Presentation Zen: Inspiring, contagious presentation: Kiran Bir Sethi teaches kids to take charge

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Inspiring, contagious presentation: Kiran Bir Sethi teaches kids to take charge

July 18, 2010

In my search for presentations with a strong message and delivered in the naked style (honest, transparent, engaging, inspiring, simple visuals and approach, etc.), I stumbled upon two TED talks from TEDIndia held last November. Both deal with transformations in education, a hot topic of great interest to all of us. The first one is by educator (and designer) Kiran Bir Sethi below. She is fabulous. She starts her talk by saying that contagious is a good word and reminds the audience that many good things in life, like a smile, passion, and inspiration, are contagious. And she indeed has an infectious (and contagious) smile and a passion that are a perfect fit for her inspiring, positive talk. One of Sethi's main points is "if education is embedded in a real world context — blurring the boundaries between school and life — then children go through a journey of Aware (where they can see the change), Enable (be changed), and Empower (lead the change)." It starts with believing in kids: "When adults believe in children and say 'you can!' then they will." At the end I loved how she referenced Gandhi—one man's influence—in changing a nation by spreading a "we can" message. Who, then, will help spread the infection of "we can" from these 100,000 children to the other 200 million children in India, Sethi asks.

You may have noticed that Sethi used the cool tool called Prezi. Prezi can be used in many way; in this case Sethi used it smoothly in a linear fashion as text would enter in perfect sync with her narrative and videos played on cue. Note that she didn't stand behind a lectern, turn around or fumble around with the technology. The technology was there and it helped her talk, but it did not become a barrier. Her message and delivery were wonderful.

Shukla Bose: Teaching one child at a time
This is another inspiring talk below. Shukla Bose does not use slides except to bring in video clips from time to time; mainly it is her and her story, front and center and delivered with passion and an infectious optimism. She's doing such good, important work. It's important for leaders like this to be able to stand and tell their story, and she does it very well.

Posted at 09:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

Comments

These illustrations are stunning. Thanks for sharing.

Posted by: true religion jeans | July 20, 2010 at 04:51 PM

Hello Garr,
You should definitely watch Sunitha Krishnan's talk from TED. It is extremely powerful, heartwrenching and delivered with all simplicity.

Posted by: Natti | July 22, 2010 at 01:59 PM

Even Prezi is cool as a breaker of barriers- thanks for sharing.

Posted by: patrickdh | July 22, 2010 at 07:09 PM

Contagious is indeed a good word!

Posted by: Jude Rathburn | July 29, 2010 at 01:11 PM

Enjoyed Kiran's talk a lot.

Will be using Prezie for my Media Law presentation later this semester all the way in Tasmania!

Posted by: Jason Lee | August 14, 2010 at 12:15 PM

I'm just doing a website associated with this. In case you make it possible for, I'd like to make use of some of your respective articles. And with total refernce of program. Thanks ahead of time.

Posted by: Retro Jordans | August 28, 2010 at 09:27 AM

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Posted by: cheap emu boots | August 30, 2010 at 11:37 AM

Wow! I’ve never heard of this before and I think they’re awesome!

Posted by: cheap emu boots | August 30, 2010 at 11:47 AM

I was the first time, to see what everyone says, what can be shared

Posted by: cheap emu boots | August 30, 2010 at 12:09 PM

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