TEDxCL Relfection

Before going into the research for my topic, I already knew how important music was to my life. What I didn’t know, and what I learned, is how music affects our lives. I learned that it decreases anxiety, increases pain tolerance, and ultimately relieves stress, as shown in the studies mentioned in the Ted Talk. I learned a lot about my topic, and it just made me realize how important music really is to my life.
I selected this topic, because music has such a huge role in my life. I listen to music every chance that I get (maybe too much), I am a musician, and music pretty much controls my life. I wanted to apply this to my Ted Talk, and encourage people to listen to more music. I knew how important music was to me, and I was hoping it could change other people's lives, like it did to mine.
The most rewarding part of the research process was finding credible sources, and seeing that it would be able to back up my statement. The most frustrating part was finding information that looked good, only to find out that it was an opinionated piece, which had no true scholarly value. I found most of my material by searching things up, and they were usually studies that were done about music. My favorite source was the study from Harvard, which described how music affected surgical patients. (“Music and Health”, Harvard). From my research, I learned a lot about the effects that music has on us, especially in the surgical patient study, and how music changes our view of the world. (Harvard, University of Groningen). This article was very important to my talk, and it helped back up my statement. I feel as if I could have utilized my time in class better, although I still did take advantage of the time given. When I was working, I stay focused, and tried to help others when I could. I went at a steady pace, and never felt like I was rushing.
I would say that the biggest challenge headed into the presentation was anxiety. Overall, I was pretty nervous going in, but once I had started, I became less nervous. I was fairly confident in my visual aid and the content of the speech, but I was still nervous. To try and prepare for this nervousness, I practiced in my room once. I wish that I had practiced more, and in front of other people. Besides the overall stage fright, I thought it went well. There were a couple moments when I got caught up in my words, but other than that, I was happy with the volume of my voice, the visual aids, and all of the other parts. When presenting in the future, I feel like I could work on the overall flow of the speech, and just overall rehearsing. I feel like one of the most important things is to just practice more, and this is something that I will definitely do in the future.
I feel like the TED goals that I addressed were changing the perspective of the audience, and getting them to take action. I hoped to change the way that the audience saw music, and how important it is. Also, I wanted them to take action, and listen to more music. I hope that I encouraged them to explore different genres, and listen to different kinds of music. I thought I was fairly successful, because it seemed like they were all paying attention to my speech, and agreeing with it.
My advice for next year’s students on public speaking is to just relax. Simply slowing down and taking a deep breath can make a huge difference, and there is no need to stress over a speech for class. As for preparing and presenting their TED talks, I would say my biggest piece of advice is to practice plenty of time, and in front of people. This is something that I wish I did more, but anyone who does it will be successful.