Comments on: Video Critique: Majora Carter – Greening the Ghetto (TED 2006)

By: Kay

Kay — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 03:35:47 +0000

The content of the speech was great, however Majora spoke way to quickly. Within two minutes, I was tired of keeping up with her message. Majora didn’t give enough eye contact with her audience. I think giving eye contact and not eye scanning is important. It acknowledges who your speaking to and it commands attention. She gave subtle gestures. I thought maybe she could of took a few steps to her right and left on the stage, allowing the audience to get a better look at her. For this speech to be dear to her, I would have never known. She didn’t emphasize her main points or her hand gestures. Her hands were moving in a sloppy manner, indicating she was nervous. Though the content was great, the delivery was not great at all. She could have prepared her speech a little more thourougly. I also think humor incorporated was great, to keep the audience from being too uncomfortable, however when she started to break down I really felt uncomfortable. I think a pause to regain her composure would have helped her voice from cracking. Tough critique, but I’m taking a speech course, so I’m just practicing! No intention to be negative.

By: BR

BR — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:51:08 +0000

I have watched the speech and read the analysis. This would have been an inspiring speech except for the fact Ms. Carter spoke entirely too rapidly. She crammed way too much information into a 20 min speech. After reading the speech I realized I did not catch half of what she was saying. Her cause is great and she does personalize it, but without catching half of the information she presented it made it hard to keep focused on her major point.

By: Yolanthe Smit

Yolanthe Smit — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 18:27:29 +0000

RT @6minutes Video Critique: Majora Carter – Greening the Ghetto (TED talk 2006) http://bit.ly/1ZOBNk Mssge: Take it slow and don’t read!

By: Yolanthe Smit

Yolanthe Smit — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 14:36:40 +0000

Boy, this speech is not really a speech, it is a lecture, read at breakneck speed. I lost her in the first few minutes, despite the important content. I give her credit for her courage and persistence and passion.
Too much info, and has been mentioned already s, reading invites racing. And gulping breath.
It would have been good to work with a coach prior to delivering this speech to cut down on the info and to work on the pacing, include pauses for impact and to give the audience time to digest the info and the speaker time to breathe.
Less is often more, it can’t be said enough.

By: Allyncia

Allyncia — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:39:59 +0000

Speak, girl! She is the Black Ann Coulter. She knows her arguments and is passionate about what she believes.

I would just say might want to work on avoiding the big gasps of air. Great humor, great emotion. I think it was an excellently organized and well structured presentation.

By: alex hughes

alex hughes — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 05:57:18 +0000

The toastmaster in me wants to say you are dead on, but at a base level, I’m not sure you are right. The ultimate goal of any speaker is to connect and grip the audience with their message. There is no question in my mind she did this. Part of the reason she did, is she was a living embodiment of courage. The fact that she spoke so rapidly and and barely made eye contact as she rattled off facts and statistics a beautiful mind served to highlight her very courage and rarity. This in turn convinced us we can’t afford to waste her.

I mean when it is this hard for someone this smart, passionate and gifted to rise out of the ghetto to get here, then we can’t afford to waste her. I think that was her implicit point. Perhaps, if she had been a well rehearsed presentation person, it may have worked against her.

Having said all that, I understand your point. I found myself very lost fast as I couldn’t process all of her thoughts and figures.

By: Javier Urena

Javier Urena — Thu, 07 May 2009 17:59:43 +0000

Well, I have to admit the information is very important and interesting. This lady had her way of introduction, her body, and her conclution As we know, her speack was based on a manuscript delivery. The problem is, she read a million miles per hour which made her delivery poor. As far as her goals, it does take a strong caring person. Good job.

By: Terry Gault

Terry Gault — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 01:52:43 +0000

Andrew,
I could not agree more about the critique. Her headlong rushing is a significant turnoff. I found myself tuning out in spite of the fact that she has a compelling message and has many other good qualities as a speaker. I was interested in hearing her speak when she wasn’t racing the clock. Hence, I found this video on YouTube.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=NO6oY2qP4Ew
In this video, she’s not rushing anymore but she’s using a lot of verbal filler (“and uh”) rather than pausing.

By: Linda

Linda — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 06:20:42 +0000

This speech had terrific content but the rapid speaking rate was the spoiler. In the beginning she was reading the speech which enabled her to race through the words leaving the audience (me for sure) exhausted just trying to keep up with what she was saying. This is a subject that is near and dear to her heart. She knew the material. It “was’ and ‘is” her life. If she had dropped the script, she would have automatically slowed down. She would have nautrally paused after saying something profound, like we all do naturally when we tell a story. I also wonder why she never attempted to make her stats more credible by giving the credits for those stats. 25% will have diabetes, 1 in 4 will get this, 1 in 6 live in..etc. Says who…is what I ask when i hear someone ramble stats off with no backup or research body mentioned. So my second suggestion for her would be to back up her stats so it doesn’t sound like she’s just making up numbers as she goes.
Aside from this, it was a compelling speech and contained many of the key elements that could have easily made this “good” speech into a “great” speech.