are important points relating to my experience, including my negative tone.
The negative effects of complaining are even documented in psychological literature. A study done shows that “complaining, or even being complained to, for 30 minutes or more can physically damage the brain” (Burnison par. 5). Although complaining feels good, it is destructive to the brain. In turn, there are adverse effects of complaining that are disastrous to human psychology.
Video’s Significance
Communication is an essential aspect of human interaction and also sociocultural progression. Communication is a contextual art that requires mastery, and people develop skills through learning and practicing (Van Der Vleuten et al. 3). The video emphasizes common mistakes that people make when communicating with others. Besides, the video is essential because good communication skills are usually ignored.
Application of Information Learned
There are many scenarios to apply good communication techniques. Communication is a top priority for many employers because the world is moving to an information economy (Zarefsky 4). Having good communication when speaking to any employer and colleagues is crucial. Moreover, it would be helpful to apply communication skills to different conversations that people might have with other parties.
The Most Surprising Thing
The most surprising thing from the video is how some bad statements that sound like questions mean negative habits in communication. Treasure notes that repetitive prosody is a distracting communication technique where every statement sounds like a question (06:00-06:16). Repetitive prosody makes communicators seem less confident in what they are saying. As a result, learning that repetitive prosody is a problem in communication was surprising.
Summing Up
The talk by Julian Treasure helps people to develop good communication skills. These skills are essential for interpersonal relationships and career progress. Surprisingly, the speaker talks about the dangers of using repetitive prosody as distracting. In turn, people can apply the information in their future careers since many employers are always eager to hire individuals who can relay information easily.
Works Cited
Burnison, Gary. “Stop Complaining-It’s Making You Dumber. Here’s What Successful People Do Instead.” CNBC, 6 May 2019, www.cnbc.com/2019/05/06/stanford-researchers-says-30-minutes-of-complaining-makes-you-dumber.html.
Treasure, Julian. “How to Speak So That People Want to Listen.” TED, 2013, www.ted.com/talks/julian_treasure_how_to_speak_so_that_people_want_to_listen.
Van der Vleuten, Cees, et al. “Assessment of Communication Skills.” Patient Education and Counseling, vol. 102, no. 11, 2019, pp. 1–11, doi:10.1016/j.pec.2019.07.007.
Zarefsky, David. Public Speaking: Strategies for Success. 8th ed., Pearson, 2017.