Matt Cutts' and Stacey Kramer's TED Talks

            “Matt Cutts: Try something new for 30 days” TED talk and “Stacey Krammer: The best gift I ever survived” talk are both about each speakers personal experience and how it changed their perspective on life.  However, these two speakers present their talk in completely different styles.  Matt Cutts takes a very informal approach to his speech.  He is dressed casually in blue jeans and a brown sweater.  He walks around the stage and talks to the audience in a conversational manner.  He asks questions and answers them.  He uses humor effectively and incorporates graphics into his speech.  His TED talk is about his own 30 day challenges.  This is where he does something he has always wanted to do for 30 days.  For example, he takes a photo every day for a month, goes a month without sweets, and rides his bike to work every day.  He did this because he realized that the months are going to pass whether he wanted them to or not and he decided that he was going to make those months memorable and worthwhile.  Ultimately he challenges the audience to take their own 30 day challenges.  His style helps support his challenge.  By presenting himself casually he was able to relate more with the audience which might have an effect on whether or not the audience chooses to accept his challenge.

            Stacey Kramer takes a very formal approach to her speech.  She wears a nice, black dress and heels.  She moves around the stage very little and uses subtle hand motions.  Her speech is about surviving a brain tumor and how that changed her outlook on life.  This heavy and profound subject warrants a more formal presentation style.  Stacey Kramer incorporates photos into her speech that help explain her story.  While she doesn’t wish what happened to her on anyone, she does encourage the audience to look at bad things that might have happened to them as blessings instead of curses.  She says that she gained great peace from her “blessing” and she wishes the audience could gain that too.  The formality of her speech underscores the importance of this event in her life.  I prefer Stacey Kramer’s presentation style better.  She seemed well rehearsed and put together.  I like her formal tone which makes her seem prepared for her TED talk.  She didn’t move around the stage too much, which I think is a good thing because too much movement can be distracting.  I also think that when presenting in front of a large group of people it is better to dress up because it makes the speaker look put together and respectable.