TEDIdeas Worth Spreading

TED EVALUATIONPROJECT

By Anargyros Kotsaris

David AndersonDavid Anderson is the Seymour Benzer Professor of Biology at CalTech.

ThesisThe brain is morethan just a bag ofchemical soup.

Grabbing the Audience’s Attention

David starts of his speech with a question that strikes attention: “Do any of you have a family member who has a mental illness”, then softens his discussion with an appropriate joke about studying fruit flies and using that research to treat humans.

David discusses the importance of finding the real source behind a mental illness as opposed to just shoving Ritalin down your throat. He uses the analogy of changing car oil by opening a can and dumping the oil all over the engine block. Some of the oil will fall where it’s supposed to but most of it is just go go where it’s not supposed to.

The commandment I believe David followed most fervently was III: Reveal thy Curiosity and Passion. You could tell he felt very strongly about how people viewed the brain and really wanted to get his message out.

The commandment he seemed to stray from was VIII: Laughter is Good. While he did crack a couple of jokes here and there, the overall feel of the presentation was slightly dry.

Dynamism

I would award Anderson a 4 out of 5. Whereas his speech was very informative, it was very steady. It felt monotone.

Dynamism

One of the tips from Duart and Reynolds that Anderson presented was the use of visual aid. He prepared small animations that portrayed the brain, flies, and other things helped aid his speech.

Anderson’s speech was a technical look into a certain part of Robinson’s. Specifically the part where Robinson speaks about the girl who was a dancer and not able to sit still.

Both speakers had a great message to convey, however, Sir Ken Robinson’s presentation held you much more interested. I feel as if David Anderson was only trying to reach out to fellow scientists, almost as if it were a conference.

Any tips I picked up from Anderson would be to speak to all…not just those in your field.