The topic of the TED talk chosen for this analysis is related to building happy marriages and avoiding divorce. The speaker is Dr. George Blair-West, a researcher, author of several great books, and doctor specializing in psychiatry. To get the audience’s attention in the introduction, Blair-West (2017) provides an inventory of the most distressing human experiences and states that divorce is at second and marriage is in seventh place. While talking about these serious experiences, the speaker also makes nice jokes that attract the audience’s attention and make them listen to the speech closely.
The main points of the talk are easily identifiable. After providing the current divorce rate and proving the need for prevention campaigns for divorce, Blair-West (2017) states that he will list his three life hacks for avoiding divorce. The speaker advises the audience to “make sure that respect plays out in the decision-making process,” take care of each other no matter what and share power (Blair-West, 2017). When communicating his points, he remains quite emotionless and never exclaims or raises his voice. However, Blair-West (2017) uses humor to engage the audience (a parallel between imprisonment and marriage) and makes pauses before saying something particularly important. The speaker also emphasizes essential words in a sentence with intonation: “it’s a particularly good thing” (Blair-West, 2017). Repetition is another delivery technique effectively used by Blair-West (2017): “they found that 91 percent of women had had premarital sex by the age of 30. Ninety-one percent.” Finally, the speaker uses non-verbal communication like gestures but does it very calmly.
The conclusion of the speech echoes the theme in the introduction. Blair-West (2017) reminds the audience of the importance of the three life hacks and adds that romance must be in a marriage. This speech is rather effective and leaves a strong impact because the speaker provides statistics and examples from his own practice, making the audience believe what he is saying. What is more, the topic itself is quite crucial, and learning life hacks from a psychiatrist is valuable. Finally, this TED talk teaches that effective speech delivery does not necessarily incorporate violent emotions and gestures. While emotional speakers also deliver powerful speeches, it is also possible to affect the audience with calm and informational words.
Reference
Blair-West, G. (2017). Three ways to build a happy marriage and avoid divorce [Video]. TED. Web.