Katelynn Gulya- Marshall TED talk

The key point of Melissa Marshall’s TED Talk “Talk Nerdy to Me” was to explain to scientists and engineers that regular people want to understand their scientific and mathematical language. Melissa Marshall does a good job of effectively communicating her main point through the use of comparison, diagramming, and body language. Ms. Marshall compares her experience teaching a group of engineers to Alice, from Alice and Wonderland, falling down the rabbit hole into a completely different world. By using a well-known character in the beginning of her speech Ms. Marshall draws in her audience. Through this comparison Ms. Marshall shows that the language that scientists use everyday is not a useful way to effectively communicate important information to the general public. Ms. Marshall also uses a diagram to show scientists and engineers how they can take a piece of information and reduce the amount of jargon to convey the importance to a regular person. To appeal to her audience Ms. Marshall forms the sentence diagram as a mathematical equation that an engineer would understand perfectly. Ms. Marshall also uses a Venn diagram to explain to the scientists that to convey their message effectively they must find the relevance between their science and the average person’s life. Ms. Marshall’s main argument about being an effective communicator centers on finding the relevance in the average person’s life.  By using equations and diagrams Ms. Marshall is using a way to effectively communicate to her audience. Ms. Marshall enunciates her words and speaks in a way that draws her audience in. She also knows exactly how to pronounce the scientific words she uses in examples. Ms. Marshall’s stage presence is also very impressive because of her body language and the way she speaks. All of these things make Ms. Marshall a very effective communicator; therefore, showing that she is credible as a speaker.