This is a TED Talk by Robert Ballard, deep-sea explorer.

If you can, watch it without listening to the words, just to the pitch of his voice, especially about half way through the talk, at about 7.30.

The majority of his speech is incredibly monotonous.

He gives the impression that he is ashamed of what he is saying, that his audience will find it boring and that it needs to be hurried, get it out of the way as soon as it can be done.

There were times when I thought I would stop watching.

It was that bad!

I didn't stop watching.

Why?

Because ...

he compensated with some fabulous, very successful strategies that had his audience engaged despite the monotony.

What were these strategies and can we use them ourselves?

There were six that I noted, and all of them are powerful - they needed to be!!

1. The message is simple and strong

He has a very simple, well articulated message. Why are we spending so much time and money on space exploration and so little on exploring our oceans? It is repeated. The whole presentation supports it. And the fact that it is regularly stated as a question keeps it hooked into his audience's minds and hearts.

2. He uses the unexpected

Several of his statements stand out for me but there are others. The first that aroused my attention was the one about how everything he learned at school in his field was wrong. The second was about the map. Normally when we see a blank space on a map we assume it is just an area of similar topography. A space like that on a map of the sea is blank because it is not mapped. Life under the sea exists in ways no life should. Water is upside down. Volcanoes work in ways volcanoes shouldn't. He sets his audience up and hits them regularly with the unexpected and each point made that way hits strongly.

3. He uses images.

There are 57 image slides in this presentation with no words. There is no conflict in his audience's minds between spoken and written words. The images reinforce what he is saying and his audience is more likely to remember a point made and supported by an image than one that is only made verbally. I can still see in my mind's eye the little girl with her mouth open in amazement.

4. Humour

He's not exactly a humorous speaker, nor a comedian, but he uses subtle humour, and again often the unexpected. There is self effacing humour, and his use of the name Easter Bunny, the statement "I would not let an adult drive a robot. He doesn't have the gaming experience." just three examples. And the audience laughs. But they laugh and they are acknowledging the humour but they are also being drawn to the point he is making at the time. The humour simply highlights it.

5. Clever use of Pause

Robert uses pause to highlight a particular point and his uses it powerfully, interspersing it between questions and single words.

He also uses pause as an antidote to a long session of fast-paced narrative. And that is powerful too.

6. Repetition

He repeated the main message. He repeated his main points. He repeated his humorous "Easter Bunny" statement. And it wasn't saying the same thing over again. It was calling back to it, later in the speech. It's a powerful technique, puts the segment just completed, monotonous though it may be, into perspective and creates support for the point he is making, or the idea he has introduced.

7. Passion

This man believes in what he is doing.

He is excited by it.

He is passionate about the possibilities it offers and about creating excitement in his audience and in the world, about his project.

And it shows, when he allows it, in his use of pause, in his enthusiasm, and in his energy.

These are not rhetorical devices he just inserted into his speech. They are the result of his enthusiasm and dedication and excitement.

He left the best for last when he talked about being able to ignite that same enthusiasm and excitement in middle-schoolers, when he talked about "creating the classroom of the future" and how you "win or lose a scientist by 8th grade".

This is what we want.  This is a young lady not watching a football game, not watching a basketball game.  She's watching exploration thousands of miles away and it's just dawning on her what she is seeing.  And when you get a jaw dropping, you can inform, you can put so much information into that mind ...

This is what we want. This is a young lady not watching a football game, not watching a basketball game. She's watching exploration thousands of miles away and it's just dawning on her what she is seeing. And when you get a jaw dropping, you can inform, you can put so much information into that mind ...

And he had a standing ovation.

Monotonous, maybe, boring no!

I suspect this was well-rehearsed and yet seemed so natural, so conversational.

Do you want to speak to inspire?

We could all do well to learn from this man and the presentation -

repetition,

a mantra,

storytelling skills,

timing,

structure ...

"People do not decide to become extraordinary. They decide to accomplish extraordinary things."
- Sir Edmund Hilary

People do not decide to become extraordinary

It's quite a powerful distinction, Sir Edmund has made here. I haven't read a lot about him, but I suspect he was a very humble man. Nevertheless it's a truth that takes some accepting, when so often we believe that we have to be up to a standard before we can accomplish something. It's certainly something I am learning - that I can Do, then Be, then Have rather than expecting it to work the other way that I need to Be first.

music_expresses

This is a beautiful quotation.

But now I'm giving it some deeper thought.

Really? ... "what cannot be said" ... what is it that cannot be said that music can express?

I would love to hear your ideas, because there are some incredibly eloquent writers and speakers whom I admire hugely, and I cannot help wondering what it is that they cannot express that music can...?

And add to that the criterion ... "on which it is impossible to be silent"

Do comment!

Another thought that occurs to me is that we use images as we speak sometimes, and they add a new dimension to our spoken words.

What is the role of music here? Would it add a dimension, or speak for itself?

brakes

"Even though you may want to move forward in your life, you may have one foot on the brakes. In order to be free, we must learn how to let go. Release the hurt. Release the fear. Refuse to entertain your old pain.

The energy it takes to hang onto the past is holding you back from a new life. What is it you would let go of today?"

Mary Manin Morrissey

Original image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/truk/3558806/

"Seek not to change the world, but choose to change your mind about the world. What you see reflects your thinking. And your thinking but reflects your choice of what you want to see."

From A Course In Miracles

"We all have to start with ourselves. It is time to walk the talk. Take the journey of making very difficult decisions. Start removing things from your life that are not filling your cup and adding things that bring joy in to your life."

Lisa Hammond

lady_rose_petals

Don’t aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally.

– David Frost

All men dream but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible.

T.E. Lawrence

Tim Minchin, the former UWA arts student described as "sublimely talented, witty, smart and unabashedly offensive" in a musical career that has taken the world by storm, is awarded an honorary doctorate by The University of Western Australia.