TED Talk Analysis: Brene Brown

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Table of Contents

Summary of the Speech
How the Speaker Kept My Attention
The Reason for Selecting the Speech
The Speaker’s Strengths
Ways for Improvement
Non-Verbal Communication
Personal Recommendation
Additional Characteristics
Researching Toastmasters International
References

Brené Brown, the TED Talk speaker, is a research professor at the University of Houston. Her previous several decades were devoted to studying empathy, shame, courage, and vulnerability. This speech is likely to benefit those people who want to become more humane and sensitive. It will also be valuable for young persons who strive to change how they parent, love, and live. The video’s title is “The Power of Vulnerability,” and it lasts for twenty minutes (00:20:02). The topic of the TED Talk is the connection between people’s happiness and courage, imperfection, vulnerability, and compassion.

Summary of the Speech

The speaker begins her TED Talk by sharing some stories that happened to her years ago. One of Brown’s (2010) objectives when giving her speech is to expand her audience’s perceptions regarding the ways they live. Thus, her research path started with exploring the concept of connection because this is what provides humans with meaning and purpose (Brown, 2010). The one thing that was able to totally unravel this connection was shame – a feeling familiar to everyone, fear of disconnection. Further, Brown (2010) discovered vulnerability to be the basis for shame: “in order for connection to happen, we have to allow ourselves to be seen, really seen.” Intensive vulnerability research followed this discovery and continued for six years.

When trying to define and understand the connection, shame, and vulnerability, the speaker collected many stories and interviews. Her first major conclusion was that people who had connections truly believed they were worthy of this connection, love, and belonging. They had “the courage to be imperfect” and “the compassion to be kind to themselves first and then to others” (Brown, 2011). To find the connection, they allowed themselves to be who they were and embraced vulnerability. Consequently, Brown’s (2010) discovery was that the sense of connection is related to the ability to stop controlling and predicting. It is essential for humans to invest in all relationships and activities they want, notwithstanding their likelihood of success.

Further, the speaker mentions again that vulnerability can have two different consequences. First, they are shame, fear, and disconnection; second, they are love, belonging, joy, and creativity (Brown, 2010). However, in order to avoid the former, people try to numb vulnerability. A dangerous cycle appears: when the negative sides are numbed, so are the positive ones. Thus, Brown (2010) says that numbness is not an option: one needs to allow themselves to be seen and be vulnerable. In conclusion, the speaker recommends her listeners consider themselves enough to develop strong connections and be gentler to others and themselves.

How the Speaker Kept My Attention

It is possible to say that Brown (2010) quite effectively grabs and keeps her audience’s attention. One technique she frequently uses throughout her speech is referring to her own experience and life-based stories. This created in me a feeling of relatedness and unity between the speaker, the listeners, and me. What is more, it is quite great that she also refers to the emotions and experiences of the audience, so I managed to compare her findings with my own perceptions. Since Brown (2010) recognizes the presence of the listeners and includes us in the understanding of the topic, my attention was kept. Finally, she provides an efficient combination of her professional research conclusions, jokes, anecdotes, and other funny and relatable experiences. Consequently, I was never bored or left out of the issue’s discussion.

The Reason for Selecting the Speech

First of all, I searched among those speeches that were 20 minutes or longer. In that list, the TED Talk by Brown (2010) seemed to be the most engaging and beneficial. I am interested in some topics somehow related to psychology and the study of human emotions and perceptions. Further, I could not miss the opportunity to find out how a vulnerability, a seemingly negative feeling, can bring any value and benefit. Additionally, the educational and professional backgrounds of the speaker added to my desire to get acquainted with her research. Finally, when I started watching the TED Talk, I realized that I really liked Brown’s non-verbal communication and ways to keep the audience’s attention.

The Speaker’s Strengths

Overall, Brené Brown can be evaluated as a rather strong and effective speaker. Some of her and her TED Talk’s main advantages are already mentioned above. First, Brown (2010) engages with her audience and never leaves them out of the topic’s exploration. Second, she knows how to use non-verbal communication in an ethical and effective way. Third, Brown (2010) made her speech to be successfully and professionally structured so that the topic she selected became even more engaging and interesting. Additionally, this is also supported by her great combination of jokes, self-irony, and research conclusions.

Fourth, the speaker not only explained the power of vulnerability to share her findings. It is a great advantage that she provided excellent advice to enable her listeners to improve their lives and attitudes. Consequently, her speech became simultaneously informative, useful, and valuable to apply in practice. Fifth, in her presentation, Brown (2010) asked questions to activate the audience’s thinking and then provided her own responses to these questions. She also combined her reflections, jokes, and long-enough pauses. This mixture allows the listeners to receive the information, process it, and laugh to feel more relaxed.

Ways for Improvement

It may be quite challenging to find and suggest ways for the presentation’s enhancement. The reason is that Brown (2010) is a qualified speaker, and this TED Talk is quite effective and informative. At the same time, some suggestions can be beneficial for making the speech even more influential and memorable. First of all, Brown (2010) could make her presentation more successful if she spoke slower. In some parts of her speech, she does not pronounce words clearly. Thus, the audience may find it difficult to keep up with the story.

Furthermore, it may seem that more eye contact is needed. Throughout her speech, Brown (2010) frequently half closes her eyelids or averts her eyes to focus. However, maintaining eye contact with individuals sitting in front of her would engage the audience (Tait, 2021). Finally, there is another way for improvement that would capture more of the audience’s attention. While Brown asks some questions and directly addresses her speakers, it would be beneficial to do that more frequently and give them some moments to reflect. In that case, the audience would feel more involved in the discussion.

Non-Verbal Communication

Non-verbal communication’s significant effects on speeches cannot be overestimated. During her TED Talk, Brown (2010) used various types of non-verbal communication in a quite effective way. For instance, she changes her facial expressions to convey her emotions. The speaker uses illustrators to reinforce what is being said verbally (Titsworth, 2021). Paralinguistic elements are also actively engaged in the presentation. Thus, Brown uses intonation, tone, and loudness of voice to highlight some words or sentences.

Further, her body language also conveys important information about the speaker. For example, the audience can see that Brown (2010) is not an emotionally-closed or insecure person. She has an open posture, and her voice does not shake or sound quiet. The gestures and facial expressions Brown uses are not abrupt or nervous. What is more, when making a pause, the speaker remains confident – she knows that she will receive feedback and reactions from the audience. Consequently, Brown uses non-verbal communication quite effectively to make her presentation better.

Personal Recommendation

First of all, I am not a very successful and qualified public speaker. Instead, I am more of a listener now, and I watched Brown’s (2010) TED Talk to receive some experience and insights. At the same time, precisely as a listener, I can evaluate the presentation and give a piece of advice. Thus, when watching the TED Talk, I understood the general benefit of Brown’s (2010) research. Nevertheless, it seems to me that the presentation lacked a specific call for action. In other words, was the speaker’s purpose to merely provide interesting information?

Even if so, I think that a clearly-stated reason behind the TED Talk would make it more beneficial. In my opinion, most people tend to forget new information if they do not believe they need it. Thus, after listening to Brown’s (2010) presentation, a major part of the audience will not apply the new knowledge to their lives. However, if the speaker called for action and explained the benefit of her talk, more people would remember it. Anecdotes, sincerely shared experiences, and properly used body language are not enough. As for me, a really good presentation should explain the need for the provided information.

Additional Characteristics

Overall, Brown’s (2010) speech is more informational rather than persuasive. Indeed, the speaker does not try to persuade her audience in her own opinion. Instead, Brown’s (2010) purpose is to describe her experience and provide interesting information that some individuals can use. Consequently, the speech is organized as a description of human characteristics. The speaker defines them and their impacts on each other and people. Additionally, the speech may be identified as an explanation of how this knowledge applies to listeners’ everyday lives.

Researching Toastmasters International

The mission of Toastmasters International is to create clubs to empower persons to become more successful and effective leaders and communicators (“Our Mission,” 2022).
To become a member of Toastmasters International, it is required to visit one of its clubs, fill out the membership application, and then pay international dues and a new member fee (total $65) (“How to Join,” 2022).
RiverWalk Toastmasters Club – Royal Palm Beach Fire Station, 1040 Royal Palm Beach Blvd Royal Palm Beach, FL 33411-1605.
No clubs with online attendance in Royal Palm Beach, but there is one in West Palm Beach (3 miles radius).
To rebuild one’s self-esteem, it is essential to work on one’s private thoughts, including examining unrealistic expectations, accepting the fact that history is unchangeable, reflecting on the good experiences, and setting positive goals (Michael, 2022). The further steps are diagnosing the triggers that result in negative self-esteem, taking care of oneself, examining relations with other people, and learning to meet one’s own needs.

Available resources:

“Public Speaking Series: Lose the Fear, Learn the Relevance” video
“Communicating Across Cultures: Know Your Audience” video
“Interview Success Series: Network and Boost Your Confidence” video
“Gestures: Your Body Speaks” manual guide
“The Power of Body Language” article by Dave Zielinski

References

Brown, B. (2010). The power of vulnerability[Video]. TED.

How to join. (2022). Toastmasters International.

Michael, J. (2022). Rebuild your self-confidence and self-esteem. Toastmasters International.

Our mission. (2022). Toastmasters International.

Tait, A. (2017). Delivering your speech: The power of nonverbal communication. The University of Waterloo.

Titsworth, S., Hosek, A., Pearson, J., & Nelson, P. (2021). Human communication (7^th ed.). McGraw Hill.

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