In this Ted.com talk, Joshua Klein talks about his vending machine for crows and how it and machines like it might create mutually beneficial relationships between humans and the animals who live side-by-side with them.
This is the first in a series of articles about how good presenters do what they do.
Where Joshua is particularly strong is:
- Establshing himself as a likable expert
- Arousing curiosity
- Answering our unspoken questions
- Using story/anecdote
- Use of visual aids
So how does he do that?
The planning questions
The best thing to do once you know the topic for a presentation is to go through the Real.Smart.Now five planning questions as if you’re the one about to give the talk. (For a free 30-page ebook on the questions, got to CobaltCommunication.com.)
Question One – What do I know about who I’m talking to?
Apart from all the things we know about human beings (messy lives, busy heads, craving for love, peace, appreciation, meaning…) we also know that these are TED attendees. TED is a conference for people who stand out in all fields. So we know that these are people who self-identify as bright, interested in new stuff, successful in their area, want serious engagement, like intellectual engagement. Probably not crow experts.
Question Two – What do I want these people to do after I’m finished?
Before seeing the talk, just from the blurb, maybe we’d guess at seeing crows in a different light? After listening to the talk, it’s clear that Joshua Klein wants us to favourably consider projects that involve synanthropic creatures in mutually beneficial relationships. If you check out his site, he is indeed looking for funding for these types of projects.
That probably suggests that he would like people to talk about what he’s doing, pass it on viral-like. ‘Did you hear about that guy who made the crow vending machine..?’
Another outpt would be that TED people (and the world at large who see the presentation on the net) see he’s a standup kind of fellow, bright, switched on, visionary, that kind of thing.
Question Three – What are these people coming in with?
This is the time to think about the internal circus, the loud and spangly collection of objections, questions, concerns, thoughts, prejudices, etc, that come from these people’s previous and current experience.
Well, first off we think about what I call the chimpanzee aspects. These are the very practical, physical, environmental aspects that are affecting them. So what do we know? They’ve been hearing a lot of presentations about a lot of things. They’re going to hear a lot more presentations about a lot of things. So better make this interesting, snappy and memorable.
What are their thoughts about the speaker?
They’ve heard lots of top people in their field discuss all sorts of things. So, who is this guy? What’s his qualification to talk to us about this topic? Does he know much about it, or is it a passing fancy?
What about crows?!
Well, they’ve had experiences of crows, probably mainly negative. Crows are pests, right?. Crows are birds, so therefore not very bright, apart from certain learned behaviours. Crows are parasitic.
They also want to know how this is relevant to them, and why this is interesting.
Question Four – What is important to these people?
Apart from the usual – status, appreciation, a life that they can spend on things they want to spend it on, more time with their families, less time on useless bureaucracy, the feeling that they belong, feeling like their lives have meaning – TED people probably have concerns for the environment, for freedom, for looking after all people, for peace…
Presentation Analysis
The time refs below refer to TED.com, but I can only embed the Youtube version here, so if you want ultra-accurate refs, click this link to go to TED:
http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/261
00.30 – Klein starts by talking about how tremendously annoying it is to be told something is impossible [likable expert - appealing to the TED we're-stubborn-people-who-like-a-challenge ethos].
01.02 – 10 years reading about crows in his spare time [likable expert].
01.15 – Disappearing species, vs synanthropic species, mutually beneficial relationships [curiosity - and the new cocktail party word]
01.41 – What we’re doing is making these species into parasites [Answering question: Aren't these just pests?]
02.17 – ‘A little more interesting if you know more about crows’ [curiosity/expert]
02.21 – Statistics about crows and humans [Answering question: Are crows really that close to humans?]
02.57 – ‘The birds were adapting in a pretty unusual way’ [curiosity]
03.04 – Crow bending the hook [Visual aid: short, very surprising, uses his commentary well / Answering question: Is this really interesting adaptation?]
04.10 – Swedish fishing lines [Answering question: one more example of how crows are adapting]
04.21 – Uni of Washington students [Story: well told, especially notice week/month/summer break/graduation/return/ mask and wig progression]
05.15 – ‘Even more significant adaptation’ [curiosity/visual aid - short, relevant]
06.16 – ‘But that’s old hat for crows’ [curiosity]
06.43 – ‘Crow infidelity’ [curiosity - and notice that you're still interested to hear this one]
07.06 – Summary – lots of crows, smart, teach each other
07.16 – [Answering question: Ok... but what about the vending machine?]
07.18 – Vending machine story [curiosity/story: notice how Joshua tells it like a story, putting us in the position of the crow - where's it going? I also like the comparison with squirrels, which tells us these birds are more than a little like us - we begin to like crows... Hmmm...]
09.14 – Not about teaching crows to pick up change for peanuts, here’s the big picture… [Answering question: So what?]
Summary of presentation
- Joshua deals with questions as they occur to us
- Continues to establish himself as someone who not only knows what he’s talking about, but as someone we like
- He makes us curious and keeps us curious
- Tells story taking his time with a good amount of relevant detail
- He uses visual aids very well – no bullet-point slideshows, just one picture of the vending machine to make us curious, 2 short pieces of very relevant video, then very clear unlabelled pictures of the vending machine sequence (notice how not having text labels on the pictures keeps our attention on him and his word
- He uses very ordinary language apart from where it’s needed, so helps us to understand his topic and bond with him as a person
The other thing I like about Joshua Klein is that he has taken an extraordinary niche, an obsession really, and shown how, for the right crowd, it’s cool to be nerdy.
Hope for us all.
(If you like this analysis, post your favourite online presentations below, and if there’s a popular one, I’ll feature it).
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