Reena -- "Talk Nerdy To Me"

Melissa Marshall’s presentation, Talk Nerdy To Me, was indeed clever. One thing I noticed myself thinking about throughout the whole video was, “Oh cool, I never thought about that.” I’m not going to lie; I did find her voice somewhat annoying for some reason, which can take away from any presentation for those who feel the same way. Actually, any distractions are assassins towards presentations. How you present yourself has to have a balance between you and your audience. As long as the majority of your audience is more engaged in what you have to say or prove than you, then getting across to your audience is more realistic.  There also has to be a balance between your slide show presentation and your explanation of that slide. You want your slide show to be intriguing, but not to the point where everybody’s attention is stuck on the slide and not on the point behind it. One thing Melissa pointed out that I really liked was the whole idea of using bullet points in a slide show. She said they’re boring and there is a reason why they’re called bullet points; “Bullets kill and they will kill your presentation.” I also noticed her witty sense of grabbing attention as well. Using humor can definitely support your presentation and getting things across to people. What I want to know is her definition of nerd talk is. She says, “Talk nerdy to me,” but yet she’s recommending dumbing things down. Actually, she said there’s a difference between dumbing things down and “making things accessible to others,” but I still look at it as dumbing it down no matter what she says or how she puts it.  My idea of talking nerdy is, indeed, using big, more complicated words. It’s nerd talk! When you dumb it down, if you will, it is no longer nerd talk, so I don’t clearly understand what she means by that; maybe she’s confused?